Oscar Rasbach (arr: Carl Deis): Trees

Phillip Sear plays Carl Deis' 1926 piano transcription of Oscar Rasbach's once-famous song 'Trees' - a setting of a well-known poem by Joyce Kilmer.
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The American pianist and composer Oscar Rasbach (1988-1975) - sometime piano pupil of Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna - wrote operettas and songs, of which 'Trees' was the most famous. It was recorded by Nelson Eddy, Paul Robeson and other top singers of the era. This luxuriant transcription is by Carl Deis (1883-1960). I don't know much about Deis' life, except that he was a prolific arranger - he worked as a senior editor for the G. Schirmer publishing business until 1953. He was also an accompanist and composer, but he is most remembered today for his arrangements for various choral combinations and piano. The poem 'Trees' is by Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918 - a man, and an American World War I casualty). Here is the text of the poem:

"I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree."

My thumbnail shows a detail from a photo I took in October 2014 of trees at Wakehurst Place, Sussex, England.
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Played by Phillip Sear
http://www.psear.co.uk (Email: [email protected]
WhatsApp: http://wa.me/441444483794 ) TikTok:   / pianogems