The Lotus Eaters

Music by Sarah Kirkland Snider.
Lyrics by Ellen McLaughlin (the American playwright).
Performed by Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond) and Signal (a progressive chamber ensemble).
Conducted by Brad Lubman.
New Amsterdam Records

(Pictured: Sarah Kirkland Snider and Shara Worden. Photo courtesy of Murat Eyuboglu)

This is just the kind of thing we like to see at Synesthesia: a serious musician–in this case a composer–collaborating with fellow artists to achieve an intriguing interdisciplinary result. In my mind, this is reminiscent of the giant strides The Metropolitan Opera is making with its “Live in HD” series–essentially, making serious music more accessible to the masses by utilizing the modern mediums of video and the internet.

“The Lotus Eaters” is excerpted from a recent (released October 26, 2010), highly acclaimed song cycle by Sarah Kirkland Snider, entitled Penelope.

“[Penelope] had an elegiac quality that deftly evoked sensations of abandonment, agitation, grief and reconciliation… ably [demonstrating] the poised elegance of Ms. Snider’s writing.”  – Steve Smith, The New York Times

Written for Mezzo-soprano and orchestra, Penelope is “a meditation on memory, identity, and what it means to come home…Suspended somewhere between art song, indie rock, and chamber folk, the music of Penelope moves organically from moments of elegiac strings-and-harp reflection to dusky post-rock textures with drums, guitars and electronics, all directed by a strong sense of melody and a craftsman’s approach to songwriting.”

Without further ado, we bring you “The Lotus Eaters,” from Penelope by Sarah Kirkland Snider:

It would be an injustice not to mention that the singer you just heard, Shara Worden, is a cult star in her own right. Besides having an incredible voice any way you slice it, her work with My Brightest Diamond is a truly refined, expressive art music of the highest order. The following clip features two songs: “Apples” and “The Gentlest Gentlemen” (my favorite of the two), the second of which begins at 3’07″:

On January 27, 2011, Shara makes her debut in the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center (The Allen Room). More information and tickets can be found here.

We leave you, reluctantly, with the beautiful music of My Brightest Diamond, again featuring Shara Worden on vocals.

‘Disappear’ (2006):