In Memoriam David Shallon.

The Double Concerto for Viola and Cello commissioned by the Deutsche Bremen Kammerphilharmonie and The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra for the German Violist Tabea Zimmermann and the Israeli Cellist  Hill Zori was written in Memoriam  Maestro David Shallon .

 

The work stresses the expressive and warm sound so typical of these two low string instruments- which have a strong affinity to the human voice.

 

The concise piece is based on three melodies. The first two are based on a Gregorian chant and a Jewish prayer (taken from the beginning of Amida prayer) for the High Holidays- which are melodically quite close to each other in a fascinating way. The third melody is a secular Israeli "folk song" written in the forties in an attempt to create genuine folk music for the Jews coming back to their home land. The two religious melodies which are quite intense and rhetoric set the mood for most of the piece. This emotionally charged atmosphere is changed later into the more relaxing and pastoral mood of the Israeli song which takes the piece to its end. 

 

The music develops in an uninterrupted flow moving directly from the first movement to the second one by means of a joint cadenza written for the two soloists.

This is another one in a chain of pieces I've already written in the past which tries to bridge between different musical cultures. In this case it's the ethnic. folk-like klezmer tradition alongside that of the concert hall with the virtuoso classical violin.

 

The piece is written in one long movement, which flows from one emotional mood to another trying to reflect different phases of our inner self.

I've used quite a few magnificent klezmer tunes and dances  and added  some original ones which I've invented.

 

 Each soloist is representing in a way his/her tradition of playing the violin, but as this is a real encounter and not a confrontation, they also influence each other respectively. I've let both my soloists emphasize their expressive and technical abilities in different phases of the piece.

 

Writing such a piece for me was a way to connect to the deepest and even primordial layers of my memories as an infant and a child. It deeply reflects my innermost beliefs as a Jew and as a human being.

 

The composition was commissioned by the J.M.I. in London and supported by the Arts Council of England

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.