18 Poems by
Adapted by
Music by |
Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow
Layne Longfellow
Michael Hoppé |
|
 |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's
beloved poems are adapted for performance by Layne
Longfellow.
Music by Grammy finalist Michael Hoppé.
" It is high time that the sense and the sound of this major
American voice were brought freshly to our ears."
Billy
Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate
"You
will be hanging
on every word..."
CDBaby.com |
"Layne Longfellow not just revives Longfellow, but gives the poetry the personal and human context for which it is meant. I especially like his version of "The Children's Hour,"
which dispenses with the syrupy sentimentalism readers have
associated with it and restores the poem's original power."
-- Christoph Irmscher, author, Longfellow Redux
The Poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is one of the best loved American poets the
world over. Many of his phrasings remain in the memory and accompany us
through life. Although he was a serious and internationally respected
scholar, Longfellow was blessed with the gift of easy rhyme. He wrote
poetry as a bird sings, with natural grace and melody. Once read or heard,
his rhyme and meter cling to the mind. MORE...
The
Adaptation
Ironically, Layne Longfellow adapted Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow's poems because he wanted them to be heard the
way the poet intended them. Increasingly, we listen instead of read,
and what reads well to the eye, on the page, is not necessarily what reads
well to the ear. Henry Longfellow himself almost never read aloud in public.
Gentle, scholarly, and unassuming, it was an activity he abhorred. On
this CD, Longfellow poetry is adapted for reading aloud, for listening.
His poetry raised significant questions for us to consider; Layne Longfellow's
role is to phrase them so that they can be heard today. The original written
texts are reprinted exactly as they appear in his 1885 Complete Poetical
Works.
MORE...
The
Music
The adaptation, cast with a breathtaking musical score by Michael
Hoppé, amplifies the emotional content of the poetry. Michael
Hoppé is the accomplished Grammy finalist and award-winning composer
of "The Lover: Love Poems of Carl Sandburg," "Afterglow," "The Poet,"
"Solace;" grandson of E.O. Hoppé. The musical score fits the adaptation
so well that it's difficult for some to separate the poem from its background.
The poetry floats on Michael's music, which reflects it back without a
ripple. MORE...
The
CD...
...is an antidote to twenty-first-century hyperstimulation. It is calming,
reflective, thought-provoking . A historical society in Massachusetts
wrote that the recordings reawakened their old love of Longfellow. A 10-year-old
boy uses it as a bedtime story. An architect gathered with friends and
listened around a fire, leading to warm, deep conversation. In the car,
it is a relief from noise, news, and traffic. Others listen to the CD
in the early morning, upon arising, to set their emotional thermostat
for the day.
MORE...
