Starkey's Rush Allen Jones Girard is being released in stores and streaming services for the first time. The 2016 electro-acoustic work was originally written as a month long audio installation for the Community College of Philadelphia's Mint Building Rotunda. Here are the original program notes:
The site of Philadelphia’s Third Mint Building occupies land that was originally part of Springettsbury Manor, owned by William Penn. Penn sold or provided individuals with the land as payment for services. Andrew Hamilton was one of these individuals; he built Bush Hill Manor on the land where the Mint Building stands today, and died there on August 4th 1741. In 1790, John Adams, then Vice President of the United States, lived at Bush Hill for part of his term in office.
In 1793, yellow fever hit Philadelphia killing 5,000 residents. Bush Hill was turned into a hospital. Benjamin Rush, Richard Allen, Absalom Jones and Stephen Girard were all prominent Philadelphians who cared for patients and fought the yellow fever epidemic in the city.
After the yellow fever epidemic, the hospital transitioned into a tavern, and most of the structure burned to the ground in 1808.
The US Mint Building was completed in 1901.
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Starkey's ambient journey that is "Rush Allen Jones Girard" is epic in scale and sound. Piano sits alongside drifting vocal elements, throbbing synths and organs. Released the same year as "Charting Stardust (Original Soundtrack)", fans of that work should hear some similarities in the compositions and production on display here.
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