New CD Release: Celebrated Composer Ricky Ian Gordon Sings His Own Songs: BRIC-A-BRAC

Online, February 7, 2011 (Newswire.com) - One of the most beloved American composers of opera, musical theatre and song - Ricky Ian Gordon - performs his own songs while accompanying himself on the piano in the latest CD release from Blue Griffin: "Bric-A-Brac."

Providing a rare insight into the music and poetry of the celebrated composer, "Bric-A-Brac" is the second release on the "Ricky Ian Gordon Sings Ricky Ian Gordon" recording series, following the highly successful "A Horse With Wings," which was described by Fanfare Magazine as "impassionate."

Set to the words of such poets as Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, May Swenson, Marie Howe and Langston Hughes, in addition to Gordon's own poetry, these songs reflect a more intimate side of the famed composer whose prolific catalog features such large stage works as the opera "The Grapes of Wrath," which was proclaimed "the great American Opera" by Musical America, and the musical "Sycamore Trees," which was listed as one of ten best productions of 2010 by the Washington Post.

Infused with a candid vulnerability, the "Ricky Ian Gordon Sings Ricky Ian Gordon" recording series is Gordon's most personal offering: "For me, singing and playing my songs, even when they are meant for voices completely different than mine, feels like the most intimate act... like I am saying what I meant to say in the most unfettered way" - writes Gordon. "These recordings are an invitation into my process, my first impulse... just me, a poem, and a piano."

Ricky Ian Gordon's music, which has drawn such illustrious figures as Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw and the late Lorraine Hunt Leiberson, has been described by the New York Times as "caviar for a world gorging on pizza," and is presented here through the most honest of interpretations: the composer's.

"Bric-A-Brac" was recorded at Blue Griffin's Studio The Ballroom, produced and engineered by Sergei Kvitko, and is available at www.BlueGriffin.com, as well as other online and physical retail outlets.

The complete tracks are as follows:

1. Bric-A-Brac(text by Dorothy Parker)
2. Recuerdo(text by Edna St. Vincent Millay)
3. Pont Mirabeau (text by X. J. Kennedy)
4. The Spring and the Fall (text by Edna St. Vincent Millay)
5. Interior (text by Dorothy Parker)
6. Friend (text by Jean Valentine)
7. Just Now (text by Marie Howe)
8. Lullaby (text by Dorothy Parker)
9. Three Leaving (text by Leon Katz)
10. The Different Albertines (text by Richard Nelson and Ricky Ian Gordon)
11. Beat Me A Crown (text by Edna St. Vincent Millay)
12. Fewer Words (text by Ricky Ian Gordon)
13. We Will Always Walk Together (text by Ricky Ian Gordon)
14. My Mother Is A Singer (text by Ricky Ian Gordon)
15. Fried Dough (text by Michael Korie)
16. Kid In The Park(text by Langston Hughes)
17. Threnody(text by Dorothy Parker)
18. Question(text by May Swenson)
19. Home Is There(text by William Solly)