Search - William Sharp, Lori Laitman, Seth Knopp :: Mystery: Songs of Lori Laitman

Reprint of March online Operanews.com review

05/29/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Composer Lori Laitman knows how to let the voice soar and explore, and recitalists looking to update their concert repertory would do well to pick up this disc for ideas. Laitman lets the texts inform her music, spinning lyrical neo-romantic vocal lines over shifting post-modern sonorities. In the title song cycle, Mystery, a collection of poems by Sara Teasdale, baritone William Sharp lends his customary intelligence and deft musicianship to various evocations of the contradictions and enigmas of love. The Metropolitan Tower and Other Songs, also poems by Teasdale, is rendered by the excellent Lauren Wagner, whose thrilling, expressive soprano is marred only by unnecessarily plummy diction. In the fascinating setting of six of the Love Songs of Marichiko by Kenneth Rexroth, Laitman cleverly utilizes solo cello accompaniment, suggesting the Japanese musical landscape without stranding herself there. Soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson negotiates these tricky songs with great yearning; she also gives a spirited reading of the warm, playful cycle "Days and Nights". In the highly affecting I Never Saw Another Butterfly, comprised of texts by children who perished in the Holocaust, the mournful solo saxophone represents the Eastern European Klezmer tradition. Saxophonist Gary Louie adroitly explores Laitman's flexibility of style, which reflects the kaleidoscope of emotions in these haunting, prescient texts, again beautifully sung by Wagner. Frederick Weldy, Seth Knopp and Laitman herself dispatch Laitman's intricate piano parts, alternating delicacy with rhythmic fervor. It's a treat to hear contemporary art songs that showcase the voice as flatteringly as these, and which retain individuality and surprise without sacrificing accessibility. JOANNE SYDNEY LESSNER"

Lori Laitman Delivers Sensitive Lush Emotional Landscape

Stephen Jackson | Texas, USA | 09/09/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lori Laitman, of Potomac Maryland, writes in the vein of Samuel Barber and Ned Rorem. Her harmonies and sensitivity to lyric content are always carefully balanced to give both color and meaning to the dense impact of her music. This compilation includes excerpts from several song cycles and is an excellent cross sample of style and emotion. I do regret that this album was not more inclusive as there are many excellent art songs that have never been recorded on a publicly available CD. The playing is clean and delightfully articulate and interpretations are vast emotional landscapes of the human experience. This CD is a must have for collectors and lovers of the American Art Song. Lori Laitman will certainly become an important part of the 20th century art song genre as her music reaches wider audiences and is accepted for the jewels and fine portraits of emotion that they are. Stephen Jackson"