Larson, Anna (1940-2007) Website formerly of Takoma Park, Maryland Adagio for Trumpet and Strings for trumpet, violin, viola and cello Score and parts 7' $10.00 #040117 AP-727 Recording: Moravian Symphony, MMC 2128

score sample (pdf)

Adagio for Trumpet and Strings was written for the 1990 production of The Shadow Box by the Little Theater of Alexandria, Virginia. The play explores the stages, defined and popularized by Kübler Ross, that every human is said to experience when confronting the reality of his own death. The music is intended to represent, not the stages in acceptance of death, but rather the ongoing rhythm of life. The piece may be performed with a string trio or string orchestra.

The Listeners for medium low voice and piano 6'53" $ 8.00 #040044 AP-323 The composer describes her dramatic narrative setting of the poem by Walter de la Mare: "This setting of The Listeners was written in the late 1970's as a surprise gift for my father, Arthur Larson, at the suggestion of my mother who sent me several of his favorite poems. I was immediately drawn to this text because it combines a beautifully crafted dramatic form with a stirring expression of human integrity in a world where absolute knowledge is mysteriously withheld."

score sample (pdf)

Nora for soprano and cello Based on A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen. $ 30.00 #040148 AP-342 Based on the title role of Ibsen's play, Nora received its first performance in 2001 on a concert of the Contemporary Music Forum at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. The composer writes:

score sample (pdf)

"I have chosen to write this dramatic chamber work from inside Nora's mind and memory, as she ponders and relives her experience with Torvald [her husband]. When she finally leaves him, she is completely clear on the need to escape his influence, but she steps into the unknown. Nora is divided into six parts, including a prologue and epilogue of my own poetry and imagery."

    

Anna Larson was a Washington, D.C. area composer, lyricist and playwright with an undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a doctorate in composition from the University of Maryland. Her early dance studies at the Sadler's Wells School of Ballet in London and her performances with the Washington Ballet deeply influenced her music. Among her theatre projects are Seven Faces, exploring the seven stages of grief, incidental music for Strindberg's Ghost Sonata, and The Match Girl's Snow Queen, a musical based on stories by Hans Christian Andersen. She was musical director for Play's the Thing!, an annual children's workshop at Catholic University, and she was founding president of Theatre & Song which produced a workshop for teens. She has written several works for orchestra including Matrix and the still incomplete Concerto for Piano and Orchestra which was written during her many residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her Dance for Orchestra is on the MMC label recorded by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and her Adagio for Trumpet and Strings, also on the MMC label, was recorded by the Moravian Philharmonic. Arsis Press has published her Adagio for Trumpet and Strings and two vocal works: Nora for voice and cello, an extended series of scenes based on Ibsen's The Doll's House, and The Listeners for voice and piano.

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