Sunday, December 25, 2011

'Songs on Nativity Poems by Joseph Brodsky'

MERRY CHRISTMAS! FELIZ NAVIDAD! JOYEUX NOEL!
BUON NATALE! 

Konstantin Bliokh set a number of poet Joseph Brodsky's "Nativity Poems"* to music. In this studio recording for soprano and two guitars, Songs on Nativity Poems by J. Brodsky, op. 27 (2009), you will hear the settings for "Imagine", "Lullaby", "Snow Is Falling", and "No Matter".



Joseph Brodsky, 1940-1996 

United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, 1991-1992, Brodsky also was the recipient of the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature. His other prestigious awards included a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant (1981).

* Brodsky wrote a poem every Christmas. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux published in 2002 a bilingual collection of 18 of his Nativity Poems; the book is out of print and available only through resellers. A 2001 review of the collection is here; a 2003 review is here. An audio recording of his "A Season" (translation by Mark Strand) is here.

Sven Birkerts, "Joseph Brodsky, The Art of Poetry No. 28", Interview, The Paris Review, Spring 1982, No. 82.


Joseph Brodsky Profile, Poems, and Articles at Poetry Foundation 


Poems at The New York Review of Books

2 comments:

Glynn said...

Maureen, you bring the great beauty of art and writing into our online world.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Steve Gravano said...

Beautiful, Merry Christmas!