Heartbeats: Songs from Minnesota for the AIDS Quilt Songbook

The AIDS Quilt Songbook was conceived by the late baritone Will Parker as a continually growing collections of art songs articulating the range of emotions occasioned by the impact of the AIDS epidemic on society. This recording includes: premiére recordings of six new songs for soprano voice commissioned by Parker for his last public appearance at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis on December 1, 1992; premiére recordings of three songs for baritone voice from Parker’s original collection not included on his earlier premiere Mundi compact disc; two new songs contributed to the Songbook by Aaron Jay Kernis and Cary John Franklin; alternative performances of previously recorded songs by John Harbison, William Bolcom, and Chris Deblasio; and a live recording of John Musto’s songHeartbeats. from Parker’s own intensely moving final public performance.