I am an ornithologist-conservationist active since the 1960's, working to preserve populations of declining or endangered species, and their habitats, whether the beautiful unspoiled salt marshes of the east coast, or the grasslands and forests of th [+]I am an ornithologist-conservationist active since the 1960's, working to preserve populations of declining or endangered species, and their habitats, whether the beautiful unspoiled salt marshes of the east coast, or the grasslands and forests of the west. As long as I can remember, I have always been interested in birdsong and nature, am self-taught on the piano, and have been composing songs for about forty years, since I was a young man, at first romantic, then working some dissonances into the music. Nevertheless, the songs are all melodic, tend to be in a minor key, with the suggestion of something lost, but are sometimes optimistic in a major key. The flavor is correpondingly sometimes melancholy, sometimes cheerful. In some tracks (#1 and #3) I have selected bird song to add to the message or meaning of the music. The name of the album - "A Hound, a Horse, and a Turtledove" - is from Thoreau, who wrote: "Many years ago I lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtledove, and have been on their trail ever since. Many are the people I have spoken to concerning them... and they seem as anxious to recover them as if they had lost them themselves"! Which indeed we have: the themes of loss and searching for what is lost are universal and recurring themes in literature, life, and music, and the music on this album distill feelings such as these into music, and bring us to our senses.
|
 |
Genre/Tags: 
Ringtones
Full Tracks
