*excerpts from the premiere performance *
The Arts Bank | Philadelphia, PA | May 2000
Maria D'Alleva - mezzo soprano
Jenny Chai - piano

song I || 2'21" mp3
song IV (excerpt) || 2'08" mp3

Translated as the four melting birds, Les Quatre Oiseaux Fondre is a song cycle for mezzo soprano and piano. The four texts, L'Union libre and A Branch of Nettle Enters through the Window by André Breton and If you say the right words... and I have to write down the black words of the swans by Meret Oppenheim, are in French and English respectively.

Each song tries to evoke the nature of the poem and depict the nature of birds in an abstract way.