In late July 1996 I visited my dear composer friend Marc Marder who lives in Paris. A superb bass player and prolific composer of chamber music, songs and film scores, this New York-born artist moved to France some years ago to raise his family and continue his musical career. I asked Marc to write me a piece on an American text—of his own choosing. Marc was leaving for Lyon that very weekend, but he got right to work and finished the music for Walt Whitman’s poem To a Stranger while travelling back and forth on the Paris-Lyon TGV I had gone on to Italy to perform at the Spoleto festival with pianisi Jean-Yves Thibaudet and other artists. When I received Marc’s fax of the song, I showed it to Jean-Yves who immediately placed it on the piano and read it through as I sang. We agreed that it was an excellent song. Marc Marder has given Whitman’s moving text a musical urgency and beauty of line that make the song a delight to sing.

from notes by Robert White © 1997