Letter To The World
Azica, 2022
8/10
The esteemed composer David Leisner brings us a portrait album where vocal chamber music honors the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Gene Scaramellino, Elissa Ely, Emily Bronte, Lao Tza and Wendell Berry.
“Confiding” opens the listen with 30+ minutes of Katherine Whyte’s stunning soprano alongside Lenore Fishman Davis’ sublime piano playing that flows in and out of 10 cycles of high and medium voice that contains much intimacy.
In the middle, “Das Wunderbare Wesen” showcases Michael Kelly’s eloquent baritone and Raman Ramakrishnan’s stirring cello which makes for cautious melodies and thriving metic patterns that display much skill and agility.
On the back half, “Simple Songs” is full of Kelly’s flawless pipes and Leisner’s flowing guitar work illuminating Dickinson’s poetry with much creativity, and “Of Darkness And Light” exits the listen with Sarah Whitney’s violin, Scott Bartucca’s oboe and Dimitri Dover’s piano complementing Andrew Fuchs’ soaring tenor across the meditative, rumbling and fragmented exploration.
A superbly rich, emotionally acute and very smartly executed project, Leisner and company leave us with a work of beauty that’s technically proficient in ways that few could replicate.
Travels well with: Miriam K. Smith- Momentum; Apollo Chamber Players- MoonStrike