Mystery: Songs of Lori Laitman

William Sharp (Performer), Lori Laitman (Composer), Lori Laitman (Performer), Seth Knopp (Performer), Lauren Wagner (Performer), Phyllis Bryn-Julson (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: William Sharp, Lori Laitman, Seth Knopp, Lauren Wagner, Phyllis Bryn-Julson
• Composer: Lori Laitman
• Audio CD (August 29, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Albany Records
• ASIN: B00004WK0B
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,505 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reprint of March online Operanews.com review, May 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mystery: Songs of Lori Laitman (Audio CD)

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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lori Laitman Delivers Sensitive Lush Emotional Landscape, September 8, 2000

By 

Stephen Jackson "Classical vocalist and Voice... (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Mystery: Songs of Lori Laitman (Audio CD)

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

5.0 out of 5 stars composer has exceptional talent and insight, June 28, 2010

By 

Nancy L. Hall (Findlay, Ohio, US) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Mystery: Songs of Lori Laitman (Audio CD)

The Mystery album composed of songs by the composer, Lori Laitman offers much insight and a beautiful gift for setting poems to song as in the Butterfly pieces about the children in the concentration camp during the holocaust. The other art songs are equally lovely and haunting and uplifting. Highly recommended for your listening pleasure! Lori Laitman is a real gift to art song composition on the scene today. Extremely enjoyable for this soprano!