The Music of Lori Laitman, now available as PDFs
One or Two Things — for mezzo-soprano and piano (priced to 2 copies)
SM-000519805
- Composer
- Lori Laitman
-
Lyricist
-
Mary Oliver
- Publisher
- Enchanted Knickers Music
- Genre
-
Classical / Song
- Instrumentation
- Piano, Mezzo-soprano
- Scored for
- Solo, Accompanying piano
- Type of score
- Piano-vocal score
- Duration
- 5'30"
- Language
- English
- Year of composition
- 2001
Description
One or Two Things (2001) was commissioned by Dr. Adelaide Whitaker. This short cycle sets 4 of the 7 segments of Mary Oliver’s beautiful poem. "Don’t Bother Me" begins dramatically before settling into a flowing lyricism. The stops and starts in the vocal line mimic the rhythms of a butterfly’s flight, as it goes from flower to flower. The metrical slowdown in the accompaniment underscores the “long delicious moments” of the butterfly’s laziness. The ending solo vocal notes, very quiet, on one pitch, with no vibrato, matches the image of “riding motionless.” The heaviness and dissonance of the opening of "The God of Dirt" sets the stage, building to a climax with loud piano glissandi and fortissimo in the voice, followed by a quiet echo, as the “God of Dirt” speaks the word “now.” The song ends with the piano restating the vocal line attached to the words “never once mentioned forever”. The last song is sweetly lyrical. To emphasize the notion that “One or two things are all you need,” the opening accompaniment alternates between 2 simple harmonies.
You can hear a recording here:
Song 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aw3Kz_YeQo
Song 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHGe5Qy5mdg
Song 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-71TitH7-U