Max's Vocal Music

Vocal music, to use Max's definition, is music written especially for a singer to perform in either recital or concert, and is usually "serious," or "classical," music as opposed to "folk," or "popular" music. Today there are so many different labels that people use to describe, or categorize, the many different types of secular vocal music that it is difficult to be sure one communicates its true nature. However that may be, what is emphasized here in this section is "serious" vocal music.

Max's "serious" vocal music includes the following compositions:

• "Five Stephen Foster Songs" - 1. Angelina Baker, 2. Beautiful Dreamer, 3. Oh Susannah, 4. Ring, Ring the Banjo, and 5. The Merry, Merry Month of May. arranged for voice and piano. Performances by Jay Willoughby, baritone, & Tom Schilling, pianist, for the Community Concert Association, a division of Columbia Artists Management Inc., season of 1982/83.
• "Four Serious Songs" (with piano accompaniment) - 1. The Leaf, 2. Today is Sunday, 3. Sleep, and 4. Grey Rain (all lyrics by the composer).
• "I Believe in My Soul" - a Declararion for Baritone and Chamber Ensemble (Flute, Oboe, Harpsichord, and Strings). The text is adapted by the composer from portions of Song of Myself by Walt Whitman. Performances by Jay Willoughby, baritone, and the Rarely Performed Music Society, and the Unity Church, St. Louis, MO.
• "The Garden Hymn" - an American folk hymn arranged for voice and organ. (Max has done two versions of this: 1. one verse only, and 2. three verses with a change of key. Max has also arranged this old folk hymn for Solo Soprano, Mixed Voices (SSAATTBB) and organ. See Choral Music
• "The Death of Doctor Faustus" - a tone poem for bass-baritone and orchestra. Text from The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.
• "Thoughts of Obedience and Equality" - a Declaration for Baritone and Chamber Ensemble (Flute, Oboe, Harpsichord and Strings). The text is from By the Roadside by Walt Whitman. Performances by Jay Willoughby, baritone, and the Rarely Performed Music Society, and the Unity Church, St. Louis, MO.
• "Vocalise" - for Soprano and String Orchestra. Performances by the St. Louis Little Symphony, The Sioux City Symphony, NBC Orchestra of WNBQ-TV Chicago, IL, and the Eastman Rochester Symphony Orchestra conducted by Howard Hanson (broadcast by the Voice of America).

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