Parsons Cove

A duet for score and soprano tracing a shared experience between the work's composer and performer. 10 minutes.

Parsons Cove was composed by Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg for "Spanking New," Anne Rhodes's MA Thesis Concert. Performed by Anne Rhodes, soprano, and featuring a stereo soundtrack played back through the performance score by Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg. Performed at the Memorial Chapel, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT on February 18, 2006.

In Parsons Cove, Anne interprets a visual score in the form of a loose accordion-bound tunebook with loudspeakers in its covers. Anne and the Parsons Cove tunebook sing together. They trade fragments of a shape note song written by Jesse at Anne's parents' house in the winter of 2003, and recall, through recording playback and vocalization, the beach in Kennebunkport, Maine, for which the shape note song, and the tunebook are named.

— Program notes for "Spanking New."