Album: "Three Friends” Artist: Debussy Trio; Suzanna Guzman (mezzo-soprano) Label: RUBEDO CANIS MUSICA (RCM), RCM 12003 Released: September, 2001. Contains: TRI CHAİRDE (for flute, viola and harp) TRES CANCIONES SOBRE LORCA (for mezzo-soprano, flute, viola, and harp) CINCO CANCIONES INSÓLITAS (for mezzo-soprano, flute, viola, and harp) LULLABY (for flute, viola and harp) _______ "The 'Tres Canciones sobre Lorca' were originally written for a series of bilingual productions of Lorca’s plays in Los Angeles. ‘Mariposa del aire’ is a vibrant setting, inhabiting a style somewhere between Canteloube and de Falla’s “Seven Popular Spanish Songs….all are undeniably attractive and penned with assurance. "The 'Cinco Canciones Insólitas (Five Peculiar Songs)' is an exercise in using the voice not as a spotlight soloist but rather as an equal partner with the three instrumentalists. Krouse’s gift for striking and memorable melody is displayed in the second song, ‘Giraba la rueda’ (Song of the Housemaid). Suffused with gentle regret, and with sustained piquant scoring for harp and flute, the setting distils a quite extraordinary atmosphere of ruminative sadness. Conttrast is supplied with the ensuing flamenco-flavored ‘Zorongo,’ which material stems from Lorca’s own melodies. All five songs are crafted with the finest polish and a genuine flair for vocal writing. “Krouse’s concluding 'Lullaby' brings us nicely full circle with another Irish melody arranged with a subtle flair…” Lawrence A. Johnson, GRAMOPHONE, Awards Issue 2001 “Thamar y Amnón” is a chamber tone poem based on a García Lorca ballad, which is in turn based on II Samuel in the Bible. It’s largely gentle and certainly listenable. It was written for the Debussy Trio, and naturally they play it beautifully.” ~Donald R. Vroon, Editor in Chief, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, July/August, 2000 “Thamar y Amnón, written for the present performers (Marcia Dickstein, harp, Angela Weigand, flute, and Keith Greene, viola), is a chamber tone poem based on one of García Lorca’s Historical Ballads and is both evocative and erotic, with Thamar’s seductive role portrayed on the viola.” John Story, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, July/August, 2000 [In]“Thamar y Amnón,” inspired by Lorca’s retelling of the biblical story of the incestuous rape of King David’s daughter by her half-brother, scored for the same instruments as Debussy’s trio sonata, Krouse assigns the tortured Amnón to the flute, and the seductive Thamár to the viola, with the harp essentially given over to the horrified father of the pair, the famous harpist Kind David himself. The Spanish ties are more integrated into the whole for what is a fully viable concert work.” Ivan March and Edward Greenfield, THE PENGUIN GUIDE TO COMPACT DISCS