I am proud to announce the release of Season's Surrender: From Songbirds to Snowflakes, five classical compositions musically celebrating the seasons of New England. The five pieces are somewhat influenced by Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. However, these are all original scores and motifs. The song titles are descriptively derived from the seasons of New England.

The motivation behind the year-long creation, besides my love of classical music, is the love of the movie The Four Seasons with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett. The original movie is broken into four sections, each punctuated with four seasonal stories underscored by the music of Antonio Vivaldi. I woke up one day and thought, "I'd like to do my own homage to all this". Hence, Season's Surrender: From Songbirds to Snowflakes was born.

Why add a fifth season? I did not feel satisfied artistically ending on such a dreary affair like Winter. Although we only have four weather seasons, it always seemed something was missing upon which a satisfactory punctuation mark pronounced the end of the year, hence, my fifth season.  

Season's Surrender: From Songbirds to Snowflakes

Spring-Awake in Silence - This is the first of five pieces focusing heavily on piano and strings with a large orchestral crescendo at the end. The name Spring Awake in Silence is related to the way flowers bloom quietly without notice, until one day we look to see them smiling back. All the hibernating animals and plants arise as well, but quietly, until they appear as if suddenly.

I. Sunrise

II. Awaken from Sleep

III. Spring Alive

IV. Animals at Play

V. Blooms & Buds

VI. Restlessness

VII. All Awake

Summer-Respite and Relief - While Spring brings the promise of relief from winter, what we really pine for is summer. It represents a time of warmth and leisure. This perspective is of course parochial in that I am from New England where rough winters and a slow coming spring are part of life here. 

I. The First Warm Day

II. Sunrise

III. Summer Morning

IV. A Time to Play

V. A Warm Evening with Family

VI. The End of Day

Fall-The Changing Kaleidoscope.  Another piece aptly applied to living in New England, fall is something special, particularly the more north you go. It is where leaves transform to a changing kaleidoscope of beauty until they fall to the ground looking back up to await winter.

I. It's Time to Change

II. The Forest is Churning New

III. Leaves Come Down

IV. Reconfiguring the Landscape 

V. The Last Blossoms

VI. Waiting for Winter

VII. Close of Season

Winter-The Whispering Chill. If you are not a winter sports enthusiast, winter in New England can be a trying, frigid and dreary experience. However, it has its own magic, bringing snow to a season filled with its own hope of the coming new year. Winter wipes away the previous three seasons so everything can start anew.  

I. Winter Arrives

II. Temperatures Dim

III. Ice Forms

IV. Falling Flakes

V. Snowstorms

VI. Winters End

Season's End. It somehow didn't seem fair to end on winter alone. I felt, emotionally, there needed to be something that wraps ALL four seasons into a final musical statement. In addition, although categorically we have four seasons, the truth is there is only one season that divides itself into four subsets of weather, providing a perfect circle of harmony. Season's End is about surrendering to the four seasons, completing that perfect circle.

I. In the Beginning (Piano)

II. Da Capo

III. Reason

IV. Counterpoint

V. Everyone

VI. Coda  

Michelle O'Donnell was born with a paint brush in one hand and song sheet in the other. Whenever we speak to Michelle, we are more than likely interrupting her humming a tune. Michelle enjoyed early guitar lessons and still enjoys picking up the instrument. Her enthusiasm for learning, whether it is the art form of drawing or her passion for singing, Michelle puts herself in the constant state of improvement. Michelle started at an early age story boarding cartoons moving on to her love of singing, especially harmonies.

What some may not know is that Michelle has the rare gift of perfect relative pitch. This means if a sequence of notes is played to her, she can repeat them accurately every time. I call her "one take Michelle." She has also developed her voice over the years with hundreds of hours spent practicing harmonies and complicated arrangements from Celine Dion and the like.

Michelle is also responsible for reworking lyrics on Second Chances, Give and Remembering as well as creating my album cover exposing her creative talents as an artist designer. 

Today Michelle enjoys a full-time occupation at the American School for the Deaf working with deaf, blind, and autistic children, some of whom are afflicted with all three conditions. Her love and patience with special needs children is a gift and her calling.

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Michelle

Download "Second Chances" and "Remembering"

Second Chances

Remembering

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