New Westminster Podcast Focuses on Composer Morten Lauridsen
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A conversation with noted composer Morten Lauridsen is the latest in the Westminster-to-Go podcast series on the Rider Web site. It features Westminster conductors Joe Miller and James Jordan, joined by WWFM radio host David Osenberg, discussing the composition of his Lux Aeterna and O Magnum Mysterium, which are among the most frequently performed choral works in America.
The group’s conversation about selecting a text to set to music and the relationship between the two offers insights not only for the professional musician but also for the amateur choir member and the listener.
“The great love of my life is poetry – besides music,” says Lauridsen, reflecting on where he finds the text for his compositions. “I read it every day…I start my theory classes with poetry….it elevates us.” He notes that he prefers to set texts in the original language and that he has the advantage of working at a university where he has access to colleagues who can aid him in the process.
Winner of the 2007 National Medal of Arts, Morten Lauridsen was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994-2001 and professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for more than 30 years.
The podcast was recorded last April while Lauridsen was an artist-in-residence on the Westminster campus. It includes segments of recordings of his works by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Anam Cara and Westminster Schola Cantorum. It also features a link to the Norton Simon Museum’s image of Francisco de Zurbarán's painting Still Life With Lemons, Oranges and a Rose, which was the inspiration for O Magnum Mysterium, and to Lauridsen’s article about the work that recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
