From Patchen Songs (2005)
CarrieAnne Winter, Soprano
Jonathan Chapman Cook, Piano
Live performance recorded on April 14th, 2007 in Dalton Recital Hall at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI.

Beautiful You Are

Cathedral evening, tinkle of candles
On the frosted air
Beautiful you are
Beautiful your eyes, lips, hair

Ah still they come

Evenings like chalices
Where little roofs and trees drink
Until a rude hand
Shatters them, one by one

O beautiful you are

My own
Land of holiness, unblemished grace
Springtime
In this winter place
O in the candles there
More beautiful
Than any legend's face

Your eyes, your hair

-Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972)

Note from the composer

In setting text, my attempt is not to "get out of the way" of the poetry and "set it well," but rather to internalize the poetry and to offer a personal reflection drawn from my own experiences with the text.  Beautiful You Are is an exquisite love poem, and I found myself creating many sounds using the piano that I felt related to the images in the text.  For instance, the solo piano introduction is marked "tinkle of candles on the frosted air" in the score.

~Jonathan Chapman Cook