Today’s CD is a bit of an oddity and a bit of a period piece.  It’s Paul Bowles’ 1953 work A Picnic Cantata setting a libretto by James Schuyler.  It’s scored for two pianos and percussion plus a vocal cast of two sopranos and two altos.  It’s hyperrealistic in detail and surrealistic in time line.  The “plot” (roughly) is that friends decide to go on a Sunday picnic which is described in some detail, Then someone picks up the Sunday paper and starts to read bits from it.  Then there’s a sort of clearing up and clearing out.  Scene succeeds scene with almost breath-taking rapidity to complete a work that lasts less than half an hour

Continue reading →