The Nocturno Op.20B was written by the German born,Israeli Composer, Paul Ben Haim(1897-1984)as part of his Second Suite for Piano(1935-6)after immigrating to Israel-then Palestine.The Nocturno was published seperately and  it manifests clearly the change of style the composer underwent when he was looking for a new musical lsnguage to express himself in his new Middle Eastern home..Ben Haim is one of the Forefathers of Israeli Art Music and one of the founder of the Middle Eastern Movement  in Israeli Music.The piece,typical of his style,is based on a mixture of French “Impressionism”(harmonic colours) and melodic attributes such as ornamentations and improvisatory character coming from Arabic Music.It starts with the two hands playing unison  in a kind of Recitativo gesture, accompanied by chords reminding us of plucking instruments.The piece gathers momentum until its claimax and then recedes and quites down towards the end.It’s a very sensuous direct and appealing  piece,a true blending of 

East and West.

The Cello Concerto was inspired by the prayers of the Day of Atonement: "Behold as the Clay in the Potter's Hand". 

The relationship that develops between the potter and the clay is "a frame of reference" for the musical form chosen by the composer, whereby the potter is represented by the soloist and the clay by the orchestra. The musical substance of the concerto is derived, on one hand, from a restricred number of "Te'amin" (the traditional biblical cantilations) and on the other hand from an aggregation of sounds built on an adcending row of intervals from the "minor second" to the "major sixth".

There is a long prologue that merges organically with the first movement which has a serene and passionate nature. The second movement starting with a sarabande-like lyrical theme soon gets very dramatic. The end of the movement brings again the memory of the first theme and flows almost unimterruptedly into the last movement. This is a very fast, polyrythmical movement of a somewhat eastern character. The rhythmical cells and motives soon "evaporate" into a very tranquil postlude fading out delicately.

 

The work was commissioned by the Israel Symhpony Orchestra Rishon-Lezion, which gave it its world premiere in 1992 under the baton of Noam Sheriff. it is dedicated to the orchestra's solo cellist Doron Toister and was awarded a grant by Tel-Aviv Foundation for Literature and Art.

The Cello Concerto was inspired by the prayers of the Day of Atonement: "Behold as the Clay in the Potter's Hand". 

The relationship that develops between the potter and the clay is "a frame of reference" for the musical form chosen by the composer, whereby the potter is represented by the soloist and the clay by the orchestra. The musical substance of the concerto is derived, on one hand, from a restricred number of "Te'amin" (the traditional biblical cantilations) and on the other hand from an aggregation of sounds built on an adcending row of intervals from the "minor second" to the "major sixth".

There is a long prologue that merges organically with the first movement which has a serene and passionate nature. The second movement starting with a sarabande-like lyrical theme soon gets very dramatic. The end of the movement brings again the memory of the first theme and flows almost unimterruptedly into the last movement. This is a very fast, polyrythmical movement of a somewhat eastern character. The rhythmical cells and motives soon "evaporate" into a very tranquil postlude fading out delicately.

 

The work was commissioned by the Israel Symhpony Orchestra Rishon-Lezion, which gave it its world premiere in 1992 under the baton of Noam Sheriff. it is dedicated to the orchestra's solo cellist Doron Toister and was awarded a grant by Tel-Aviv Foundation for Literature and Art.