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 |  |  | | | | Track Listings | | | Kli Zemer (Concerto for Clarinet) | |  | 1T’filot (Prayers) | 9:14 | | 2 Rikudim (Dances) | 6:41 | | 3 Manginot (Melodies) | 5:47 | | 4 Hakdashot (Dedications) | 7:33 | | 5 Samson Agonistes (Symphonic Portrait) | 13:34 | | Concerto a Quattro | | | 6 Andante | 6:19 | | 7 Presto | 5:03 | | 8 Non troppo lento, allegro risoluto | 10:11 | | Annapolis Suite (Music for Brass and Harp) | | | 9 Allegro marciale | 1:25 | | 10 Presto leggiero | 2:01 | | 11 Larghetto | 2:43 | | 12 Molto allegro | 1:23 | | 13 Lento | 1:53 | | 14 Allegro risoluto | 1:58 | | Total time: | 76:15 |
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| | | | | | Robert Starer | | | Our Price: $9.95  | | | | Item Number: MMC2048 | | Audio Format: DDD | | Genres: Concerto\Featured Composer | | | | Description | | Excerpts from the Liner Notes (by Robert Starer)
Kli Zemer Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra
Kli Zemer literally means “instrument of song” in Hebrew. The Yiddish word “Klezmer” is derived from it. While all the thematic ideas in Kli Zemer are my own, they do lean toward the melodies of Eastern-European music which I have been familiar with since my childhood in Vienna and my youth in Jerusalem.
Samson Agonistes (Symphonic Portrait)
“Samson Agonistes” was the first score I wrote for Martha Graham. It was premiered at the Broadway Theater in New York on April 16, 1960 under the title “Visionary Recital.” The following year Martha Graham changed it to “Samson Agonistes.” In “Phaedra” and the other works I wrote for her in later years, she discussed her subjects with me in lengthy and intense conversations, but for that, our first collaboration, she gave me a script.
Concerto a Quattro
Concerto a Quattro is dedicated to Gerard Schwarz who premiered it with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on October 15, 1983. He also performed it with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the New York Chamber Symphony. My “Concerto for Four” is in four movements, each of them beginning with a different instrument.
Annapolis Suite
“Annapolis Suite” (Music for Brass and Harp) was written for the Annapolis Brass Quintet who premiered it at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on March 22, 1983 with Heidi Lehwalder, harpist. The American Brass Quintet and Nancy Allen gave the New York premiere at Merkin Hall. Annapolis Suite has six short movements. In some of them the martial quality of the brasses is juxtaposed to the improvisatory nature of the harp, in others they are joined in true ensemble playing. There are elements of jazz in some of the pieces and the brasses use a variety of mutes. |
| | | | | | | Reviews | | "'Concerto a Quattro' is a brilliant showpiece and the 'Annapolis Suite' uses, effectively, the remarkable combination of harp and brass quintet."
"The versatility represented [here] is impressive."
-The Washington Post: Jospeh McLellan
"Robert Starer has graced the American music scene with music that is elegant, lyrical, and supremely intelligent."
"The East-European element is especially strong in ‘Kli Zemer’, a virtuosic, freewheeling clarinet concerto. A walking-bass jazz sequence mitigates the anguished musical portrait of ‘Samson Agonistes’ that follows. This tense, powerful score is recorded in digital sound with an appropriately large, even frightening dynamic range."
"The warmer, more inviting ‘Concerto a Quattro’, written for Gerard Schwarz, who performs it beautifully here with the Seattle Symphony, is full of elaborate solos set against eloquent strings."
"My favorite work on this disc is the ‘Annapolis Suite’, with its delicate, dreamlike harp figurations (magically played by Nancy Allen) set against brilliant brass sounds intoned by the American Brass Quintet. This dignified piece-again, enlivened by a subtle jazz feeling-is original and seductive."
"As usual, MMC offers clear, powerful sound."
"If we are really in a classical music 'crisis,' as many commentators gloomily assert, it doesn't seem to have affected Robert Starer. If anything, his music has become more inventive, confident, and elegant in the 1980s and 90s. Could we have more, please?"
-American Record Guide: by Jack Sullivan |
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