Russell Platt, adjunct associate professor of music at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music, has released a new album, Mountain Interval: Songs and Chamber Music, through Bridge Records. The digital release is set for November 7 with physical recording to be available November 21. The album brings together more than 30 years of Platt’s music and is performed in collaboration with several other musicians, including Blair faculty members Molly Barth, associate professor of flute; Amy Dorfman, professor of piano; and Peter Kolkay, professor of bassoon. All of the songs are performed by the Metropolitan Opera tenor Paul Appleby and Met pianist Myra Huang.
The project takes its title from Mountain Interval, a 1916 poetry collection by Robert Frost. Many of the pieces are inspired by Frost’s writing, as well as the poems of Paul Muldoon and Elizabeth Bishop. The music is thoughtful, expressive, and often deeply personal, reflecting Platt’s love of melody and storytelling through sound.
“I am fortunate, with Vanderbilt’s support, to bring together four decades of music on this album, which features pieces never recorded before,” said Platt. “It’s a chance to look back at the long journey I’ve taken with music and words, and I treasure the collaborations gathered here.”
The tracklist includes:
- After Apple-Picking, a song based on Frost’s famous poem
- Paul Muldoon Songs, a set of four songs written between 1992 and 2002, is recorded here in full for the first time.
- Sonnet by Elizabeth Bishop
- Sunday Variations, written for solo bassoon and performed by Peter Kolkay
- Madrigal and Memoir, two instrumental works for flute, with Molly Barth partnering with violinist Inés Voglar Belgigue and Amy Dorfman, respectively
- And the title piece, Mountain Interval, a seven-part string quartet inspired by the poetry of Robert Frost and by the late quartets of Beethoven, performed by the Borromeo String Quartet at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall.
The recording of Memoir took place at the Blair School’s Turner Recital Hall, with support from a Vanderbilt professional development grant.
Platt, who also serves as coordinator of the Music as a Second Major or Minor program, has been recognized nationally for both his music and his writing. He was a senior editor for classical music at The New Yorker for eighteen years, and received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for music criticism as well as the Charles Ives Scholarship and Fellowship in composition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His recent works include Symphony in Three Movements (for the Buffalo Philharmonic) and Arizona Echoes: Sinfonia for Band, which was premiered by the Vanderbilt Wind Symphony under the direction of Thomas Verrier.
With Mountain Interval, Platt brings together poetry, memory, and musical collaboration by a close community of artists.
“This album gave me a special opportunity to bring together colleagues from my years in New York with several of the Blair School’s world-class artists,” said Platt. “Blair is not only one of Nashville’s great cultural institutions, but a place that can foster creative collaborations of national scope.”