Primus Inter Pares
Composing Year:
2002
Instruments:
Solo Percussion, Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, Viola, Cello, Double-Bass and Percussion(1)
Duration:
12'
Chen Zimbalista - percussion | Israel Contemporary Players (2002)
Primus Inter Pares (which means in Latin "first among equals") was commissioned by the Relache ensemble based in Philadelphia, USA.
The piece's name alludes to the relatively prominent role of the Marimba compared to the other instruments and it was dedicated to the Israeli percussionist Chen Zimbalista. The piece is based on three Ladino songs taken out of a book called "the Cycle of Life" edited by the musicologist Dr. Shoshana Weich-Shachak. The songs serve as a "shadow" pool, which I have drawn my main melodic and rhythmic motives from, but at same time the beautiful songs themselves appear fully also in the course of the piece treated in my own harmonic language. The piece is quite rhythmical and it combines the ethnic-folkloristic element with a contemporary, art music idiom.