Lori Laitman

Komponist

Lori Laitman

Texter

Susan de Sola

Verleger

Enchanted Knickers Music

Genre

Klassische Musik / Musikstück

Instrumentierung

Klavier, Klarinette, Geige, Kontrabass, Sopran

Art der Partitur

Partitur

Länge

10'0"

Sprache

Englisch

Schwierigkeitsgrad

Schwer

Jahr der Komposition

2022

Beschreibung
Wertheim Park
When Mina Miller asked me to compose a piece for MOR’s 25th anniversary season, I decided to explore the impact of the Holocaust on the next generation. Poet Susan de Sola (who died unexpectedly in October 2021) lost many of her relatives in the Shoah, and her poem Wertheim Park is a dramatic depiction of the annual Holocaust memorial march and its emotional impact on her. From March through May 2022, I composed the soprano and piano version, and from May through July 2022, I orchestrated the work for soprano, clarinet, violin, double bass and piano, subsequently reworking the piano/vocal version to include some of the new material introduced in the orchestration.

As with all my vocal works, the text was paramount in determining my approach to the composition, and my goal was to illuminate and magnify de Sola’s words. The work incorporates “motifs” associated with particular phrases (for example, “She gestured to her purse, and muttered work”), and once associated with these words, the music may later be separated from the words and repeated by the instruments to reinforce the association. Also woven vertically throughout are two musical themes from my Holocaust-themed oratorio Vedem, also commissioned by Music of Remembrance. The Vedem themes, associated with David Mason’s words, “Oh, hear my story now” and “I am nothing without memory”, further underline the importance that memory must play when we speak about the Holocaust.

The premiere is available to view on YouTube.

Datum des Uploads

17.04.2024