Saturday, February 5, 2011 at 10:33AM 2000 | soprano/piano
Poem by George Eliot, about 2.5 minutes long.
Winner of The Boston Art Song Competition, 2000.
To purchase Jennifer Check and Warren Jones performing this song, please click here
Monday, July 15, 2013 at 2:57PM
Friday, March 2, 2012 at 10:25PM 1993, rev. 1994 | soprano/cello
Poem by Kenneth Rexroth
Song 5 of The Love Poems of Marichiko
To purchase Phyllis Bryn-Julson and Thomas Kraines performing this song, please click here
Some newer editions may already have these corrections.
[None]
Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at 3:13PM 2017 | voice/piano
Lyrics by Lori Laitman.
Song 1 of cycle Short Songs for Edward
Composed in November 2017 for my grandson Edward Milton Rosenblum.
Friday, March 2, 2012 at 10:38PM 2006, rev. 2010, 2017 | soprano/piano
Poem by Sylvia Plath.
Song 1 of The Blood Jet
Commissioned by Dr. Adelaide Whitaker. Dedicated to soprano Sari Gruber. Published in June 2008.
The premiere recording with soprano Sari Gruber and pianist/composer Lori Laitman will be out on Naxos in December 2019, on a double CD of Lori's songs.
Friday, March 2, 2012 at 9:17PM 2001 | soprano/piano
Poem by Anne Spencer Lindbergh
Song 4 of Round and Round
Commissioned by Dr. Adelaide Whitaker.
To purchase Jennifer Check and Warren Jones performing this song, please click here
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 11:20PM 2001 | soprano or mezzo-soprano/piano
Poem by Sara Teasdale.
Song 3 of The Years
To purchase Patricia Green and Warren Jones performing this song, please click here
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 at 9:42AM Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at 5:06PM 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
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
Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 3:18PM 2003 | high voice and piano;
Poem by Dana Gioia.
Song 4 of cycle Becoming a Redwood.
After February 5, 2023, two new orchestrated versions will be available.
1) for high voice with chamber orchestra
2) for high voice with full orchestra, arranged by composer Diana Rosenblum.
To purchase Barbara Quintiliani and Lori Laitman performing this song, please click here
ERRATA:
A newer edition (with a photo of redwood trees on the cover) is available on my site at MusicaNeo.com. If you have an older edition, you can always contact me for a free update. And there one additional change to the tempo at m. 61. Quarter note should =100 not 108. Of course, everything is always flexible anyway.
Also the word on the downbeat of m. 61 should be "old"
