Steve Schwartz wrote:

>One of the more interesting settings, though not entirely successful,
>is Philip Dalmas's "As I watch'd the ploughman ploughing," composed
>sometime before the composer's death in 1928.  Dalmas intuits that perhaps
>Whitman's new poetic expression suggests a new musical expression.  He
>doesn't find one, but he stretches the traditional pretty far, with mostly
>the voice and piano insisting on their own pedal points -- essentially,
>the singer becomes, until just before the end, "Johnny One-Note." It's
>a song of great risk, which to a great extent comes off.

I was very much pleased to read Steve's comments, as Philip Dalmas was
my grandfather's brother, and this particular recording is the only one
I know of any of his numerous works.  I might just add that the brief
biography of Dalmas in the liner notes needs some correcting.  The
composer's dates are 1870-1925.  He was born in Primos, PA (outside
Philadelphia) and died of pneumonia in Paris, France.  He never married,
and it was his sister Sophie who privately issued the limited engraved
edition of "As I Watched the Ploughman Plowing."

John Dalmas
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