2018 | soprano, bass-baritone, cello and piano. Setting of an excerpt from The Poet, published in Essays: Second Series (1844) by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Commissioned by The University of Massachusetts Amherst for soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine and bass-baritone Seth Keeton.
The premiere recording on is on the CD Transparent Boundaries, released on Navona Records on June 12, 2020.
[W]hat elevates this project to exceptional greatness are the texts of the three poets whom it honors: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman...Emerson's representation is limited to the opening track of the release, but it is perhaps the most gorgeous music heard here. Lori Laitman's Beauty is a lush, heartfelt setting of a text from Emerson's The Poet that is breathtakingly beautiful even without music:
Wherever snow falls, or water flows, or birds fly, wherever day and night meet in twilight, wherever the blue heaven is hung by clouds, or sown with stars, wherever are forms with transparent boundaries, wherever are outlets into celestial space, wherever is danger, and awe, and love, there is Beauty, plenteous as rain, shed for thee, and though thou shouldest walk the world over, thou shalt not be able to find a condition inopportune or ignoble.
The song is scored for soprano, baritone, cello, and piano, and Laitman demonstrates an uncanny ability to balance these elements with seamless grace...Laitman's other contribution to the disc is a set of three Dickinson songs, One Bee and Revery, that perfectly encompass the uncommon graces of the poet. Guarrine sings these with clarity and warmth.
The Journal of Singing
ERRATA for BEAUTY
soprano voice in m 52 should tie over to an 8th note in m. 53 to match the release of the baritone and both voices in m. 53 should have a mp DY
m. 62 baritone should have a crescendo
m. 77 both voices – the cresc should extend to the mf
m. 78 both voices – the cresc should extend to the f
m. 80 both voices – there should be a mf for beat 2
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 at 9:42AM