Siblings Jennifer Shorstein and Benjamin Shorstein release their first recording with their Fairy Tales song cycle on Madre Vaca Records — now available everywhere.
The Shorstein siblings have been crafting songs together for years, with Jennifer writing the words and Benjamin the music. Benjamin Shorstein says “writing songs with Jennifer is a dream; she creates these beautiful, evocative scenes. It’s the most exciting thing to sit down at the piano with her lyrics and explore the musical terrain they inspire.” This recording is the culmination of years of collaborative tinkering. In 2012, early versions of songs from Fairy Tales were workshopped and performed at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. The instrumentation is soprano and tenor voices, piano, violin, cello, percussion, and clarinet.
Four vocalists, including another Shorstein sibling, Rebecca, perform the piece with instrumentalists from the Bold City Contemporary Ensemble. Sopranos Rebecca Shorstein and Monica Pasquini, known to millions for their stunning duet rendition of Mozart’s Queen of the Night aria, bring an operatic palette to the recording, while tenor Jake McKenna and soprano Jennifer Anderson carry their musical theatre experience front and center with their expressive and dynamic voices. Members of the Bold City Contemporary Ensemble have performed under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, Riccardo Muti and Courtney Lewis.
Fairy Tales is composed of moments from classic fairy tales - Rapunzel looking down from her tower at her prince, Hansel and Gretel lost in the woods, and Cinderella’s missed connection. The Prologue sets up the cycle with a dramatic vocal quartet, underscored by rich harmonies. Rapunzel is the first fairy tale moment, a gigue driven by the riq, a percussion instrument like the tambourine. Beauty and the Beast follows with a reflective and introspective ballad. Snow White is a sardonic swing song of unrequited love, crooned by one of the dwarves. Sleeping Beauty enters us into a dream, with oblique harmonies and lush accompaniment. Hansel and Gretel charms with a simple melody and sentiment of a good cheering up. Little Mermaid enters a more sparse instrumentation, delving into the depths of a desperate character. Cinderella rounds out the fairy tale moments with the regret of a missed connection. The cycle ends with the Epilogue, an instrumental reminiscence of themes from the earlier songs, finally ending with dark, low notes on the piano, a clock signaling the end of our fairy tale dream.
Fairy Tales is a work instilled with multiple musical genres, including classical, jazz, and musical theatre. The Shorsteins bring this blend together naturally. Jennifer is a writer and director of theatre in addition to being a lyricist. Benjamin is a composer of classical and jazz music, frequently blending the styles, with the Chicago Tribune writing that with his jazz arrangement of Schubert’s Winterreise, “Benjamin has created the best kind of jazz-meets-the-classics merger, the two worlds intermingling rather than crashing up against each other.”
Madre Vaca Records is an independent label for the eccentric artist (and listener). They feature the unfiltered vision of composers, improvisers, and performers of classical, jazz, and beyond. For email updates and information please visit MadreVaca.org.
Listen on Bandcamp here.