Abstract
The whimsical song cycle Restaurants, Wines, Bistros, Shrines, is difficult to place in a well-defined genre. The cycle comprises four songs: Lameloise, L’Auberge de L’Ill, La Chiusa, and Riesling d’Alsace. In a sense the songs have more in common with the cabaret or the variety show than with normal concert hall repertoire. In the first two songs there is less singing than playing and the texts are minimal. No surprise, for when one contemplates those two shrines of culinary achievement- Lameloise and L’Auberge de L’Ill - the experience leaves one speechless. Sufficient is the invocation of the hallowed name itself.
La Chiusa is more normal in its exposition of the material about a wonderful farm restaurant in the heart of Tuscany, and Riesling d’Alsace is something one might hear in a high-class cabaret in Paris (shades of Poulenc!).
The four songs wallow in vernacular material. I am increasingly fascinated by the challenge for transforming familiar musical elements, if inventively recycleing what we all know and share. The purpose? To make a music of rich reference and direct appeal.
The cycle owes its existence to the soprano Tobé Malawista and is dedicated to her.
— Yehudi Wyner