Mark Zuckerman - Composer

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

TEST

Akhtsik er un zibitsik zi [Eighty He and Seventy She]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Akhtsik er un zibitsik zi (Eighty He and Seventy She) celebrates an anniversary of a more personal kind: the golden wedding anniversary of an idyllic couple. This song is by Mark M. Warshawsky (1848-1907), who earned his living as a lawyer while composing Yiddish poetry and songs. Thanks to the efforts of the Yiddish writer Sholom Aleichem, who discovered Warshawsky’s work and helped promote it, many of these songs – like Afn pripetshik (At the Fireplace), which was in the sound track to the movie Schindler’s List – became part of the Eastern European Jewish folk tradition.

Amerike di prekhtike [America the Beautiful]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Immigrants were eager to adopt the secular holidays of America, especially July Fourth, commemorating their own struggle for freedom as well as their new country’s. The Jewish immigrants often translated the American holiday songs into Yiddish, as with Samuel Ward’s famous hymn America the Beautiful.

First performed at Lincoln Center, this arrangement was chosen to end the Town Hall commemoration of the Jewish Forward’s centenary.

Bay mir bistu sheyn [I Think You're Terrific (English/Yiddish)]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sholom Secunda’s Bay mir bistu sheyn (I Think You’re Terrific), with Yiddish lyric by J. Jacobs, was transplanted from the Yiddish theater into mainstream American popular culture with an English lyric in a rendition by the Andrews Sisters. This arrangement pays homage to both. The version written for and recorded by Chicago A Cappella uses an adaptive English translation of the verse.

(He:) If you were black as a Tartar, if you had eyes like a cat, and if you limped a little, had wooden legs, I tell you: It wouldn’t bother me. And if you had a silly smile, and if you had the wisdom of Vayezuso, if you were wild like an Indian – even if you were a Galitsyaner – I tell you it doesnt bother me. (She:) Tell me how do you explain all that? (He:) I’m about to tell you why: I think you’re terrific. In my eyes, you have charm. In the whole world, you’re the one for me. I think you’re good. To me, you have “it.” For me, you’re more dear than money. Many beautiful women wanted me. And of them all, I chose only you.

Bay mir bistu sheyn [I Think You're Terrific (Yiddish)]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Di zun vet aruntergeyn [The Sun Will Set]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Poet Moshe Leib Halpern (1886-1932) was born in Galicia and emigrated to New York in 1908, where he was a frequent contributor to the communist Yiddish daily Frayhayt. This arrangement of his song Di zun vet aruntergeyn – with music by Ben Yomen (1901-1970) – was written in memory of Yiddish activist Avram Kahn, who loved this song as he loved Yiddish causes.

The sun will soon set beneath the hill; silently Love will come upon Loneliness that sits weeping upon a golden stone. The golden peacock will come and take us all to the place for which we yearn. Night will come and lull us all into eternal slumber.

Dolye mayne, dolye [My Fate]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yom HaShoah traditionally follows Passover, although it was Erev (eve of) Pesach that the Germans started their liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto (figuring the residents would all be at seder and have their guard down). Itsik Manger (1901-1969) was known as a troubadour who typically coupled a deceptively simple folk ballad surface with deep and complex poetry. Manger conveys the elements of his story by shifting the narrator’s vantage point. The first verse is like a birds’ eye view (“Over the ruins of Poland lies a head with blond hair”). In the second verse, the view is still outside, but is personal (“Under the ruins of Poland I feel pain seeing the head of my girl”). In the third verse (“Pain sits at my writing table and writes a long letter”), we are hearing the poet’s soul in anguish. The fourth verse brings in the image of a funeral bird, while the last verse reflects on what the bird represents to the narrator, taking the image of the bird out of the context of time.

Dona, dona

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

After immigrating to America in 1908, Sholom Secunda (1894-1974) composed for the Yiddish theater. Many of his songs – like Bay mir bistu sheyn and Dona, dona, which he wrote in 1940 with fellow immigrant Aaron Zeitlen (1898-1973) for Zeitlen’s play Esterke – became part of American popular culture.

In a wagon lies a crying calf bound securely with a rope. In the heavens flies a swallow, full of song and full of hope. “Hush,” says the farmer, “No one told you to be a calf. You could be that bird up yonder, free to fly and free to laugh." Calves are bound and dragged to slaughter without hope that they might be saved; birds are free to fly unfettered, never to become enslaved.

Doyres fun der tsukunft [Future Generations]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

When Avrom Reisen (1876-1953) settled in the United States from Russia in 1914, he already had an international reputation as a Yiddish writer. A Socialist, Reisen’s work frequently expresses sympathy for the poor and downtrodden. Because many of his poems have the character of folksongs, a number (like the Chanukah song Borukh Ato and the Passover song Zog, Maran) have been set to music. Doyres fun der tsukunft (Future Generations) is a setting of the first stanza from the poem of that name; it issues a warning and a plea:

Fayer, fayer [Fire, Fire!]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Vladimir Heifetz (1893-1970) was born in Russia, but was an active composer, pianist, and conductor in the New York area for almost fifty years, with an output that includes film scores, oratorios, cantatas, and numerous Yiddish songs and arrangements. His Fayer, fayer has been adapted to celebrate one of Chanukah’s favorite foods: Fire, fire, oy! it’s hot! Hot latkes!

Gebet [Prayer]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Avrom Reisen’s Yiddish poem, Gebet (Prayer), has a timeless and transcultural message:

Teach me, teach me how to deal with the world, O Lord! And how I may transform evil into good. If a wild beast lurks in our humanity, let me turn it to a mild humility. I’ve seen a trainer in a circus tame a tiger; seen him defang a snake. Lord, let me be wiser. Bless me with patience, too, and make me iron hard, that I may show mankind at least such wonders, Lord. [Translation by Leonard Wolf]

Harbstlid [Autumn Song]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman is a well-known Yiddish poet from a prominent Yiddishist family living in New York City. Her Harbstlid (Autumn Song) comes from a collection of her songs, Zummerteg (Summer Days).

See, it’s fall, and all that greened has yellowed, withered. See, it’s fall, and all that bloomed is gone. And I who thought that spring would last forever, and in my hand I hold Eternity. Oho, falling leaves! Oho, flying days! Oho, how will I wander now when thick fog settles on my way… Sadly cawing birds say “Good-bye!” At the window the moaning, wailing wind: “I wish that I could get away from here to a shore where there is still spring.” Driving rain gallops on a wild horse, whispers secret love into my ear: “Why do you wait for springtime, when autumn offers baskets full of gold?

Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl [I am a Little Dreydl]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl (I am a Little Dreydl), by Mikhl Gelbart (1889-1966), celebrates the four-sided top children spin in a Chanukah game. On each face is a Hebrew letter: nun, giml, hey, and shin, standing for Nes gadol haya sham (A great miracle happened there), referring to the Chanukah miracle.

In kamf [In Struggle]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Although not on the traditional Jewish calendar, May Day is celebrated here to honor the Jewish immigrants’ connection to the labor movement. Representing this holiday is one of the most popular Yiddish worker songs, In kamf (In Struggle), written in America in 1889 by labor poet Dovid Edelshtat (1866-1892).

We are driven, despised, tortured and persecuted because we cherish the poor and the weak. We are shot, hanged and robbed of our lives and our rights for we demand truth and freedom for downtrodden slaves. Cast us into iron chains, tear us apart like bloody beasts – you can kill only our bodies, not our spirit. Murder us, tyrants, but new fighters will come and we will fight on until the whole world is free.

L'Hippocampe [The Sea Horse]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Gloire! Gloire au bel hippocampe,
Cheval marin, cheval de trempe,
Qu’aucun jockey n’a chevauché,
Qu’aucun cocher n’a harnaché,
Hip! Hip! Hip! Pour l’hippocampe,
Gloire! Gloire au bel hippocampe,
Dans une poche, sur son ventre,
Il porte et il couve ses œufs,
Là, ses petits sont bien chez eux,
Hip! Hip! Hip! Pour l’hippocampe.

Hail! Hail to the handsome seahorse,
Equine seafarer, horse of the water,
Which no jockey has ridden,
Which no coach has harnessed,
Hip, hip, hooray! For the seahorse,
Hail! Hail to the handsome seahorse,
In a pocket, on his belly,
He carries and hatches his eggs,
There, his little ones are quite at home,
Hip, hip, hooray! For the seahorse!

La Fourmi [The Ant]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Une fourmi de dix-huit mètres
Avec une chapeau sur la tête,
Ça n'éxiste pas, ça n'éxiste pas.
Une fourmi trainant un char,
Plein de pingouens et de canards,
Ça n'éxiste pas, ça n'éxiste pas.
Une fourmi parlant français,
Parlant latin et javanais,
Ça n'éxiste pas, ça n'éxiste pas.
Eh! Pourquoi pas?

An ant fifty-four feet high
With a hat on its head,
That doesn't exist, that doesn't exist!
An ant pulling a cart
Filled with penguins and ducks,
That doesn't exist, that doesn't exist!
An ant that speaks French,
That speaks Latin and Javanese,
That doesn't exist, that doesn't exist!
Hey! Why not?

La Sauterelle [The Grasshopper]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Saute, saute, sauterelle,
Car c’est aujourd’hui jeudi.
Je sauterai, nous dit-elle,
Du lundi au samedi.
Saute, saute, sauterelle,
A travers tout le quartier.
Sautez donc, Mademoiselle,
Puisque c’est votre métier.

Jump, jump, grasshopper
For it is Thursday today.
I will jump, she tells us,
From Monday to Saturday.
Jump, jump, grasshopper,
Across the whole neighborhood.
So jump, mademoiselle,
Because it is your job.

Le Léopard [The Leopard]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Si tu vas dans les bois,
Prends garde au léopard.
Il miaule à mi-voix
Et vient de nulle part.
Au soir, quand il ronronne,
Un gai rossignol chante,
Et la forêt béante
Les écoute et s’étonne,
S’étonne qu’en ses bois
Vienne le léopard
Qui ronronne à mi-voix
Et vient de nulle part.

If you go into the woods,
Be careful of the leopard.
He meows sotto-voce
And comes out of nowhere.
In the evening, when he purrs,
A gay nightingale sings,
And the wide-open forest
Listens to them, astonished,
Astonished that into these woods
Comes the leopard
Who purrs sotto-voce
And comes out of nowhere.

Le Ver Luisant [The Glowworm]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ver luisant, tu luis à minuit,
Tu t’allumes sous les étoiles
Et, quand tout dort, tu t’introduis
Dans la lune et ronge sa moelle.
La lune, nid des vers luisants,
Dans le ciel continue sa route.
Elle sème sur les enfants,
Sur tous les beaux enfants dormant,
Rêve sur rêve, goutte à goutte.

Glow worm, you glow at midnight,
You light up under the stars
And, when everything is asleep, you enter
The moon and gnaw on its marrow.
The moon, nest for glow worms,
In the sky, continues along its route.
It sprinkles on children,
On all the beautiful, sleeping children,
Dream upon dream, drop by drop.

Le Zèbre [The Zebra]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Le zèbre, cheval des ténèbres,
Lève le pied, ferme les yeux
Et fait résonner ses vertèbres
En hénissant d’un air joyeux.
Au clair soleil de Barbari,
Il sort alors de l’écurie
Et va brouter dans la prairie
Les herbes de sorcellerie.
Mais la prison, sur son pelage,
A laissé l’ombre du grillage.

The zebra, horse of the shadows,
Raises his hoof, closes his eyes
And makes his vertebrae resound
With his joyous whinnying.
In the bright sun of Barbary,
He comes out of the stable
And grazes for enchanted grass
On the prairie.
But the prison, on his coat,
Has left shadows of the bars.

Mayn rue-platz [My Resting Place]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Morris Rosenfeld’s Mayn rue-plats is the archetypal sweatshop love song:

My love, don’t seek me where myrtle grows, where birds sing, where fountains spray. Where lives wither by machines, where slaves’ chains clang, where tears flow and teeth gnash: that is my resting place. So if you love me truly, come lift up my heart and sweeten my resting place.

Mir zaynen do tsu zingen! [We're Here to Sing!]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote Mir zaynen do tsu zingen! as a musical mission statement for Di Goldene Keyt, The Yiddish Chorale, but the published version also works for any chorus singing in Yiddish. This is a translation:

We’re here today to sing for you. We’re singing music both rhythmic and rich; and all in Yiddish, the language of the Jewish heart, with songs both beautiful and tender. In our songs lives the pride of our people and tradition. We’re here to bring this heritage to your hearts through our voices. We hope you enjoy our harmonious gift. Perhaps you like our song. Who are we? We’re here today to sing; the Yiddish word should sound loud. We hope you’re ready.

O kum shoyn shtiler ovnt [Evening Song]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

O kum shoyn shtiler ovnt, adapted from an adaptation by Daniel Charney (1888-1959) celebrates the calm of twilight:

Oh come, quite evening, and rock the fields to sleep. How quiet it has become; the air is turning cool. The nightingale has ended its song; the white birch stands alone in the field.

O, ir kleyne likhtelekh [O, You Little Candles]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, celebrates the Maccabees’ victory against the invading Syrians. In rededicating the Temple, which had been defaced by the Syrians, one day’s lamp oil miraculously burned for eight days, commemorated since by lighting candles on each of the eight days. Lituanian-born Morris Rosenfeld (1862-1923) wrote poetry from the age of 15, which he published in socialist and anarchist Yiddish periodicals, earning a living as a sweatshop tailor and a reputation as a sweatshop bard. He emigrated to London in 1882 and New York in 1886, but it wasn’t until 1898, when his work appeared in English translation, that he became well known. In his O, ir kleyne likhtelekh (O, You Little Candles) the Chanukah candles evoke a bittersweet contrast between the Chanukah story and the plight of Jews in the Russia of Czar Alexander III:

Shtiler, shtiler [Hush]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Initially a bootmaker by trade, Mani Leyb (1883-1953) was the leading figure of Di Yunge, a group of New York Yiddish writers. According to the editors (Irving Howe, Ruth Wisse and Khone Shmeruk) of The Penguin Book of Modern Yiddish Verse, Leyb’s Shtiler, shtiler (Hush), written in 1914, was “…read as an aesthetic call for modulation against the fervid oratory of the earlier Yiddish labor or sweatshop poets. It invokes, also the classic posture of the diaspora Jew, eternally poised in expectation of the Messiah.” His inspiration for the poem reportedly came as he heard Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) prayers emanating from synagogues in Brooklyn as he walked past.

Tum-balalayke

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tum balalayke is a popular folksong where a young man poses a series of riddles to the girl he is courting:

Can you tell me what grows without rain, what yearns without tears, what burns forever? Silly boy, a stone can grow without rain, a heart can yearn without tears, and love can burn forever.

Unter dayne vayse shtern [Under Your White Stars]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Avrom Sutzkever (1913-2010), a descendant of rabbinic and Hasidic families, is widely regarded as one of the greatest Yiddish poets. Born in Belorussia, he moved to Vilna in 1920 and was in the Vilna ghetto during the Holocaust, escaping to join the partisans. After testifying at the Nuremberg war crimes trials, he settled in Palestine in 1947. From 1949 until his death in 2010 he edited the Yiddish literary quarterly, Di Goldene Keyt. Unter dayne vayse shtern was set to music by Avrom Brudno, who is known for this and other Holocaust songs, and who was sent to his death at a German concentration camp in Estonia when the Vilna ghetto was liquidated in 1943.

Urim-burim

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In the refrain of Mikhl Gelbart’s Purim song Urim-burim the name of the holiday occurs four times, with the first letter replaced by successive letters of the alef-beys:

Everyone have fun today on our Purim holiday. Urim-Burim-Gurim-Durim: sing a little song of Purim! Giving gifts upon this date reminds us all to celebrate! So let’s sing and let’s be gay and whirl the grager all the day.

Vilne

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Published in 1935, Vilne, with words by A. L. Wolfson (1867-1946) and music by Alexander Olshanetsky (1892-1946), reportedly was sung at the start of almost every musical program in the Vilna Ghetto.

Vilna: city of spirit and innocence. Vilna: conceived in Jewish ways, where prayers murmured soft nocturnal secrets. I often see you in my dreams, my dearly beloved Vilna: the old Vilna ghetto in a foggy glow. Vilna: our hometown, our longing and desire. How often your name brings a tear to my eye! Vilna streets, rivers, forests, mountains and valleys…Something gnaws at me, makes me yearn for days of long ago. I see the Zakret forest, enveloped in its shadows, where teachers secretly slaked our thirst for knowledge. Vilna sewed the first thread in our flag of freedom and inspired its children with a gentle spirit.

Zog, Maran [Tell Me, Marrano]

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

When Avrom Reisen (1876-1953) settled in the United States from Russia in 1914, he already had an international reputation as a Yiddish writer. Because many of his poems have the character of folksongs, a number of them have been set to music. Zog, Maran (Tell Me, Marrano), as set by Shmuel Bugatch, is perhaps the best known Yiddish Passover song. Reisen’s holiday poetry tells a story, and uses the story’s setting to evoke the spirit of the holiday. In Zog Maran, Reisen adds to the Pesach rituals a dimension the holiday assumed for Jews since the beginning of the Common Era: the festival that most set Jews apart, and, in times of overt anti-Semitism, made observant Jews most vulnerable.

A Beckoning Vision

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no-one is left out. The value of love will always be stronger than the value of hate.

A Dozen Simple Whimsies

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A set of piece suitable for concert openers and encores.

A Housebound Overture

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A stirring overture for concert band.

A Nation Does Not Have to be Cruel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from an address at Madison Square Garden in New York City on October 31, 1936:

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the resolve of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

Accrual Basses

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In Accrual Basses the players, who are spread out across the stage, trade and share gestures.

Affirmation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Affirmation picks its way from its opening assertion, making a persistent climb (sometimes by degrees, sometimes by bounds) to a triumphal reassertion.

All In

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In All In each instrument in the quintet introduces a brief section and continues with counter melodies as the other instruments echo the introductory melody. This all leads to a coda where the themes of all the sections are combined and reduced.

All the Rage

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Andante

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In the expository first movement, Andante (Continuous), there are two groups each of four variations that explore harmonies associated with the ostinato. The first group – Oscuramento (Darkening), Misterioso (Mysterious), Irrequieto (Restless) and Giocoso (Jocose) – presents the ostinato alone and then punctuated by a series of harmonies derived from the ostinato. The second group uses triadic harmony and increasing fracturing of the ostinato among different parts to support an intensifying of affect – Tranquillo (Calm), Marcato (Marked), Ritmico (Rhythmic) and Esultante (Jubilant).

Ani L'Dodi V'Alay T'shukato

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ani L’Dodi V’Alay T’shukato (I am my Beloved’s, and his desire is towards me.) is a piece from our wedding. The Hebrew text is from Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs).

Ascensus Detrahendus

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ascensus Detrahendus is a set of variations on its opening gesture.

Assunpink Twilight

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In Assunpink Twilight the individual instruments combine to form composite instruments. The piece is an exercise in close ensemble playing.

Because

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Because

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote Because in honor of my wife, Judith, on our first wedding anniversary. I presented it to her with the help of the Gregg Smith Singers at their summer workshop in Saranac Lake, New York, close after the actual event. This piece continues a tradition begun at our wedding, for which I wrote Grow Old Along With Me. Because sets the Sonnet XXXIX of Elizabeth Barrett Browning from her collection of forty-four Sonnets from the Portuguese. She wrote these in secret, presenting them to her husband Robert in 1847. Although she never meant them to be published, she was, fortunately, persuaded to put them in print. According to Louis Untermeyer (the editor of The Love Poems of Elizabeth and Robert Browning, currently published by Barnes and Noble):

Beside the Still Waters

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Beside the Still Waters was commissioned by the Rutgers University Symphonic Band. The idea was for a piece whose musical challenges came from ensemble playing rather than technical difficulty.

Beside the Still Waters imagines a setting for the title, excerpted from the King James translation of the second line of Psalm XXIII. Perhaps a more precise translation from the original Hebrew would be “tranquil” rather than “still.” This conjures the image of a slow-moving spring or stream whose waters are clear and sweet: life-sustaining – especially precious in the desert surroundings of biblical stories – as well as peaceful. The music follows gentle eddies and swirls drawn from the brief song heard in the piccolo once near the beginning and again near the end. Fleeting disturbances in the brass and percussion, heard near the end, dissipate calmly into ripples carried away by the inexorable yet delicate current.

Beyond the Horizon

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from FDR’s Columbus Day speech on hemispheric defense, Dayton, Ohio, October 12, 1940:

We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.

Bonafide Ensemble

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Each of the three movements of Bonafide Ensemble provides contrasting opportunities for the ensemble to highlight different aspects of the trombone. Observance is a solemn processional. Statement features broad, assertive lines and harmonies. Elaboration is a lively, conversation with close harmonies and counterpoint.

By Way of Introduction

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A brief concert opener where each of the instruments in the quintet is introduced in canonical fashion.

Civic Celebration

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I was inspired to write Civic Celebration for the Holyoke Civic Symphony after hearing the concert where the Symphony played my Susquehanna Sunset. I was quite impressed by the verve and commitment evident in all the performances on the program and by the loyalty and support shown the Symphony by the people from the community who came to hear it.

Civic Celebration is offered as a tribute to the Holyoke Civic Symphony on its 50th anniversary. It has a kind of exuberant nobility, as befitting both the occasion and the spirit with which the Symphony and its director pursue their mission. Civic Celebration gives everyone in the orchestra something important to contribute – even instruments not normally in the forefront, like piccolo and triangle, play crucial roles.

Civilization Cannot Go Back

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from FDR’s State of the Union Address, January 3, 1934:

Civilization cannot go back; civilization must not stand still… It is our task to perfect, to improve, to alter when necessary, but in all cases to go forward.

Close Reeding

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Close Reeding explores the expressive possibilities within a confined harmonic space.

Coda

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In the Coda (Tail), the two groups of three variations follow a parallel course. The first group, which begins and ends with soloists on each part, uses gestures that feature homonyms of appoggiaturas and cambiatas (non-harmonic tones in tonal music).

In the last of the three variations – Dolce (Sweet), Ominoso (Ominous) and Molto espressivo (Expressive) – the ostinato is broken to highlight the climax.

The variations in the second group successively reduce the ostinato to its essence. Tempo giusto (Regular Tempo) resumes the ostinato as part of a spare three-part counterpoint. Semplice (Simple) puts the long/short ostinato in counterpoint with the short/long version starting a beat later. As with the last variation of the first group, Un poco tratto (Stretched) breaks the ostinato, stretching the last phrase to bring the piece to a soft landing.

Coming in Thirds

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Coming in Thirds was commissioned for the Elementary/Middle School Division of the 2010 Renée B. Fisher Piano Competition. Accordingly, it provides opportunities to demonstrate pianistic ability, both technical (dexterity, touch, and control) and musical (clarity and expressivity), while having fun. The opening impertinent, jazzy lick bounces through a series of transforming adventures as the piece unfolds, with a sassy attitude throughout. Pianist Jai Jeffryes adroitly captures this spirit in his sparkling recording of Coming in Thirds on his CD, Tangent Shores – Amethyst.

Cruzin'

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Cruzin’ – so named for the Santa Cruz Chamber Orchestra, for which it was composed – combines jazz-like gestures in the saxophone within a traditional Baroque concerto structure, as exemplified by the Italianate nature of each of its three movements: Ostinato, Aria, and Ritornello.

D'rakheyha Darkhey Noam

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

D’rakheyha Darkhey Noam ([3:17] “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all of her paths are peace.”), which was composed in honor of my wife Judith’s fiftieth birthday, “with love and appreciation for her good counsel.” That the text, which refers to the Torah, also appears in the liturgy is very appropriate for Judith, who is deeply interested in Jewish ritual and observance.

Declarations

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Declarations is scored for two trombone quartets (each with 3 tenors and one bass) that are placed antiphonally for the most effective performance. Declarations follows the structure of traditional sontata allegro.

Episodes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Episodes requires a three-manual organ with the capability of four preset couplings (corresponding to the dynamics p, mf, f,, and ff). The manuals should be set to be as distinct in tone quality as possible and should be abalnced at f so that (1) is the most prominent and (3) the least./ (1) should be more prominent that (2) at each level. At p, the level of greatest timbral differentiation, (1) should be predominently reedsw ans (2), flutes. The swell box, vibrato, chimes, and other gadgets should not be used.

Etude with 'tude

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etude with ‘Tude is a compositional etude that adapts boogie-woogie piano music, a blues-based style – popular in the 1930s and 1940s – featuring a regular bass ostinato.

Excursions

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Excursions is a set of fantasy variations on the opening fanfare.

Fair Winds

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Fair Winds is a fresh take on time-honored musical traditions: its structural transparency and rhetoric – the use of themes, phrases, and thematic development – stem from the classical era. Moreover, the outer movements are based on classical structures, in a deployment resembling a classical symphony. The first movement is an adaptation of the classical sonata allegro, with a thematic exposition, development, and recapitulation; the last is adapted from the classical rondo, where a recurring theme alternates with contrasting material. The influences of these antecedents, however, are far from solemn: the attitude is decidedly modern and playful, not taking itself too seriously.

Fanfare and Variations

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A lively ensemble piece where every player contributes. The fanfare introduces the members of the brass choir. The variations develop the thematic material introduced in the fanfare ending with a fragmented take on th3e opening fanfare.

Fanfare for an Uncommon Time

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Presented with so many passion-arousing, troubling challenges, eras like ours call out for fanfares to confront the moment. Fanfare for an Uncommon Time navigates unsettling harmonic terrain with a determined motive built on the substance of its surroundings. Its title pays homage to Aaron Copland’s 1942 classic, Fanfare for the Common Man.

FDR's Four Freedoms

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

FDR’s Four Freedoms is a work for a cappella mixed chorus on a text adapted from the section (reproduced below) of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address that articulates Four Freedoms which he believed were universal human rights and the core of America’s commitment to the world. Uttered less than a year before the United States’ entry into World War II, already being fought at the time of the speech in Europe and Asia, The Four Freedoms proposed a vision for a postwar world worthy of the war’s desperate struggle and terrible sacrifice. They remain worthwhile goals today. This is what FDR said:

Feeling No Pain

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The title of Feeling No Pain makes a pun of the name of the ensemble for which it was written (Novacane Quartet). Each member of the quartet takes charge at different times, with the others providing harmonic support – sometimes as chords, other times as arpeggios.

Festive Fanfare

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

An energetic, rhythmically exciting, stirring fanfare, a version of Theme Song for brass quintet.

Festive Flourish

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A version of Theme Song for concert band.

Finale

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The last two movements are played without pause. Finale (Ending) consists of three groups each of three variations. The variations in the first group are canons increasing in density and intensity: the first, Spiccato (Distinct), has three voices, the second, Con fuoco (With Fire), has four and the third, Furioso (Furious), five. The second group – Sonoro (Sonorous), Arrabiato (Angry) and Pesante (Heavy) – continues the mood trajectory with increasingly dense dissonances built with triads. The third group – Sognatore (Dreaming), Cantante (Singing) and Pacifico (Peaceful) – each use pedal points and bring the level of tension down. In support of this, the ostinato in this group is varied by exchanging perfect fifths and tritones.

Flute Fetish

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Each member of the quartet takes charge at different times, with the others providing harmonic support – sometimes as chords, other times as arpeggios.

Flying Solo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Flying Solo mimics flight: warming up for take-off, launch, fluttering, and coming down for a soft landing.

Focus

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Focus expands on the opening quadruple stop and wide double stop while heading back toward the opening gesture.

Four Hand Fantasia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Four Hand Fantasia is a set of fantasy variations developed from the opening fanfare-like arpeggio.

Four Miniatures

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Four Miniatures is a set of short pieces for brass trio that provides the trio with opportunities to demonstrate ensemble versatility, with each movement featuring a different mood (as exemplified by their titles).

Four Pieces After Rooseveltians

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Four Pieces After Rooseveltians for the Roosevelt Arts Project is a set of pieces, each dedicated to the memory of a friend and neighbor in Roosevelt, NJ, my hometown of 50+ years.

Caprice is dedicated to the memory of Sol Libsohn. From the first, I was taken with Sol’s work – both his photographs and his abstract paintings – by their composition as well as their subjects. I was fascinated by the strength of interest in both foreground and background, so that I was encouraged to shift my focus back and forth. Sol was boyishly exuberant about everything. I remember also many visits to Sol and Bess, listening to Sol’s collection of early jazz recordings, about which Sol was a major enthusiast, and discussing everything from politics to bread machines (Sol and I were both bread machine devotees at the time). Caprice’s overall shape is ABA, meaning there are 3 roughly equal sections where the last section closely resembles the first. In the A sections there’s a underlying rhythmic pattern, sort of a distorted tango, over which there are flighty melodic gestures that have difficulty finding a place to land. The effect is off-beat (literally) and recalls the ensemble work of small jazz groups of the 1920’s and ‘30’s. The B section takes the A material and turns it inside out, at one level exchanging foreground and background.

Four Play

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Four Play is like a relay race: each member of the quartet plays a fragment of a larger gesture and passes it off to the next member, who carries it further.

Grant Us Peace

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Grant Us Peace was commissioned to honor the late Rabbi Leonard Poller’s long and distinguished service to Larchmont Temple. The text is Rabbi Poller’s favorite prayer from the Reform Jewish Liturgy: the English version of the Shalom Rav. This choral setting follows liturgical practice, where the Cantor sings a portion of text which is repeated by the congregation. In several sections these repetitions form rounds.

Grant us peace, Your most precious gift, O Eternal Source of peace, and give us the will to proclaim its message to all the peoples of the earth. Bless our country that it may always be a stronghold of peace, and its advocate among the nations. May contentment reign within its borders, health and happiness within its homes. Strengthen the bonds of friendship among the inhabitants of all lands, and may the love of Your name hallow every home and every heart. Blessed is the Eternal God, the Source of peace.

Grow Old Along With Me

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote Grow Old Along With Me in honor of my wife, Judith, to be sung at our wedding. This piece is actually a joint effort, since we both selected the text. It was Judith’s idea to use Robert Browning, and she chose as our theme the famous first lines from Browning’s poem, Rabbi Ben Ezra. We then read through several volumes of Browning’s work until we discovered Any Wife to Any Husband, the second stanza of which we felt captured exactly how we felt about each other. In the resulting composite text the lines from the first poem frame the excerpt from the second, a relation reflected in the music.

Here to Sing!

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hoboken Vignettes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In addition to paying homage to the American concert band music I played in high school, Hoboken Vignettes is a tribute to the mile-square northern New Jersey city situated on the Hudson River between the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels.

Hoboken Terminal is a major transit hub, connecting three rail systems (commuter, light rail, and PATH), buses, and ferries. Rush Hour at Hoboken Terminal is inspired by the crush of purposeful bustle where a multitude of separate paths cross in patterns of both coincidence and avoidance.

Homonyms

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Homonyms takes its title from its sonorities that sound like those of tonal music but don’t have tonal functions.

If Ever There Was a Time

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

If Ever There Was a Time is a work for a cappella mixed chorus on a text adapted from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1944 State of the Union Address. The message is as relevant today as it was at the time. This is what FDR said:

If ever there was a time to subordinate individual and group selfishness to the national good, that time is now.

Imagined Memories

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Echoes of a Forgotten Lullaby is an extended set of variations on the opening violin solo. Reliving a Lively Afternoon presents an arpeggiated surface over a pulsating background.

Impulsive Ornaments

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Impulsive Ornaments is a series of embellishments surrounding the opening note (and its octave equivalents).

In a Pickle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In a Pickle navigates nervously yet determinedly through arpeggios, staccato figures, and brief sustained passages, al;l establishing high F# as the overall target before concluding dramatically climbing up to and articulating the high F# target.

Introduction and Fugue

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction and Fugue was written for the C. Milton Wright High School Orchestra in Bel Air, MD to help mark the 25th year of service by the music director and program founder, Sheldon Bair.

Introduction and Fugue uses the octatonic collection (e.g., C#-D#-E-F#-G-A-Bb-C). If played as a scale, it sounds a lot like the familiar minor scale – you can build it by taking the first four notes of the minor scale and then transposing them by a tritone. Each of these pieces employs different features of the collection. Introduction and Fugue is most apparently octatonic by its melodic constructions. Its principal harmonic sonorities sound like major and minor triads, although they function in ways different from what you might expect in tonal music. Although atonal, Introduction and Fugue is an interpretation of Baroque models both in form and aesthetic ideal.

Jersey Sure

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jersey Sure was written for the New Jersey Saxophone Quartet. The NJSQ is equally at home in both classical and jazz genres and Jersey Sure exploits this versatility.

The opening riff, which recurs periodically, adapts a jazz idiom. This is developed using approaches drawn more from classical traditions, like contextual harmony, melodic transformations, and imitative counterpoint, while maintaining the jazz-like character of the opening material.

Composition of Jersey Sure was assisted by an Artist Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

JKR Pass 3

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jump Start

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jump Start is an energetic fanfare designed as a concert opener.

Just Keyboard Respect

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The title of Just Keyboard Respect is an elaboration of the initials of its dedicatee (JKR), just as the piece elaborates a skeleton (a la Jim Randall) of its opening.

Keepsake

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Keepsake is a rectital piece suitable for any size flute or saxophone.

Kol Dodi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote Kol Dodi for my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary, using verses (in Hebrew) from Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs). The counterpoint suggested by two expressions of the same sentiment (“My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feeds among the lilies.” [2:16], and “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feeds among the lilies.” [6:3]) is the idea behind the recurring refrain that opens the piece. Between occurrences of this refrain are declarations of love. The first is by the men (“Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant.” [1:15], “Thou art all fair, my love…” [4:7], “How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride!” [4:10]), which is answered by exclamations from the women (“The voice of my beloved!” [2:8]). The second is by the women (“His mouth is most sweet: and he is altogether lovely; this is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!” [5:16]), and the third by everyone (“Many waters cannot quench love…” [8:7]).

L'Khah Nirveh Dodim Ad HaBoker

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

L’Khah Nirveh Dodim Ad HaBoker ([7:18] “Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us delight ourselves with love.”), which I wrote to mark my own fiftieth birthday and my all-time best birthday present: my wedding, which occurred just the week before.

Lament

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lament features sustained passages in the ‘cello providing expressive opportunities.

Largo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Largo (Broad), the slow and lyrical second movement, consists of one group of three variations: Cantabile (Songlike), Mesto (Sad) and Grazioso (Graceful). The metrical element is twice as long as in the first movement (quarter notes as opposed to eighths). The outer variations weave embellishments around the slow ostinato; these surround the middle variation, which develops slow-moving harmony.

Laughing Song

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;
When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing “Ha, Ha, He!”
When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread,
Come live and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of “Ha, Ha, He!”

Let Me Go

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom filled room
Why cry for a soul set free? Miss me a little, but not for long
And not with your head bowed low
Remember the love that once we shared
Miss me, but let me go. For this is a journey we all must take
And each must go alone.
It’s all part of the master plan
A step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick at heart
Go to the friends we know. Laugh at all the things we used to do
Miss me, but let me go.
When I am dead my dearest
Sing no sad songs for me
Plant thou no roses at my head
Nor shady cypress tree
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet
And if thou wilt remember
And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not fear the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on as if in pain;
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

Librettist

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mankind Rises

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mankind Rises is a work for baritone solo and piano trio on a text adapted from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s address delivered to the Democratic Party National Convention on July 2, 1932, when he called for a “New Deal” for the American people to recover from the calamity that was the Great Depression. This message of hope, though, is timeless.

This is what FDR said:

Out of every crisis, every tribulation, every disaster, mankind rises with some share of greater knowledge, of higher decency, of purer purpose. … This is no time for fear, for reaction, and for timidity.

Marche Comique

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote Marche Comique during my senior year at Ardsley High School and conducted its premiere with the Ardsley High School Band at my last concert before graduating.

Marche Comique is dedicated to Joe Greco, director of the Ardsley High School Band, one of the finest musical organizations I’ve been privileged to join. Joe was one of those rare, stimulating teachers who had a profound and lasting effect on all of his students. His encouragement, support, and example inspired a number of us to pursue rewarding musical careers.

Mindsets

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mindsets is a suite for reed quintet where each of the three movements affects a different point of view for the ensemble. Masterminded presents the harmonic material for the suite, both as chords for the whole quintet and as melodic fragments that introduce each of its members. Singleminded features an extended solo by the alto saxophone accompanied by the remaining instruments in related pairs (oboe + bassoon and Bb clarinet + bass clarinet). Broadminded playfully trades a tune and counter-melody among the instruments.

Miracle of Miracles

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

New Music for Strings

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

New Trends

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

North Country Dance

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

North Country Dance is structured as a waltz/trio (ABA). Both the waltz and trio sections are strophic variations, with the waltz return including the trio theme.

North-West Passage

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

GoodNight

When the bright lamp is carried in,
The sunless hours again begin;
O’er all without, in field and lane,
The haunted night returns again.

Now we behold the embers flee
About the fire-lit hearth; and see
Our faces painted as we pass,
Like pictures, on the window-glass.

Must we to bed indeed? Well then,
Let us arise and go like men,
And face with an undaunted tread
The long black passage up to bed.

Off the Wall

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Off the Wall was written for the Fourth Wall Ensemble. It features antiphonal passages between the pitched and unpitched instruments.

On the Edges

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

On the Edges goes by in six sections contrasting in pulse and energy. The first section is a toccata with two-handed arpeggios gradually turning into chords that get thicker and thicker before returning to the opening arpeggio motive. A dialogue follows where slow-moving chords are in counterpoint with quicker, arpeggiated figures derived from the toccata’s opening figure. Then there’s a quiet lyrical reflection – again based on the opening motive – eliding into a cadenza with arpeggiated figures that increase in range and intensity before dissolving into a trill. The next section turns the toccata’s opening motive into the subject of a four-part invention, the first in a series of three linked by thematic rotation: the counter-subject of one invention becomes the subject for the next. This cycle completes as the subject of the first invention becomes the counter-subject of the last, and ends as the three subjects are combined, segueing into an extended return of the opening toccata.

One Perfect Rose

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A single flow’r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet—
One perfect rose.

I knew the language of the floweret;
“My fragile leaves,” it said, “his heart enclose.”
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.

Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.

Organic Ingredients

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Organic Ingredients builds imitatively from the opening declaration, culminating in an extended version of the opening declaration punctuated by forceful chords.

Our Spirit and Faith

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Our Spirit and Faith is a choral setting of an excerpt from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s third inaugural address, delivered on January 20, 1941:

…The spirit, the faith of America…is the product of centuries. It was born in the multitudes of those who came from many lands… who sought here… to find freedom more freely. The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history. It is human history… America has been the New World in all tongues, and to all peoples… because all those who came here believed they could create… a new life – a life that should be new in freedom.

Outlaw & King — Act I

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Zerubbabel, weapons bearer to Israelite King Saul, enters Saul’s tent lugging home gear from a just-finished battle. As he prepares for Saul’s impending arrival by stowing the gear and making ready for a meal, Zerubbabel frets over Saul’s increasingly troubled state of mind and growing antagonism toward David, his son-in-law and lieutenant. Zerubbabel traces the beginnings of Saul’s torment to his sparing the life of the Amalekite King Agag against instructions by the prophet Samuel. Saul enters, brooding, along with Hannagail, a chorus no one can see but only Saul can hear. Zerubbabel’s attempts to raise Saul’s spirits are foiled by Hannagail, who torments Saul with bleak caricatures of his thoughts and bright encomia about David. Saul vacillates between his rage at and love for David, finally sending Zerubbabel to fetch David in the hope that David can sing Saul’s troubles away. David arrives and sings Saul’s favorite song but fails to change Saul’s mood. Saul’s son Jonathan comes in, singing a snippet from David’s song, and is so overjoyed at seeing David he momentarily forgets to acknowledge his father, a slight that feeds Saul’s growing sense of betrayal. After returning Jonathan’s affection, David sings several songs to the delight of everyone except Saul, who grows increasingly angry at David, egged on by the taunting of Hannagail. Despite David’s pledges and pleadings of love and loyalty, Saul accuses David of treachery, declares him a mortal enemy, and chases him from the tent. Hannagail utters a grim prophecy and follows David. Saul abruptly turns his attention to dinner but Jonathan, upset, has no appetite. Jonathan tries to change Saul’s mind about David but Hannagail’s departure convinces Saul he is right. Jonathan’s entreaties merely cause Saul to suspect Jonathan’s loyalty. Saul angrily chases Jonathan away. Act I ends with Saul, now by himself, bitterly reflecting on his fate.

Outlaw & King — Act II

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

As Act II opens (Scene 1), nightfall finds Saul’s men encamped deep in enemy territory. In Saul’s obsessive hunt for David, he has penetrated Philistine lands and, surrounded, now faces an attack the next day. Beside a camp fire, Jonathan and Zerubbabel voice their fears; both wishing David was with them for the battle, though Jonathan is torn between loyalty to his father and to David, while Zerubbabel dismisses him as a traitor. Saul himself admits that though they hunt David, they need him if they are to win the upcoming battle. As they all drift off to sleep, and Saul’s dream of losing the Decider’s favor torments him, David stealthily enters the camp, knife in hand. Feeling betrayed by Saul who banished him in Act I and now hunts him, David is intent on killing Saul before Saul kills him. He raises his knife but discovers that he still loves Saul and cannot kill him, asking why he’s meant to destroy those he loves. Instead, he cuts off a piece of the royal robe. Sheathing his knife, he picks up Saul’s spear to leave, but Jonathan halts him. Zerubbabel also wakes, wanting to kill the traitor, but Jonathan stops him, knowing they have little chance the next day without David. When they can’t persuade him to stay and fight with them, they convince him to at least leave Saul’s spear behind. As Zerubbabel goes back to sleep, Jonathan realizes the threshold they’re about to cross in parting and how much he loves David as companion and brother. They remind each other of their bond in war and peace, and affirm their mutual affection—brothers forever—but David’s words are ambiguous. He goes off into the night, while Jonathan faces what he fears is an inevitable fate at dawn.

Oz V'Hadar L'Vushah

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Oz V’Hadar L’Vushah [Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles confidently at the future.] (31:25)

Paraphrases

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

From the liner notes of CRI SD 342:

Paraphrases, as the title suggests, consists of a set of paraphrase variations on three basic thematic ideas which could be described roughly as; 1) a run of fast notes, some of which are flutter-tongued; 2) a group of slower notes of almost equal time value, interspersed with grace notes in a different register; and 3) arpeggios. The variation procedure is cyclic.

Paraphrases is a performer’s piece; that is, the performer is given considerable leeway in executing some aspects of the piece. I was extremely fortunate to find in James Winn a flutist who can play it so that the large scale design and flow are maintained without sacrificing the detail.

Piano Music of Aaron Coplan, Paul Creston, and Mark Zuckerman

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Quick Study

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Quick Study is a compositional etude that expands on a fragment from one of my other pieces, changing its original character from relaxed and whimsical to frenetic and vigorous.

Quintifications

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote Quintifications for my former high school band director, Joe Greco, who inspired and encouraged me to become a composer. His quintet, the Westchester Brass Quintet, gave the first performance at Lehman College in April, 1994.

The spirit of Quintifications is rhythmically active, energetic and playful. An opening motif is fragmented, traded back and forth among the instruments, and reassembled in different ways, winding down in time for the process to start again. This happens three times. After that, we hear the opening again, and go into a coda that goes through a number of false starts leading to a contrapuntal passage and a climactic finish.

Randabout

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Randabout was a commission of the American Music Center’s Live Music for Dance program for a new piece by choreographer and fellow NJ Arts Council Fellow Randy James. As the commissioned composer, I had to satisfy the requirements of two artists – the choreographer and the soloist – as well as my own musical sensibilities. I’d never worked with a choreographer before.

I visited a number of rehearsals of the Randy James Dance Works to get a sense of how Randy and the dancers worked. Although I was interested in discovering what concepts went into their work and the kinds of evolutions that emerged from their processes, I particularly wanted to get a feeling for what they responded to in music and how they incorporated it into their expression. I had extensive conversations with Randy and the dancers about what they heard in music and how they responded to it in dance.

Raritonalirty

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Raritonality

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Raritonality was commissioned by the Rutgers University Wind Ensemble as a musical salute to Rutgers University.

The opening fanfare is built on the notes C#-G-F#-F#, a representation on the chromatic scale of 1766, the year Rutgers was founded. This gives way to the chorus of “On the Banks of the Old Raritan,” the Rutgers alma mater, which undergoes a series of adaptations and transformations as it is combined with the opening fanfare in various ways, both melodic and harmonic, before returning to the opening.

Recollections (trombone)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recollections was written for trumpeter Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski and his trumpet ensemble, Tromba Mundi. It was later adapted for trombone quintet.

The title has two connotations. The first is the common language meaning: after the very beginning, everything that happens recalls something that has already happened. The second is a pun, more appropriately spelled “re-collections,” since as the piece unfolds, the collections of musical elements – instrumental couplings as well as melodic fragments and harmonies – are constantly being redistributed and reinterpreted.

Recollections (trumpet)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recollections was written for trumpeter Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski and his trumpet ensemble, Tromba Mundi. It was later adapted for trombone quintet.

Renewal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Renewal was written for trumpeter Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski and organist Guy Whatley.

Renewal came about because Jean-Christophe emailed me to say he was interested in a piece for trumpet and pipe organ that somehow integrated Jewish material. Because of the acoustic properties and sacred nature of likely performance venues, I thought it more appropriate to find the Jewish elements in religious practice than in Jewish secular culture (e.g., klezmer). I immediately thought of the similarities between the trumpet and the shofar (ram’s horn), which has a critical role in the liturgy of the Jewish High Holy Days. I became intrigued by the challenge of fusing this with the long-standing tradition of trumpet and organ music, which is closely associated with the Baroque.

Repetition Does Not Transform

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from FDR’s radio address to the New York Herald Tribune Forum, October 26, 1939:

Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.

Retrogressive Study

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I decided on the title Retrogressive Study for a straightforward piece by figuring that if Chopin coulod write a Revolutionary Etude, I could write a reactionary one (even if it is 12-tone).

Reunion

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Reyshit Khakhmah

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Reyshit Khakhmah ([4:7] “The beginning of wisdom is, Get wisdom: therefore use all of your means to acquire understanding.”), was written for the jubilee celebration of Town and Village Synagogue, where Bill, Cheryl, Judith and I were members. T & V is a special place for me, since it was through the synagogue that I met my wife, and we were married there. This text captures succinctly what I feel is a prominent ideal shared by that synagogue community.

S'lichah

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

S’licha (“forgiveness” in Hebrew) is a background for contemplation.

Scherzo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The metrical element changes to sixteenth notes in first half of the third movement, Scherzo (Joke), for a group of four variations – Leggiero (Nimble), Scivoloso (Slippery), Spiritoso (Witty) and Vivace (Brisk) – and returns to eighths (although the rhythmic impetus remains the sixteenth) for a group of two variations, Energico (Energetic) and Stringendo (Pressing). The movement begins and ends with pizzicato.

Selah

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote Selah for Peter Saleh. The title is a play on his name, but also characterizes the piece using its Biblical sense: contemplative and refective.

Seven Minutes for Seven Players

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Seven Minutes for Seven Players explores passing the same figures among pitched, semi-pitched, and non-pitched instruments in a large percussion ensemble.

Shalom Rav

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Shalom Rav is a prayer for peace.

Shir Kinah

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Shir Kinah: Elegy for victims of terrorism is an transcription for string orchestra of the second movement of my string quartet. Shir Kinah is Hebrew for ‘Elegy.’

Shir Kinah is a lamentation for terrorism’s destruction. It’s a transcription of the second movement of my string quartet, written in memory of those who died in the World Trade Center disaster. It’s more a personal than a dramatic statement. Since my job frequently took me to Cantor Fitzgerald, which occupied a number of floors in One WTC, some of those who perished there were people I knew and worked with. My wife Judith and I had gone through the WTC just two days before the disaster en route to Hoboken, across the Hudson River, and we were in Hoboken the day it happened and saw the fire and ruin. Several of my friends who lived nearby in Battery Park City witnessed people falling from the buildings and saw the buildings themselves fall.

Short Circuits

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Short Circuits, far from being shocking, explores cyclical figurations traded among the instruments in the ensemble.

Short Duets for Two Flutes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The first of Short Duets for Two Flutes is a canon; the second is a song.

Short Suite for String Quintet

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Short Suite for String Quintet is a modern take on a common Baroque form. The outer two movements (Relentless and Restive) are rhythmic and energetic. They bookend a somber, chorale-like middle movement (Reﬂective).

Short Suite for Strings

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Short Suite for Strings is a modern take on a common Baroque form. The outer two movements (Relentless and Restive) are rhythmic and energetic. They bookend a somber, chorale-like middle movement (Reﬂective).

Short Takes

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Short Takes is a collection of 5 brief movements. The outer two movements feature the entire ensemble and bracket the inner 3 movements, each of which features a different member of the ensemble accompanied by the other two.

Shpatsír

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The title, Shpatsir, is Yiddish for “stroll.”

Sinfonietta

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A sinfonietta is a symphony that is smaller in scale (either in terms of length or the instrumental forces required) and/or lighter in approach than a traditional symphony.

Soliloquy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Soliloquy is a declarative statement that provides the player opportunities to project confidence.

Soliloquy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Soliloquy is a declarative statement that provides the player opportunities to project confidence.

Somebody's Song

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is what I vow:
He shall have my heart to keep,
Sweetly will we stir and sleep,
All the years, as now.
Swift the measured sands may run;
Love like this is never done;
He and I are welded one:
This is what I vow.

This is what I pray:
Keep him by me tenderly;
Keep him sweet in pride of me,
Ever and a day;
Keep me from the old distress;
Let me, for our happiness,
Be the one to love the less:
This is what I pray.

Sonatina

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sonatina employs a traditional form for a non-traditonal ensemble.

Sonatromba

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sonatromba is modeled formally after a Classical sonata (though a bit more modest in scope, hence the “sonatina” subtitle). The first movement is a construal of sonata allegro; the second is a version of a cavatina; and the third, of a rondo. As a whole, it gives the soloist opportunities to show a variety of trumpet characteristics: arpeggios and rhythmic melodies in the first movement, lyrical long lines in the second, and percussive, fanfare-like gestures in the third.

Stellar Mettle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The title of Stellar Mettle is a play on the name of the brass quintet that commissioned it, Lone Star Brass. The piece is a fresh take on time-honored musical traditions: its structural transparency and rhetoric – the use of themes, phrases, and thematic development – stem from the classical era. Moreover, the outer movements are based on classical structures, in a deployment resembling a classical symphony. The first movement is an adaptation of the classical sonata allegro, with a thematic exposition, development, and recapitulation; the last is adapted from the classical rondo, where a recurring theme alternates with contrasting material. The influences of these antecedents, however, are far from solemn: the attitude is decidedly modern and playful, not taking itself too seriously.

String Quartet

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The String Quartet –- a tribute to Milton Babbitt on his 90th birthday –- comprises four movements, each of which can stand alone as an individual piece.

Sonata, the first movement, is modeled after the classical sonata allegro. In the first section (exposition), there are three distinct ideas contrasting in character: the first is heavy-handed and relentless, the second, sweet and lyrical, and the third, jocular and bouncy. The succeeding section (development) follows the same thematic trajectory as the exposition, with each of the thematic ideas developed with flights of fancy, commentary, and variation. The final section (recapitulation) brings back the exposition, with the thematic ideas extended in regular patterns.

String Trio

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Suite!

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The title of Suite!, winner of Southern Utah University’s first annual Hal Campbell Composition Competition, is a pun on a modern slang expression, but the piece itself is grounded in two time-honored musical traditions. The use of instruments and overall demeanor come from the more than century-old tradition of modern concert band suites. The structural transparency and rhetoric -– the use of themes, phrases, and thematic development -– stem from the Classical era. Moreover, the outer movements are based on classical structures, in a deployment resembling a classical symphony. The first movement is an adaptation of the classical sonata allegro, with a thematic exposition, development, and recapitulation; the last is adapted from the classical rondo, where a recurring theme alternates with contrasting material. The influences of these antecedents, however, are far from solemn: the attitude is decidedly modern and playful, not taking itself too seriously.

Susquehanna Sunset

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In Susquehanna Sunset, the opening figure, composed of two rising leaps, is echoed and turned in on itself, acquiring harmonic coloring along the way. These elements are patiently recombined and recombed, exploring a range of colors increasingly rich yet diffuse, until finally reaching a definitive expression before dissolving back into its elements. The process to me is evocative of a clear sky at dusk, where the unhurried setting sun creates a collection of colors that gradually combine and recombine, becoming brilliant in a final moment before dissipating.

Symphony

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tangent Shores Amethyst

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tart Stylings

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tart Stylings was written for saxophonist Styliani Tartsinis. It is playfully virtuosic. The opening theme recurs and is developed – re-stylized – over the course of the piece, with each occurrence giving way to a different fanciful episode. Elements of each episode are summarized and combined as the piece closes.

Tart Stylings

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tart Stylings is playfully virtuosic. The opening theme recurs and is developed – re-stylized – over the course of the piece, with each occurrence giving way to a different fanciful episode. Elements of each episode are summarized and combined as the piece closes.

The Basic Things Expected

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from the State of the Union address, January 6, 1941:

There is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
Jobs for those who can work.
Security for those who need it.
The ending of special privileges for the few.
The preservation of civil liberties for all.
The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

The Four Freedoms

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Four Freedoms is a work for a cappella men’s chorus on a text adapted from the section (reproduced below) of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address that articulates Four Freedoms which he believed were universal human rights and the core of America’s commitment to the world. Uttered less than a year before the United States’ entry into World War II, already being fought at the time of the speech in Europe and Asia, The Four Freedoms proposed a vision for a postwar world worthy of the war’s desperate struggle and terrible sacrifice. They remain worthwhile goals today. This is what FDR said:

The Gift to Sing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes the mist overhangs my path,
And blackening clouds about me cling;
But, oh, I have a magic way
To turn the gloom to cheerful day -
I softly sing.

And if the way grows darker still,
Shadowed by Sorrow’s somber wing,
With glad defiance in my throat,
I pierce the darkness with a note,
And sing, and sing.

I brood not over the broken past,
Nor dread whatever time may bring;
No nights are dark, no days are long,
While in my heart there swells a song,
And I can sing.

The Real Safeguard of Democracy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from an address to the National Education Association, June 30, 1938:

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

The Tale of a Scale (A Scale's Tale)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tales and Scales, a troupe of musicians who also act and dance, asked for a piece that indtroduces the ensemble. The Tale of a Scale (A Scale’s Tale) is the result.

The Test of Our Progress

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from the second inaugural address, January 20, 1937:

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

The Year in Yiddish Song

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Theme Song

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Theme Song is a tonal piece, the last in a succession of versions of essentially the same work. The first incarnation was Sound Byte, for xylophone solo, written for Mike Horowitz. Sound Byte was expanded to become an a cappella choral piece, Mir zaynen do tsu zingen! (We’re Here to Sing!), which became the signature piece of Di Goldene Keyt, The Yiddish Chorale. This, in turn was arranged for brass quintet (Festive Fanfare) and string orchestra (Theme Song). There are versions for concert band and full orchestra as well.

There Are Many Ways of Going Forward

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(date and place unknown):

There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.

This is the Time to Speak the Truth

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from FDR’s first inaugural address, March 4, 1933:

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.

Time Shares

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A version of Time Shares for horns.

Time Shares

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A version of Time Shares for horns.

Time Shares

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Time Shares was premiered at the 2011 ITG Conference in Minneapolis by Tromba Mundi (“outstanding” as reviewed in the ITG daily report), who commissioned it.

Touching Bass

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Touching Bass may be played with the bass in either solo tuning (F# B E A) or orchestral tuning (E A D G). The bass part is the same in either case. A different piano part is provided for each bass tuning. The first in the score is to be played with a bass using solo tuning; the second is played with a bass using orchestral tuning.

Jack Hill suggested the bowings and fingerings.

Triarchy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Triarchy treats the individuals in the ensemble (vioilin, trumpet, percussion) as equal partners.

Trio Con Brio

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Trio Con Brio consists of a stately introduction, a set of eight lively variations, and a coda.

Triple Play

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Triple Play is an extended embellishment of its opening declaration.

Tromba Mundi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Twilight Reverie

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Twilight Reverie has a simple surface that provides the pianist with a wealth of expressive opportunities.

Twilight Songs

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Twilight Songs features byplay between the flute and singer, amplifying the words.

Two Emily Dickinson Settings

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Two Emily Dickinson Settings was commissioned by Tales and Scales, a four person troupe – flute, clarinet, bass trombone, and percussion – that combines music, drama, and dance in programs aimed at young children. The Dickinson Settings are concert pieces providing musical contexts for readings of two poems by Emily Dickinson. The readings are integrated with the music and performed by the instrumentalists.

I’ll Tell You How the Sun Rose
I’ll tell you how the sun rose,
One ribbon at a time.
The steeples swam in amethyst.
The news like squirrels ran.
The hills untied their bonnets.
The Bobolinks, begun.
Then I said softly to myself,
“That must have been the Sun”!

Two Short Duets

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wrote Two Short Duets for my Bard College moderation.

Watchwords

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The text is taken and edited from 11 different speeches and writings of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

(Introduction) We have faith that future generations will know… there came a time when men of goodwill found a way to unite, and produce, and fight fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and war.

(Refrain) It takes a long, long time to bring the past up to the present. We may make mistakes, but not from faintness of heart. It takes a long, long time to bring the past up to the present. The world will move toward unity or it will move apart.

We Shall Choose a Path of Social Justice

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from FDR’s campaign address in Detroit, Michigan on October 2, 1932:

We Americans everywhere must and shall choose a path of social justice: the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.

We Shall Strive for Perfection

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

We Shall Strive for Perfection is a work for a cappella mixed chorus on a text adapted from excerpts of speeches by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1945, his last year in office.

From his Fourth Inaugural Address (January 20, 1945):

We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately – but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes – but they must never be mistakes which shall result from from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principles.

What the Flag and the Constitution Stand For

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speech to the Democratic National Convention on June 27, 1936:

…What the Flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they stand for democracy, not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection; and against a dictatorship by mob rule and the overprivileged alike.

Without the Help of Thousands

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

combines excerpts from two addresses. The first is from his New York State gubernatorial inaugural address on January 1, 1929:

Without the help of thousands of others, any one of us would die, naked and starved.

The second is from his first presidential inaugural address on March 4, 1933:

We now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we cannot merely take but must give as well.