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Ten songs of varying degrees of humour, sentimentality, comic invention, drama and sadness, written for alto (or countertenor) and guitar.

First performances (by the composer himself) of these songs can be heard here:
http://www.dwsolo.com/songswg
[The audio sample here is of "Habirandosan no Haiku" from that page]

== Video of Judas ==


NEW: These are now the revised editions, including fingerings by Alessandro Balsimini, in readiness for an upcoming CD recording ("The Outside and the Inside").

The song scores can be downloaded separately for EUR 7 each or all together in a bargain zip file for a total of EUR 25

Songs of Solomons

A collection of songs for alto voice and classical guitar, composed by David W Solomons, based on poems by Audrey Vaughan, Iskan Acikca, Mark Haviland and the composer himself.

Guitar part edited and fingered by Alessandro Balsimini

The title of this collection, Songs of Solomons, might well call to mind the Shir ha-Shirim (Song of Songs) of the Old Testament, but it is in fact very far from being eminently sacred or religious in intention and thus the analogies go no further than the name of the collection (which was in fact suggested by the publisher's wife!).
The intention of the composer of the Songs, with the subtle irony typical of his distant Jewish origins was to conceive a collection of widely differing stylistic and linguistic forms holding them in an overall design like a kaleidoscope, constituting almost a programmatic statement of his varied compositional style.
Taking the analysis down to the individual works we cannot help but recognise, in the choice of texts for some of them, Beetles' wings, Christmas Song and Judas – by Audrey Vaughan – that they all reflect a personal religious sentiment that may be deep but finds its home within a “cult” that is not completely codified, almost a sort of ancestral idea of the sacred with an internalised awareness that a superior creative will is “out there”. The need to return to a more authentic religious mood can be seen from the song “An Exmas Carol” – inspired by the carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem” – which is a strong denunciation of the modern commercialisation of the spirit of Christmas, summarised by the author in the play on words Xmas-Exmas – ie no longer Christmas.
This collection has its fair share of jokiness and parody as well, such as in Ludhè sing tishoo, based on a medieval English round Sumer is –icumen in, and Lookin' just lookin', both with lyrics by the composer himself, which are set apart from the rest by their satirical jollity. A convivial party atmosphere can be found in the Dionysian Greek Wassail whilst the New Troubadour Blues provide burlesque caricature of a would-be blues singer. It is hardly necessary to add that the words of these two songs also come from the imaginative pen of the composer. Finally, contrasting emotions are aroused by Rose, a real hymn to love, being a setting of the poem Gül [Rose] written by Kurdish prisoner of conscience Iskan Acikca and the Japanese “bric-à-brac” Habirando-san no Haiku – a setting of haikus – short and suggestive three-line poems typical of the Land of the Rising Sun – written by Mark Haviland.
To conclude, we would emphasise the unbreakable connection between text and music: the sentiments evoked by the words are precisely expressed in the musical language used each time by the composer, a flexible language able to adapt to widely different themes. As a result of this great variety the Songs of Solomons cannot be regarded as a song-cycle and, for this reason the order in which they appear here does not have to tie the performer down – performers can make their own choice of order as best suits their sensibilities, which is a final proof of the versatility of this multicoloured musical album.


Alessandro Balsimini
English translation by D. W. Solomons