Category: Solo Piano
Instrumentation: solo piano
Duration: approximately 12 minutes
Recording: Ask of Me What the Birds Sang

Works:
Beneath the Hawthorn Tree
Hearts As One
We Sat Snug and Warm
Starry Wondrous Nights
The Night Grew Cold Without
The Little Flirt

Songs Without Words in Miniature is a set of six short piano works based on art songs by Garth Baxter. Written for pianist Bonghee Lee, the collection transforms vocal material into concise solo piano pieces, preserving the lyric impulse of the original songs while allowing the piano to speak with its own intimacy and color.

The six works—Beneath the Hawthorn Tree, Hearts As One, We Sat Snug and Warm, Starry Wondrous Nights, The Night Grew Cold Without, and The Little Flirt—form a varied miniature cycle. In its February 2023 review, Textura described Hearts As One as showing Baxter “at his lyrical best,” while noting the “Satie-like dreaminess” of Starry Wondrous Nights and the “jazz-tinged romanticism” of The Night Grew Cold Without.

With its compact scale and song-derived character, Songs Without Words in Miniature is well suited for solo piano recitals, contemporary classical programs, and performances that highlight lyrical modern piano music. The set may be performed complete or excerpted individually, offering pianists a collection of expressive miniatures shaped by melody, atmosphere, and tonal clarity.