Ellen Mandel: Press

A WIND HAS BLOWN THE RAIN AWAY:

A couple of cold, rainy Sunday afternoons ago, I got dragged to a concert in downtown Washington, and stayed enthralled to hear a striking collaboration: the playful poetry of e.e. cummings set to music by New York composer Ellen Mandel and sung beautifully by Cincinnati baritone and actor Todd Almond.

I discovered that there’s a CD of the same program. It’s called a wind has blown the rain away. I wish I could give it to every poetry lover I know, to remind them that spring is coming. And with this music, sooner than later.

E.E.CUMMINGS SONGS:

At "A Night of Song," a concert by two young sopranos at the chapel of St. Bartholomew's Church in Manhattan... I heard a composer who was new to me, Ellen Mandel. Her settings of four poems by E. E. Cummings were ardent and spiky with meter and key changes that felt refreshingly organic. Her music lives in that borderland between theater song and classical song, where singers like Audra McDonald and Dawn Upshaw often dwell. I'd love to hear them sing her work.

CINDY REILLY, a musical version of Cinderella, book and lyrics by Kaikkonen and Swartz, music by Ellen Mandel was a smash hit at the Peterborough Players (NH): "Cindy Reilly has all the quality of a Broadway musical...a brilliant update of the old classic...THE MUSICAL NUMBERS ARE ASTOUNDING, WITH THE MUSIC WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ELLEN MANDEL. Claire Philippe's voice is incredible as she sings her opening theme, "To Fly," and closes with "Find Your Own Voice." The song "Front Desk," performed by Philippe and Darnell Benjamin, could have been heard on any Broadway stage. Elizabeth Hallacy, as Mrs Scrubb, sings a hilarious and literally show-stopping symphony of a spell "Alacazabra."...CINDY REILLY IS A HIT.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2008
the first of all my dreams...
Multitalented composer Ellen Mandel joined me recently in the studio for the mastering of her gorgeous project, entitled "the first of all my dreams." The project is basically piano and voice, featuring tenor extraordinaire Todd Almond.



This is the second collection of songs for piano and voice from Ellen. The first was exclusively settings of the poet ee cummings. This one includes ee cumming texts, but also some Yeats, and some original Mandel text. On the instumentation side, she stretches out the piano/vocal thing this time out, to include some bass and also a guest vocal or two.

I have been working with her for almost 15 years, and I can say the music is some of her best. Very American sounding in spots, with beautiful introspective moments, as well as exuberance and subtlety. Perfect for its subject matter, tasty, nostalgic, full of sentiment and power, this music will definitely be on my playlist at home in the future. I don't say that about too much stuff that I work on.

The really good thing? She didn't make me turn it up to 11.....

Ellen Mandel composed and performed music for this production of Fallen Angels, as she did for The Winter's Tale and has done for other productions by the Peterborough Players. If I have not drawn attention to her work before, it is because it has been seamlessly incorporated into the dramatic moment. Here, especially, she blends with Noel Coward's own musical style for a result all the more effective for its subtlety.

A WIND HAS BLOWN THE RAIN AWAY

The flowing vocal line and piano suggesting rainfall for the title song is particularly good, as is the hymn-like music for "i am a little church." "when faces called flowers" is also memorable. Each of the remaining twelve is equally natural. The melody lines seem to grow out of the texts of the quirky poems, and the piano creates atmosphere and lends drama.

This organic style is perhaps the result of the composer's experience writing songs for plays -- dozens of them, such as Molière's Imaginary Invalid, Dylan Thomas' Under Milkwood, Beckett's Waiting for Godot, a couple by Tom Stoppard and Shakespeare, among others - performed in NYC and all over the country. A collection of these is available from the composer on a CD entitled Every Play's an Opera, and they, too, display an amazing variety.

Mandel’s jazz background is likewise evident, yet these are true "art songs," not merely songs from musical theater or for a lounge. She seems to be among those composers, like Franz Schubert, Gabriel Fauré, and Ned Rorem for whom writing songs seems to come naturally and whose songs seem to marry the music to the texts seamlessly.

Almond's voice is perfect for these works, too, and his theatrical background stands him in good stead: he knows just how to interpret the songs.

The CD simply blew me away at first hearing and continues to do so numerous listenings later!

The accompanying booklet has lovely and appropriate photography both outside and inside (as does the tray card), and well-written succinct bios of the poet and the performers. Get yourself a copy ASAP if you are a fan of great song.

EVERY PLAY'S AN OPERA: What I like best are the various cadences and the very skillful performances that seem to come easily. Deceptively so, of course. Take, for example, the sound for "Rough Crossing." It has all the contradictions in Stoppard's characters and the slyness of his satire and parody. Also, one can tell when the Moliere play is in play without observing the sequence in print. The album is one that's best to listen to when some thought is given while listening, although some of the jazzier entries can be enjoyed during complete relaxation. Indeed, they promote same.

Review of MEDEA: Even the horror-movie elements in Medea (that flesh-eating dress, for example) are turned to a high theatrical effect that is underscored by Ellen Mandel’s eerie original music.

Review of Rutherford & Son:
“Ellen Mandel’s sound design, combining industry and domestic heartbreak, is particularly effective.”

Ellen Mandel:
“This composer’s music for the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theater has been remarkable for consistent invention, compositional resource, and apt theatricality. So attention should be paid as she branches out now with musical settings of ten e.e. cummings poems on behalf of a new dance by Lonne Moretton.” Kerner, Village Voice


a wind has blown the rain away:
“That’s the collective title for 14 songs by the freshly inventive and emotionally on-target composer, Ellen Mandel, from poems by e.e. cummings. Todd Almond sings them, with the composer at the piano.” Kerner, Village Voice