Here the weariest
come to rest
in the swirl
of light and time and water
water and air
blues, teals
a twisting wisteria
seems to wrestle
the trellis
of its own trail
tier on tier
climbing its wires
of air

After the war

in his atelier
a fog, a silt
filming each iris
Monet twisted the laws
of landscape and paint to raise

the real
into a kind of stairwell
to tease
his Parisians out of the sterile

trials of war
to rest
not to erase
but ease
let them stare
and stare

-Donna Masini

This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 1 Stairwell

Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.

These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.

In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.

The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.

The piece have 9 movements:

Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)

The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.

trying to sit
still
at the rail
of my attention, wait
(what can I take for later?)

(in the bookstore, retail
retail!)
(outside the swelter)

six hours behind me my sister lies
in a tangle of wires
and sweat
can’t eat, then rallies, tires
In a week I’ll
open a book: Art
I’ll give her Art
prayer, the clinical trials
and all
will
be well
all
will be all
will will will
too late

in a year she will
(erase)

(this can’t be real)
Later

when I buy myself a sweater
I buy one for her as well
-Donna Masini

This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 2 Tangle

Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.

These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.

In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.

The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.

The piece have 9 movements:

Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)

The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.

After the allies
after the serial

trials
the lies
his real
aim was to make a

“pond that remembers all”
not to paint “it”

rather “the air

that touched it”
-Donna Masini

This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 3 Sink

Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.

These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.

In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.

The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.

The piece have 9 movements:

Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)

The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.

Later
my sister became too ill

for the clinical trials
but there was a tease
around Easter
we could still

hope, more will
than possibility, a straw
false lease
I began to tell
her about the Water Lilies
watched her stare

at each panel as if I
were a merchant unfolding my wares

to make them so real
so literal

she might climb the tiers
of painted air the way lilies
rise
out of shit and silt
So Monet writ
his “terrible blizzard of loss that will

even erase
her features” John Berger writes

of the portrait of his young wife’s wrestle
with death; saw
painted light unlike the real

is not transparent—more a wall
and she, now, a corpse on an easel
-Donna Masini

This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 4 Painting

Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.

These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.

In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.

The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.

The piece have 9 movements:

Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)

The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.

the air’s alert
a Parisian jumps at the least
sound, it’s the law
of hatred, rule of Ares
a sewer of ire
a weary aisle
of fear, the stairwell
climbs down or up its
own dark rails
Fear has a long lease
retails
see it in the child’s welts
the wallets
of suffering and riot
suffering in the east
the west
What is an iris
to that? A lily? A star?
A sweet
roll from the now-dark café? It’s

the last straw
a waiter (writer)
says (in French); Ariel’s
attack of fear; he wears
he says, a sweater
of refugees, the late
bombed-out sites
The aria
of war
je suis allé
he says, why write?
-Donna Masini

This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 5 Ruins

Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.

These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.

In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.

The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.

The piece have 9 movements:

Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)

The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.

Water Lilies 6

like straw

in a storm, you are still

at the least
provocation, aswirl

almost real

like the water
Monet painted what we can’t see

then the lilies

like coins spilling out of water

trees, will-

ows, bent at the waist

hair falling, weeping trees

air and water

water and air

and you, sister, still

reel after reel

against all laws

aswirl
-Donna Masini

This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 6 Coins

Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.

These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.

In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.

The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.

The piece have 9 movements:

Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)

The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.

Water Lilies 7

suddenly welts

weals, wrestle
onto my skin, a series

of trails
I am my own walls

my body’s rash atelier
rails

something writes
from inside, tells
retells

my sister dragging the tail

of her oxygen tank; the weariest
days, shadows, trees

ills swell

nothing to erase
nothing to ease
I come to the wall

and the wall

all welter, swells
-Donna Masini

This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 7 Skin

Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.

These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.

In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.

The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.

The piece have 9 movements:

Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)

The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.

Water Lilies 8

Clear morning with will-
ows that will

never wilt

leaves, water-
plants, lilies

open like wallets

and wars

Who tallies

who reels in the literal
corpses? It’s the law

of will
art of waste

the world reels

late stars wobble on the easel
-Donna Masini

This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 8 Wallet

Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.

These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.

In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.

The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.

The piece have 9 movements:

Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)

The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.

(Water Lilies Floating)

water

lilies
will
air wait
air

iris
air
east
wars
water

teals
west
wisteria
trees
write air
water

will- lilies
laws
ows swirl

aisle
air

reels
-Donna Masini

This video is by David Humphrey, and visually sets the vocal setting. It is called: 9 Words

Kurt Rohde writes: This setting of Donna Masini's "Water Lilies," poems found at the center of her collection of poems "4:30 Movie," were composed at my home in San Francisco during the COVID pandemic for soprano Stephanie Lamprea. The electronics in this recording were produced in collaboration with Joshua Jandreau. The live performance version uses a Max patch created in collaboration with Alex Van Gils.

These poems are abstracted re-tellings of the poet going to MOMA and seeing Monet's "Waterlilies" and coming away thinking about the paintings, the artist, the time the were created, and her sister who was dying of cancer at the time of her visit.

In addition to panning, I use 4 effects in my settings: reverb, delay, hi-pass filters, & granular synthesis. In many cases, I re-order the word of the poems to create an alternative narrative. For the final setting, the singer sings with a fixed media track using a combination of recordings I made of birds, and recitations of the poem by the singer Stephanie Lamprea.

The piece is designed to accommodate the innumerable qualities & abilities of the singers who perform it. It is meant NOT to be the same way with each performance, but rather, should reflect what the singer sees & hears inside of the space of the music I have written.

The piece have 9 movements:

Water Lilies 1
Water Lilies 2
Water Lilies 3
Water Lilies 4
Water Lilies 5
Water Lilies 6
Water Lilies 7
Water Lilies 8
(Water Lilies Floating)

The recording is of Stephanie Lamprea. It was edited, mixed, mastered & produced by Joshua Jandreau.