During the period 1983 - 1995, Barton and Priscilla McLean found themselves residing in a virtual paradise in a forgotten rural corner of eastern New York State, living in a restored farmhouse originally built in 1790 surrounded with 300 acres of fields, ponds, forest and mountains. Thus was formed the inspiration for a set of five electronic music tone poems entitled “Visions of a Summer Night,”  all composed in the McLeans’ Hill Hollow Farm studio.  All five works depict different impressions of the wonderous summer nights in that peaceful area,  where Barton and Priscilla would sit on their porch and experience the sounds and sights of nature, much like it existed 200 years ago in that same place.  Each of the five tone poems depicts a different aspect of the experience and include 1. A Little Night Musician (Eine Kleine...) (dur. 6:03) II. Too Much Dandelion Wine (Dur. 5’). III. Valley of Lost Dreams (Dur. 9:25). IV. Demons of the Night (Dur. 6:41), and  V. Fireflies (Dur. 13:03).

 

A Little Night Musician uses as its principal sound source a cricket residing near the porch of McLean's Hill Hollow farm in Petersburgh, NY. As in all the works in this set, McLean uses Opcode Studio Vision software with TX81z FM modules and Prophet 2000 samplers. The loneliness of the single cricket crying out for a mate night after night capures the essence of this short introductory movement. Recorded on Centaur Records (CD) CRC 2047 (1990).

 

Too Much Dandelion Wine is a humorous depiction of a typical evening at the farm where Priscilla and Barton would revel in the fireflies on the porch looking out over the pond and listening to the peepers and bullfrogs, while sipping their homemade dandelion wine. Amidst these samples is the voice of Trevor Wishart, with whom McLean has sometimes collaborated. 

Valley of Lost Dreams.  Barton McLean was inspired one night looking from his porch vantage point over the Hill Hollow Valley, which had been a vibrant area of working farms 200 years ago but was now all reverted to forest.  When the descending darkness progressed to a certain point, with the stream and insect sounds reaching a crescendo, he could look over the valley now devoid of any habitation and almost see and hear the many farm houses with children playing and horse carriages running along the roads, all now gone back to the original forest.   The work’s climax comes at the middle, where actual derivative sounds of children and horse carriages can be heard among the otherwise abstract sound material.  This central work in the set of five was composed in the McLean Hill Hollow Studio using Studio Vision software with a combination of sampled sounds and Yamaha TX 81z FM synthesis modules. Recorded on Capstone CD (CPS 8622 CD (1995), now available on Ravello (Naxos). Also released  on EM Records in Japan in 2006 as EM 1060CD.

To understand  Demons of the Night is to come to terms with the subconscious primitive fears we all experience in the dark depths of the night forest.  While directing the Electronic Music Center at the University of Texas in Austin, McLean was privileged to work with saxophone virtuoso Albert Regni, who recorded the various saxophone “terror” licks.  Other recognizable samples were derived from his double bass and soprano recorder performances.  This was produced on an early version of Opcode Vision software using MIDI synthesizers such as the Yamaha TX 81 Z and the Prophet 2000 sampler.  The constant fluctuation between extreme tension and release was a powerful process in this short but drama-packed work. Recorded on Centaur Records (CD) CRC 2047 (1990). Recorded on Capstone CD (CPS 8622 CD (1995), now available on Ravello (Naxos).

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Fireflies is the most symphonic work in this set, depicting the broad expansive mystery of the summer night while observing the flreflies blinking by the millions over the tall grassy fields. In concert it was accompanied by McLean's invention, the Sparkling Light Console, which produced rapid colorful patterns on a large light panel board while played from a MIDI keyboard.  Recorded on Capstone CD (CPS 8622 CD (1995), now available on Ravello (Naxos).

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The last three movements are previewed on the Ravello site as well.

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Visions of a Summer Night is © and ℗ 1996 Barton McLean