Surfing the Thin Places
Alan Louis Smith with Lucy Fitz Gibbon & Ryan McCullough
In memory of Dorothy May Gabler Smith (1927-2018)
Duration: 37 minutes
About:
Alan Smith discusses text painting and the portrayal of very personal emotions in his newest song cycle, Surfing the Thin Places. Written for SongFest alumna, Lucy Fitz Gibbon, soprano and Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, pianist, this presentation includes audio of the duo performing the songs and a special talk about the process of their collaboration. Surfing the Thin Places will have its west coast premier next summer during SongFest’s 2021 festival.
Composer’s Note: “The 'thin places' are where the temporal and the eternal seem infinitely close. Within the grief of saying ‘the long goodbye’ to my mom, while watching her physical body metamorphose, I felt a thrill for her anticipation of what her profound religious faith says lay ahead for her. These poems and these songs spring from the incredible, irreplaceable experience of saying goodbye, and watching my mother ‘surf the thin places’ in her hospital bed, arriving on ‘the other side,’ which, according to her faith sent her to the most beautiful and radiant welcome-home ever.”
