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Visions, Fantasies and Dances

Yitzhak Yedid

Visions, Fantasies and Dances

Price: € 13.95
Format: CD
Label: Between The Lines
UPC: 0608917123623
Catnr: BTLCHR 71236
Release date: 03 January 2014
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Label
Between The Lines
UPC
0608917123623
Catalogue number
BTLCHR 71236
Release date
03 January 2014
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
DE

About the album

The spiritual experience of Yitzhak Yedid as a child chanting the Baqashot at the well-known Ades Synagogue in Jerusalem inspired this composition. Baqashot are collections of supplications, songs and prayers that have been sung by the Sephardic Syrian Jewish communities for centuries. "Every Shabbat during winter months my father woke me up a few hours after midnight to walk to Ades Synagogue to participate in the singing until dawn. Later in my life I was able to distinguish between different Maqamat. This attracted me to explore classical Arabic music and heterophonic textures, and, just as has occurred in Baqashot, to compose works that merge Maqamat with Jewish themes. Since I trained in Western classical music and practice improvisation (as a pianist) it seemed appropriate to merge these different influences" says Yedid.

And so, Visions, Fantasies and Dances is an authentic expression of new music which incorporates a wide spectrum of contemporary and ancient styles. It creates a confluence between the heterophonic textures of Arabic genres (classical Arabic music and Arabic-influenced Jewish music) and the compositional approaches of contemporary Western classical music. Amongst the Western composers of special importance to Yedid are Béla Bartók (1881-1945), György Kurtág (b. 1926), György Ligeti (1923-2006), Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Stefan Wolpe (1902- 1972) and John Zorn (b. 1953).
In 10 Jahren hat Yitzhak Yedid nun acht Aufnahmen bei Between the Lines veröffentlicht. Alle reflektieren sie nicht nur die verschiedensten Einflüsse, denen er ausgesetzt war: 1971 als Kind syrisch-jüdischer Einwanderer in Jerusalem geboren, geprägt von zahlreichen Besuchen in Synagogen und der dort gepflegten sefardischen Musiktradition. Nach dem Studium in Jerusalem die Fortsetzung der Studien In Boston bei den Jazzgrößen Ran Blake und Paul Bley. Und natürlich das intensive Studium klassischer und zeitgenössischer Komponisten wie Béla Bartok, György Ligeti, Arnold Schönberg, und viele mehr. Er nennt aber z.B. auch John Zorn als Inspirationsquelle - und wiederum die Rückbesinnung auf die arabisch beeinflusste Musik seiner Kindheit und Jugend. Mittlerweile lebt und lehrt er in Australien, kehrt aber immer wieder in seine Heimat zurück. Er zählt in Israel zu den wichtigsten zeitgenössischen Komponisten und Interpreten, was zahlreiche Preise und Auszeichnungen belegen.
„Visions, Fantasies and Dances“ stellt nun eine besondere Qualität Yitzhak Yedid´s in den Vordergrund: seine Kompositionen. Seit vielen Jahren schon sind sie der Ausgangspunkt seiner Tätigkeit, die Interpretation fremder Werke war immer untergeordnet. Aber bisher saß er immer selbst am Piano, ob Solo, im Trio, Quartett oder Quintett. Diesmal hat er ein Werk für ein Streichquartett ohne Klavierbegleitung geschrieben. Es besteht aus 7 Teilen, die wiederum aus insgesamt 34 kleinen Preziosen zusammen gesetzt sind. Bei der Gestaltung bedient er diverser Techniken, mal setzt er serielle, dann wieder microtonale Elemente ein, verweist auf Anklänge religiöser Musik, lässt arabische Einflüsse erahnen – und hier ist sie wieder: Yedid´s Fähigkeit, Musik „sprechen“ zu lassen, Geschichten mit Tönen zu erzählen. Seine Lebensgeschichte, die seiner Mitmenschen und die Zusammenhänge, in denen sie ihren Alltag verbringen. Geprägt von verschiedenen und doch so nahen religiösen Traditionen, Alltag zwischen Mauern und Stacheldraht und doch rauschenden Festem, dann wieder gewaltsame Auseinandersetzungen und Selbstmordattentate, bei der jede Familie mittlerweile Opfer zu beklagen hat. Die klassischen Kompositionstechniken reichen nicht aus, um das alles darzustellen. Yedid kann aber aus einem schier unbeschränkten Fundus schöpfen, bis hin zu verschiedenen Improvisationstechniken, die hohe Herausforderungen an klassische Ensembles richten. Es geht eben nicht nur darum, eine Komposition zu spielen, sondern auch zu verstehen, welche Gedankenwelten und Erfahrungen, welche Überzeugungen den Komponisten geleitet haben, und welche Geschichte er erzählen will.
Das Sapphire String Quartett hat sich dieser Herausforderung gestellt – und sie bravourös gemeistert. Alle vier Mitglieder leben und arbeiten in Israel und kennen Yitzhak Yedid und seine Werke seit vielen Jahren.
Janna Gandelman lebt in Tel Aviv ist Konzertmeisterin des Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra unter Fréderic Chaslin
Roman Spitzer (geb. 1960 in St. Petersburg) lehrt an der Universität Tel Aviv und ist seit 2000 erster Violinist des Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Er hatte internationale Auftritte unter Dirigenten wie Nagano, Masur, Mehta, Barenboim und vielen mehr.
Dr. Amos Boasson spielt ebenfalls bei dem Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, wo er gelegentlich auch als Dirigent gefragt ist. Daneben beschäftigt er sich mit Hirnforschung im Zusammenhang mit musikalischer Rezeption – und hat dort auch einen Doktortitel erworben.
Oleg Stolpner wurde in St. Petersburg geboren und lebt mittlerweile in Jerusalem. Auch er ist Konzertmeister des Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

Artist(s)

Yitzhak Yedid (piano)

Yitzhak Yedid is an award-winning Israeli-Australian composer and improvising pianist. Yedid's style of composition described as: “eclectic, multicultural and very personal style that combines jazz and Jewish cantor music, classic European and avant-garde, randomness and a blend of techniques.”. Barry Davis wrote in the Jerusalem Post (2017) that: “Over the past couple of decades or so, Yedid has put out an almost bewilderingly eclectic range of works and recordings. His disciplinary backdrop takes in Western classical music, jazz, free improvisation, Arabic music and liturgical material. His compositions are generally viscerally and cerebrally engaging, and often visually striking, with the piano- playing role requiring a certain amount of calisthenic activity and a significant dosage of emotional and technical investment.” Yedid has composed a wide...
more

Yitzhak Yedid is an award-winning Israeli-Australian composer and improvising pianist.

Yedid's style of composition described as: “eclectic, multicultural and very personal style that combines jazz and Jewish cantor music, classic European and avant-garde, randomness and a blend of techniques.”. Barry Davis wrote in the Jerusalem Post (2017) that: “Over the past couple of decades or so, Yedid has put out an almost bewilderingly eclectic range of works and recordings. His disciplinary backdrop takes in Western classical music, jazz, free improvisation, Arabic music and liturgical material. His compositions are generally viscerally and cerebrally engaging, and often visually striking, with the piano- playing role requiring a certain amount of calisthenic activity and a significant dosage of emotional and technical investment.”

Yedid has composed a wide range of works including chamber, orchestral and vocal music, music for solo instruments, choral and music for improvising ensembles.Dr Yitzhak Yedid is an Israeli-Australian composer and improvising pianist. Yedid’s interest lies in composing and performing concert music. His composition folio contains orchestral, chamber and vocal music.

Yedid studied in Jerusalem (Rubin Academy), Boston MA (New England Conservatory), and Melbourne (Monash University) where he gained a PhD degree in 2012. His expertise as a composer is in the integration of non-European musical elements, including improvisation, with Western practice. His compositions explore new forms of integrating classical Arabic music, Arabic-influenced Jewish music and contemporary Western classical music. Yedid is an expert in Arabic music and Maqamat (the modal system of classical Arabic music).

Yedid is a Sidney Myer Fellow (2018- 2019). His awards include the top two prizes in Israel for composers and performers: the Prime Minister’s Prize for Composers (2007) and the Landau Prize for Performing Arts (2009). In 2008 he was awarded the first composition prize for solo work for harp at the 17th International Harp contest which led to numerous performances of the piece worldwide and to two commercial recordings. Yedid has also been awarded a composer-in-residence position at the Judith Wright Centre (Brisbane, 2010) and at the Western Australian Academy of Performing arts (08). His latest album Arabic violin Bass Piano Trio was nominated for the 2012 Australian Jazz Bell Awards.

Yedid has performed his compositions with many ensembles in festivals and venues across Europe, Canada, the USA (including the Carnegie Hall (New York), Jordan Hall (Boston) and Benaroya Hall (Seattle), Asia, and Africa. His work has been presented at many festivals: Munich Festival; Icebreaker Festival (Seattle, US); Sibu Festival (Romania); Adis Ababa Arts Festival (Ethiopia); Tura New Music Festival; Melbourne International Jazz Festival; Guelph Jazz Festival (Canada); Vancouver Arts Festival; The Oud International Festival; Porgy & Bess Festival (Austria); Wiener Musik Galerie Festival; Frankfurt Arts Festival; and Copenhagen Jazz Festival.

Yitzhak Yedid’s music, a unique narrative of pictures, textures and colours that is characterized by a spectacular mix of styles, is a direct outcome of his inspiration through philosophical matters and mysticism, religious rituals and religious conflicts. For over a decade Yedid has researched composition and performance that integrates Western classic music traditions and Arabic music traditions, and composed, without subscribing or adhering to any particular system, a body of over 40 works that deal with this integration. “Musically, Yedid writes with detail and foreknowledge of the sounds anticipated, a highly developed feature. His music innovative and traditional, a combination that is not easy to achieve” (Kim Cunio, 2013).

Yedid writes “Looking for new compositional approaches and challenging musical conventions through the synthesis of a wide spectrum of contemporary and ancient styles is what motivated my work. Intellectual conflicts such as the confrontation with philosophical matters and religious and political aspects have always been of interest, and also underlie and motivated my work. I have been influenced in particular by Béla Bartók and Arnold Schoenberg to develop a personal vision as a composer.” This words by Yedid are inline with what the critics write about his music: John Shand from the Sydney Morning Harald wrote in 2014 about Yedid’s ‘Myth of the Cave’ “a vividly expansive composition”; Noam Ben-Zeav (Haaretz) wrote in 2013 that “Yedid music is an authentic expression of new music which incorporates a wide spectrum of contemporary and ancient styles”; and Ake Holmquist (NorraSkåne, Sweden) wrote in 2004 that “Yedid integrates specific stylistic influences into a personal created unity. The manner in which he describes folkloristic influences and melancholic specific themes can remind of Béla Bartók; improvisatory float of hovering à la Keith Jarret”.

Yedid’s compositions ‘Oud Bass Piano Trio’ (2006) and ‘Arabic Violin Bass Piano Trio’ (2008) are works that combines a classical Arabic instrument with Western instruments. Randal McIlroy, Coda Magazine (Canada) wrote ”Pianist/composer Yitzhak Yedid’s Oud Bass Piano Trio conveys terrific tension, aggravation and release. It’s a stunner. Minimizing the distinction between composition and improvisation, the music is entrusted to supple hands.”, and jazz journalist Alain Drouot wrote for the prestigious Downbeat Magazine (US) that “Yedid’s trio explores a wide range of emotions and tones, even if a dark and mournful mood prevails. The musicians’ vivid interpretations produce a positive flow of energy that keeps the music alert and compelling, and Yedid is capable of striking lyricism. Jazz musicians often describe their art as storytelling. Yedid embodies this.”

Musically, Yedid create a confluence between the Maqamat (Arabic music modal system), heterophonic textures of ancient genres, and compositional approaches of contemporary Western classical music, to produce an original sound. Yedid introduces microtonality in his works in a range of different ways. He examined ways of using microtonal pitches that in Arabic music function as ornamentation and as part of improvisational gestures. He has extended the use of traditional ornamentation to compose microtonal sounds with microtonal qualities that unfold at different tempi without a definite pitch. This can be seen in many of his works. In his string quartet Visions, Fantasies and Dances, the microtonal intervals function in the context of diatonic and chromatic intervals and the method of a tension-and-release for intervals of a quarter-tone and three-quarter-tones have been employed.

Yedid have shown a new direction/subject in his later works and courage to make a commentary on international currant political/religious problems that continue to find no resolution. The Crying Souls (commissioned by the Australian Voices) and Delusions of War (commissioned by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra) are both anti-war works. The Crying Souls was written as a response to the chemical weapons attacks that happened in August 2013 in Damascus when more than 1,300 innocent civilian including children were massacred. Yedid writes “This work expresses my endless sadness to the death of innocent people”. In the notes on Delusions of War he writes “The music aims to make the listeners “feel” the human suffering that the war causes, and, without assuming to have answers, to encourage them to pause for a moment and to envisage better ways than force to resolve crises. The music captures emotions of anger and fear, and feelings of sorrow, tragedy and righteousness.”


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Composer(s)

Yitzhak Yedid (piano)

Yitzhak Yedid is an award-winning Israeli-Australian composer and improvising pianist. Yedid's style of composition described as: “eclectic, multicultural and very personal style that combines jazz and Jewish cantor music, classic European and avant-garde, randomness and a blend of techniques.”. Barry Davis wrote in the Jerusalem Post (2017) that: “Over the past couple of decades or so, Yedid has put out an almost bewilderingly eclectic range of works and recordings. His disciplinary backdrop takes in Western classical music, jazz, free improvisation, Arabic music and liturgical material. His compositions are generally viscerally and cerebrally engaging, and often visually striking, with the piano- playing role requiring a certain amount of calisthenic activity and a significant dosage of emotional and technical investment.” Yedid has composed a wide...
more

Yitzhak Yedid is an award-winning Israeli-Australian composer and improvising pianist.

Yedid's style of composition described as: “eclectic, multicultural and very personal style that combines jazz and Jewish cantor music, classic European and avant-garde, randomness and a blend of techniques.”. Barry Davis wrote in the Jerusalem Post (2017) that: “Over the past couple of decades or so, Yedid has put out an almost bewilderingly eclectic range of works and recordings. His disciplinary backdrop takes in Western classical music, jazz, free improvisation, Arabic music and liturgical material. His compositions are generally viscerally and cerebrally engaging, and often visually striking, with the piano- playing role requiring a certain amount of calisthenic activity and a significant dosage of emotional and technical investment.”

Yedid has composed a wide range of works including chamber, orchestral and vocal music, music for solo instruments, choral and music for improvising ensembles.Dr Yitzhak Yedid is an Israeli-Australian composer and improvising pianist. Yedid’s interest lies in composing and performing concert music. His composition folio contains orchestral, chamber and vocal music.

Yedid studied in Jerusalem (Rubin Academy), Boston MA (New England Conservatory), and Melbourne (Monash University) where he gained a PhD degree in 2012. His expertise as a composer is in the integration of non-European musical elements, including improvisation, with Western practice. His compositions explore new forms of integrating classical Arabic music, Arabic-influenced Jewish music and contemporary Western classical music. Yedid is an expert in Arabic music and Maqamat (the modal system of classical Arabic music).

Yedid is a Sidney Myer Fellow (2018- 2019). His awards include the top two prizes in Israel for composers and performers: the Prime Minister’s Prize for Composers (2007) and the Landau Prize for Performing Arts (2009). In 2008 he was awarded the first composition prize for solo work for harp at the 17th International Harp contest which led to numerous performances of the piece worldwide and to two commercial recordings. Yedid has also been awarded a composer-in-residence position at the Judith Wright Centre (Brisbane, 2010) and at the Western Australian Academy of Performing arts (08). His latest album Arabic violin Bass Piano Trio was nominated for the 2012 Australian Jazz Bell Awards.

Yedid has performed his compositions with many ensembles in festivals and venues across Europe, Canada, the USA (including the Carnegie Hall (New York), Jordan Hall (Boston) and Benaroya Hall (Seattle), Asia, and Africa. His work has been presented at many festivals: Munich Festival; Icebreaker Festival (Seattle, US); Sibu Festival (Romania); Adis Ababa Arts Festival (Ethiopia); Tura New Music Festival; Melbourne International Jazz Festival; Guelph Jazz Festival (Canada); Vancouver Arts Festival; The Oud International Festival; Porgy & Bess Festival (Austria); Wiener Musik Galerie Festival; Frankfurt Arts Festival; and Copenhagen Jazz Festival.

Yitzhak Yedid’s music, a unique narrative of pictures, textures and colours that is characterized by a spectacular mix of styles, is a direct outcome of his inspiration through philosophical matters and mysticism, religious rituals and religious conflicts. For over a decade Yedid has researched composition and performance that integrates Western classic music traditions and Arabic music traditions, and composed, without subscribing or adhering to any particular system, a body of over 40 works that deal with this integration. “Musically, Yedid writes with detail and foreknowledge of the sounds anticipated, a highly developed feature. His music innovative and traditional, a combination that is not easy to achieve” (Kim Cunio, 2013).

Yedid writes “Looking for new compositional approaches and challenging musical conventions through the synthesis of a wide spectrum of contemporary and ancient styles is what motivated my work. Intellectual conflicts such as the confrontation with philosophical matters and religious and political aspects have always been of interest, and also underlie and motivated my work. I have been influenced in particular by Béla Bartók and Arnold Schoenberg to develop a personal vision as a composer.” This words by Yedid are inline with what the critics write about his music: John Shand from the Sydney Morning Harald wrote in 2014 about Yedid’s ‘Myth of the Cave’ “a vividly expansive composition”; Noam Ben-Zeav (Haaretz) wrote in 2013 that “Yedid music is an authentic expression of new music which incorporates a wide spectrum of contemporary and ancient styles”; and Ake Holmquist (NorraSkåne, Sweden) wrote in 2004 that “Yedid integrates specific stylistic influences into a personal created unity. The manner in which he describes folkloristic influences and melancholic specific themes can remind of Béla Bartók; improvisatory float of hovering à la Keith Jarret”.

Yedid’s compositions ‘Oud Bass Piano Trio’ (2006) and ‘Arabic Violin Bass Piano Trio’ (2008) are works that combines a classical Arabic instrument with Western instruments. Randal McIlroy, Coda Magazine (Canada) wrote ”Pianist/composer Yitzhak Yedid’s Oud Bass Piano Trio conveys terrific tension, aggravation and release. It’s a stunner. Minimizing the distinction between composition and improvisation, the music is entrusted to supple hands.”, and jazz journalist Alain Drouot wrote for the prestigious Downbeat Magazine (US) that “Yedid’s trio explores a wide range of emotions and tones, even if a dark and mournful mood prevails. The musicians’ vivid interpretations produce a positive flow of energy that keeps the music alert and compelling, and Yedid is capable of striking lyricism. Jazz musicians often describe their art as storytelling. Yedid embodies this.”

Musically, Yedid create a confluence between the Maqamat (Arabic music modal system), heterophonic textures of ancient genres, and compositional approaches of contemporary Western classical music, to produce an original sound. Yedid introduces microtonality in his works in a range of different ways. He examined ways of using microtonal pitches that in Arabic music function as ornamentation and as part of improvisational gestures. He has extended the use of traditional ornamentation to compose microtonal sounds with microtonal qualities that unfold at different tempi without a definite pitch. This can be seen in many of his works. In his string quartet Visions, Fantasies and Dances, the microtonal intervals function in the context of diatonic and chromatic intervals and the method of a tension-and-release for intervals of a quarter-tone and three-quarter-tones have been employed.

Yedid have shown a new direction/subject in his later works and courage to make a commentary on international currant political/religious problems that continue to find no resolution. The Crying Souls (commissioned by the Australian Voices) and Delusions of War (commissioned by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra) are both anti-war works. The Crying Souls was written as a response to the chemical weapons attacks that happened in August 2013 in Damascus when more than 1,300 innocent civilian including children were massacred. Yedid writes “This work expresses my endless sadness to the death of innocent people”. In the notes on Delusions of War he writes “The music aims to make the listeners “feel” the human suffering that the war causes, and, without assuming to have answers, to encourage them to pause for a moment and to envisage better ways than force to resolve crises. The music captures emotions of anger and fear, and feelings of sorrow, tragedy and righteousness.”


less

Press

Play album Play album
01.
Introduction: Fire of my spiritual life
00:41
02.
Vision of an old woman sitting alone and weeping
01:35
03.
Mirages of friendship
00:36
04.
The vision of the woman dows not loosen its grip on me
00:26
05.
In a sharp transition
02:36
06.
Flying in the heavens with the exalted angels
01:24
07.
Awakening
01:22
08.
Fantasies from the Antipodes
01:40
09.
A conflict of loves
00:11
10.
Vision of chaos and calamity
00:49
11.
Hallucinatory dance of a drunken Klezmer player
02:02
12.
Image of the calm after the storm
01:34
13.
Singing the Baqashot
00:58
14.
A day of trouble and distress, a day of ruin and desolation... (Zephania 1:15)
02:15
15.
Prayer Of The 'Soul Of Every Being'
01:04
16.
Dreaming reality
02:20
17.
'And Thy Faithfulness Every Night'
03:36
18.
Night watch prayer at the Western Wall
01:47
19.
Celebration of the promiscuous dancers
01:32
20.
Chorus about the hallucinations
01:51
21.
'A Time To Weep, A Time To Laugh, A Time To Mourn, A Time To Dance.'
01:05
22.
Wondering about the hallucinations
01:51
23.
And behold, again the celebrators
02:08
24.
Craze of creation
01:12
25.
Fire of my spiritual life
02:56
26.
The violinist´s gaze
00:26
27.
Unison of marchers
02:54
28.
He breaks into a solo like someone who doesn´t want to stop
00:14
29.
Trumpeting of the dancers
00:26
30.
Image of a bloodied pig falling from the sky
00:26
31.
'Lu Yehi' (Naomi Shemer)
01:45
32.
'Thy Destroyers And They That Laid Thee Waste Go Away From Thee'
00:51
33.
And in the midst of the holy thouy shall be praised
01:27
34.
Prayer for another day
05:57
show all tracks

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