SELECTED AUDIO MATERIALS
Contents
1. Music
2. Poetry
3. Miscellaneous
MUSIC
Hyam Plutzik’s poems have been the inspiration for musical works by several distinguished composers. This page features a selection of such works. A bio for each composer can be found here.
Samuel Adler, Canto V
| 1. The Importance of Poetry or the Coming Forth of Eternity Into Time |
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| 2. If Causality is Impossible, Genesis is Recurrent |
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Canto V premiered in 1969 honoring the dedication of the new Interfaith Chapel at the University of Rochester. The two poems featured appear in Hyam Plutzik’s second collection, Apples from Shinar.
Roger Briggs, An Equation
| An Equation (8:44) |
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The poem “An Equation” is from Plutzik’s first collection, Aspects of Proteus.
Jeffery L. Briggs, Two Poems of Hyam Plutzik
| Two Poems of Hyam Plutzik (14:00) |
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The “two poems” used in this piece are “An Equation” (compare the stylistic differences between this and Roger Briggs’ rendition, above) and “Jim Desterland,” from Plutzik’s Apples from Shinar.
Robert Cohen, Of Eternity as a Closed System and Sprig of Lilac
| 1. Elegy (2:30) |
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| 2. The Uneasy Hedonist (2:02) |
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| 3. Connecticut Autumn (6:05) |
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| 4. The Milkman (2:46) |
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| 5. Shoeless Joe Jackson (3:22) |
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| 6. The Premonition (3:27) |
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| 7. Of Eternity Considered as a Closed System (5:22) |
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The seven songs of Cohen’s cycle for orchestra and choir take their titles and lyrics from poems spanning Plutzik’s career. These recordings were made during a live performance by Westfield Symphony Orchestra and Pro Arte Chorale at Carnegie Hall in New York City, February 5, 2007.
| Sprig of Lilac (6:24) |
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The City of Rochester declared “Sprig of Lilac” the official poem of the Lilac Festival in 2002. Cohen sets the text to music for choir a capella.
POETRY
| Selections from Horatio read by the poet, 1961 (1:32:57) |
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Listen to poet Hyam Plutzik speaking about and reading selections from his final published work Horatio, the long poem which would earn him finalist status for the Pulitzer Prize. Recorded in Rochester, New York.
| “The Geese” by Hyam Plutzik, read by James Longenbach |
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This recording was made for Poets Walk, a part of the City of Rochester’s Art Walk Extension Enhancement Project, which is working to create a variety of public art and poetry installations along University Avenue near the Memorial Art Gallery.
MISCELLANEOUS
| NPR Interview, 7/13/2007 (16:28) |
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Literary Historian Edward Moran speaks with Erika Funke of WVIA (NPR member station for northeastern Pennsylvania) about the documentary film Hyam Plutzik: American Poet, which premiered July 14, 2007 in Jim Thorpe, PA. Moran worked as the literary consultant on the production of the film.