Reflections

Colburn School Symphony Orchestra | Conductor: Yehuda Gilad

In my piece "Reflections", which was commissioned by Maestro Yoel Levi for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, one can easily recognize several dominant influences on my creative output in the last years.

On the one hand my collaborative work with my wife, the choreographer Mimi Ratz-Wiesenberg is manifested in some dance like rhythms. On the other hand my renewed encounter with the Jazz world both as former Head of Jazz and Interdisciplinary Department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and the presence of my younger son Noam who is a Double Bass Jazz player. Last and not least my profound love for folk songs especially Ladino Yiddish and Hebrew songs is quite prominent.

At the center of the piece stands a most beautiful Ladino song, taken from the Jewish community of Sarajevo, which serves as the basic melodic and rhythmic material for many parts of the piece. In the course of writing I was haunted by some old Israeli songs belonging to my generation's collective sub consciousness and echoes of these recollections more or less obvious can be detected during the course of the piece.

Additional performances:

The symphony orchestra of the Buchman-Mehta School of Music | Conductor: Yi-An Xu (2007)