The Music of Lori Laitman, now available as PDFs
On A Photograph — for mezzo-soprano, baritone (or bass) and piano (priced for 3 copies)
SM-000518819
- Composer
- Lori Laitman
-
Lyricist
-
John Wood
- Publisher
- Enchanted Knickers Music
- Genre
-
Classical / Song
- Instrumentation
- Piano, Mezzo-soprano, Baritone, Bass
- Scored for
- Accompanying piano, Duo
- Type of score
- Piano-vocal score
- Duration
- 4'30"
- Language
- English
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Year of composition
- 2004
Description
John Wood’s vivid imagination drew me to On A Photograph. In this poem, he imagines the daily life of two people from an old photograph (visible on the cover).
Due to the poem’s long sentence structures, the melodic lines in this song are quite extended. There is also much flexibility in the tempi, to match the conversational tone of the poem. Time seems to explode as the poem builds to its climax with the lovers loving, and the hands of the pianist move over the keyboard, just as a lover’s hands might move over a lover. And then, just as after love making, a calmness ensues. The original melody and harmonies return , slightly altered to fit the final words. The song ends with the piano quoting the music accompanying the words “back when my grandparents were children” — leaving the song’s harmonies unresolved and floating in the air.
You can listen to the duet version at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_BM_xsWXQg