The Love Poems of Marichiko
Lori Laitman
About this work:
When The Love Poems of Marichiko was published in 1978, Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982) purported to be translating the love poems of a Japanese woman poet named Marichiko. However, it is widely rumored that Rexroth himself wrote the poems. The poems tell the story of a young woman and her secret lover. I set the first six of these poems: they depict the woman’s affair, her sadness at being apart from her lover, and her elation when they are together.
The relationship between voice and cello shifts frequently throughout the cycle. Sometimes the voice and cello lines are contrapuntal; sometimes they echo each other’s musical phrases; sometimes the cello line serves simply as an accompaniment; and, especially at the end of the cycle, the voice and cello are sometimes equal partners.
To capture the Eastern quality of the texts, the settings avoid strongly articulated rhythms (more typical of Western music) and instead substitute shifting time signatures and a rhythmic ambiguity. The cello enhances this mood with its ability for subtle pitch gradations and articulation. Bowing techniques such as sul tasto (bowing over the fingerboard for a feathery, soft quality), sul ponticello (bowing close to the bridge for a glassy, metallic sound) and tremolo (rapid, shallow bow changes for a nervous, intense quality) combine with special articulations such as pizzicato (plucking instead of bowing), glissando (audibly sliding into or away from a pitch) and double/triple stops (2 or 3 note chords) to enrich the timbral palette. The interval of a fifth is especially prominent in the cello part; from the opening notes, the interval threads its way through the songs, and finally ends the cycle a minor third down from the opening.
The vocal lines are consistently text driven, intensifying the expression and meaning of the words. Autumn is the most atmospheric, interweaving a long descending vocal line with the rich colors of the cello. In this song, both voice and cello utilize pitch bending, a technique widely employed in and evocative of traditional Japanese koto music. If I thought.. and You Ask Me contain the most rhythmic contrasts, while the melismatic qualities of the voice are explored in You Ask Me and Just Us. The song cycle draws to a close as both voice and cello soar together in a combination of happiness and sadness.
A recording of this song cycle can be found on "Mystery - The Songs of Lori Laitman," released Aug. 2000 by Albany Records. (Troy 393). Phyllis Bryn-Julson, soprano, Thomas Kraines, cello. It is published by Enchanted Knickers Music and available for sale through Classical Vocal Reprints, 1-800-298-7474.
Version: soprano and cello
Year composed: 1994
Duration: 00:11:35
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Solo Voice with One Non-keyboard Instrument
Instrumentation: ,1 Cello soloist(s), ,1 Soprano soloist(s)