The Klezmer Concerto is piece for solo
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
, harp, strings and percussion by Israeli-American composer
Ofer Ben-Amots
Ofer Ben-Amots (Hebrew: עופר בן-אמוץ; born October 20, 1955) is an Israeli-American composer and teacher of music composition and theory at Colorado College. His music is inspired by Jewish folklore of Eastern-European Yiddish and Judeo- ...
. The piece was both written for and dedicated to renowned
klezmer
Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...
clarinetist
David Krakauer. The three-movement composition is marked by traditional klezmer sonorities and the use of extended techniques in the clarinet part.
[
] The Klezmer Concerto premiered in
Michelstadt, Germany
Michelstadt () in the Odenwald is a town in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in southern Hesse, Germany between Darmstadt and Heidelberg. It has a population of 28,629 people.
Geography
Location
Michelstadt is the biggest town in the Odenwaldkre ...
on July 15, 2006 as part of the Michelstadt Musiknacht 2006.
[
]
Composition
The piece was composed in 2006. Amots states that the concerto was directly inspired by Krakauer's distinct playing style for klezmer clarinet; Amots and Krakuaer worked together throughout the composition process, with Krakauer's techniques influencing the composition from its earliest sketches.
Movements
I. Pastoral Donya
The concerto opens with a slow movement titled Pastoral Donya. A Donya is a type of melancholic melody likely of Eastern-European origin. The strings open with a passage meant to imitate the sounds of nature. The clarinet appears over the accompaniment with shout and cry-like melodies.
[
]
II. Nigun of the Seven Circles
This dance-like movement is based on the
Jewish wedding tradition of a bride circling her bridegroom seven times before the marriage ceremony can actually begin. Towards the end there is a free
cadenza
In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvisation, improvised or written-out ornament (music), ornamental passage (music), passage played or sung by a solo (music), sol ...
for the clarinet to improvise and expand upon previously stated motives.
III. Halleluya
The third movement was inspired by a passage describing a raucous musical scene in the
150th Psalm of the first testament. This movement also features a cadenza for the clarinet in a perpetual motion style. The movement concludes with the orchestra joining in the winding fashion, suggesting the praise of a
Halleluya.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klezmer Concerto
Clarinet concertos
Klezmer
2006 compositions