Lori Laitman

Komponist

Lori Laitman

Texter

Emily Dickinson

Verleger

Enchanted Knickers Music

Genre

Klassische Musik / Lied

Instrumentierung

Klavier, Bass

Partitur für

Solo, Klavierbegleitung

Art der Partitur

Klavierauszug mit Singstimmen

Länge

4'45"

Sprache

Englisch

Schwierigkeitsgrad

Fortgeschritten

Jahr der Komposition

2006

Beschreibung
I have often turned to Emily Dickinson's poetry when writing songs as gifts.
An Amethyst Remembrance was composed as a 50th birthday present for my dear friend Joan Glick; Dear March celebrated my dear friend James Sinclair's 59th birthday, and The Perfected Life was written as a 90th birthday present for my dear father Milton Laitman (who would live almost another decade).

The cycle begins with a small musical motif in the piano: a leap of a 6th that is repeated. The voice enters with the same interval, and this piano motif reappears in between vocal phrases. The motif is extended at the end of the song by an echo of the “Amethyst remembrance” melody. Dear March is much sprightlier. In an attempt to capture the conversational nature of the poem, the meters change frequently to match each phrase of the poem. I use an upwards motif to portray the breathless excitement found in the line “I have so much to tell—”. The mid section of the song is more lyrical, but a motif of repeated notes interrupts, representing April’s “knocking” on the door. The Perfected Life seemed like the perfect poem for my dad’s 90th birthday, and the opening line is somewhat of an inside joke for me, as my mother's maiden name was Propp. Word painting is used: for example, the descending accompaniment melody as the “props withdraw”; the octave leap on the word “erect”; the elongation of the rhythm for the word “slowness” and the reversal of the accompaniment’s direction as the “soul” is revealed. I revised the markings and created new versions in November 2020, and the work is now available for soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone and bass.

You can hear a recording with Randall Scarlata and Lori Laitman at these links:
An Amethyst Remembrance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6D1uKdkMxw
Dear March: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KYSCMFPqPc
The Perfected Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRV5-yZZ6Vc

Datum des Uploads

10.01.2021