Medicine Man is the 5th collaborative Art Song recording between composer Christopher Ludwig and baritone Cliff Ridley. The texts come from poets whose backgrounds and themes spread across time, geography, texture and style. Such an approach may on the surface appear to be whimsical and haphazard, yet in Medicine Man, the threads of poetic and compositional colour, mood and imagery are remarkably tight and interwoven. The composer is able to realize this unified tapestry by utilizing consistent stylistic elements and an intuitive process nurtured over years of development and exploration in the Art Song Genre. The long-standing partnership between musicians and composer allowed for the fullest realization of the literary and musical subtleties of Medicine Man. The literary and artistic awareness of both musician and composer needed to be equally as keen, imagist and intuitive. Medicine Man was created on top of a foundation of prose and is left to dwell in a world outside of regular discourse; in a world of music and prose that is both reality and escapism sculpted into a photograph "...grained with light". This is the "face in sepia", where the listener is not merely a guest at the table but must create their own photograph with each listening. The questions to be asked are, who is the Medicine Man and can we trust the treatment?
Click Here to view the illustrated pdf booklet
Christopher Ludwig - Music
Cliff Ridley - Baritone
Tatiana Khvatova - Piano
Alina Khvatova - Violin
Full Length Audio Files
Track List and Credits - (Back of Booklet)
Tracks No. 1-20
Alina Khvatova (violin)
Tracks No. 4-7