Pianist and Director of Vocal Studies at The Hartt School Samuel Martin has released his second album in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Kathryn Leemhuis. Inheritance is a collection of contemporary American art songs exploring the intertwined landscapes of childhood and parenthood, where innocence and experience are reflected through the other’s eyes. Composers Eric Whitacre, Lori Laitman, David Sisco, Juliana Hall, Matthew Recio, Evan Mack and Jason Weisinger offer deeply personal meditations on imagination, love, loss and legacy.
"The goal of this album," Martin shares, "is to provide premiere recordings of works by living American composers so that other artists, teachers, and students will program these works themselves. When choosing repertoire for our own performances, artists often start from a place of wanting to know what the music sounds like to ensure it fits the program's aesthetic, or that they relate to it personally and artistically. Inheritance aims to provde those recordings so others will get excited about this music and program it for years to come."
Across these songs, lullabies give way to prayers, letters and dreams, expressing intimate portraits of what it means to nurture, to remember and to hold on. The album celebrates modern art song as a living, breathing medium for storytelling: tender, humorous and profoundly human. In a time when memory and connection feel fragile, this music reminds us that the bonds between parent and child, and perhaps between artist and listener, remain some of the most enduring forms of enchantment.
More information about Inheritance, including notes from the artists and composers, can be explored on the BCM&D Records page. Leemhuis and Martin's debut album, Before She Became Fire, features songs by women American composers Lori Laitman, Melissa Dunphy, and Judith Cloud.