The works on this Naxos release are of various kinds, but they hang together in quite a powerful way. They are, for one thing, conservative in tonality but not in form, engaging with their texts in free, original ways. The songs were mostly for other instruments with voice but work perfectly well on the clarinet. The heart of the matter is that composer Lori Laitman's combination of detailed word-painting with serious subject matter is quite affecting. At the center of the program are two works that deal with the Holocaust, ...
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The works on this Naxos release are of various kinds, but they hang together in quite a powerful way. They are, for one thing, conservative in tonality but not in form, engaging with their texts in free, original ways. The songs were mostly for other instruments with voice but work perfectly well on the clarinet. The heart of the matter is that composer Lori Laitman's combination of detailed word-painting with serious subject matter is quite affecting. At the center of the program are two works that deal with the Holocaust, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, setting texts written by children at the Terezin (Theresienstadt) concentration camp, and its sequel, The Secret Exit, on poems by German Jewish writer Nelly Sachs. These draw the listener in with their vivid evocation of the texts and allow their full emotional impact to develop. The other Laitman cycle, Living in the Body, sets texts by popular poet Joyce Sutphen and is less grim, but is cut from the same cloth. The Laitman songs are effectively...
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![Laitman: the Secret Exit [Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk; Denise Gainey] [Naxos: 8559890]](https://www2.alibris-static.com/cover/o65034coxd2_t.jpg)
