Here is the cover art for the album we are preparing for release in january 2011. Couldn’t wait to share this beautiful image created by PARMA graphic designer Leean Zajas!
Have been working on my comments for the CD audio. My first time working with multi-track miking. The overall sound is fantastic already, but apparently there is a lot of tweaking that can be done, so I went through every millisecond of the first draft audio. Ear fatigue! Sent all in yesterday. Now it’s their turn. Parma producer will work on it and send me 2nd draft. Getting closer!
Here are my program notes for Akhat Sha’alti (One Thing I Ask). (Posted the Youtube link to the premiere performance in last post, below, about the month of Elul.)
Akhat sha’alti (One thing I ask)
For SATB Chorus and Percussion Ensemble
(ossia SATB a capella)
Commissioned by the Nancy A. Smith Distinguished Visitor Series
Coastal Carolina University
Psalm 27, verse 4: One thing I asked of the Holy Living Essence, this I will seek: that I may dwell in the House of the Holy One all the days of my life.
It is traditional to read Psalm 27 every year in preparation for the season of teshuvah or return which begins with the Jewish New Year. The simplicity of verse 4 always holds my attention and gives me strength throughout the year.
In this composition, I hope to convey how it may feel to sit with awareness of the Holy Presence. The first movement focuses on the word akhat, which means one: one request, one God, one holy Essence creating and pervading the universe in every moment. In repeating and overlapping that word, the chorus creates a texture to hold and embrace us in that intention.
It is understood that Hebrew is a holy language, and that the words themselves contain the essential meaning they represent. The second movement plays with the sounds of the words otah avakesh (this I will request). I felt more extroverted energy in these words, and the chorus sings them with joy, conveying a spirit that builds in excitement as the movement progresses. A sustained melody of the entire text holds the central core, while otah avakesh dances around it.
The last movement, shivti b’vet HaShem (that I may sit in the House of the Holy One), returns to a state of calm, integrating the joyous connection with an inner peace, which radiates throughout.
http://www.youtube.com/user/meira1949#g/u
I just uploaded 3 videos of my 3-movement choral piece, Akhat Sha’alti (One Thing I Ask), which sets Psalm 27, vs. 4: “One thing I ask, this I request: that I shall dwell in the House of the Holy One all the days of my life. ”
We recite Psalm 27 daily during the Hebrew month of Elul, which began on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, and continue reciting it through the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashannah), which begins exactly one month later, and the three weeks of holidays which follow.
Elul initiates the season of teshuvah, which is translated as “repentance” but literally means “return.” We take an accounting of our actions over the past year and work to make amends for anything we have done wrong. In the process, we return to our true selves, and renew our connection with the Infinite, and are able to more fully “dwell in the House of the Holy One.”
Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/meira1949#g/u
Akhat Sha’alti (One thing I ask) was commissioned by the Nancy A. Smith Distinguished Visitor Series of Coastal Carolina University. The premiere performance took place March 10, 2010, with the Coastal Carolina Chorus, Dr. Terri Sinclair, director, and the Percussion Ensemble, Kurry Seymour, director.
I received the first edits from the recording sessions and am in the midst of reviewing them for all the details that could make them that much better (they are already really great!). Sent up my first batch of suggestions for Tekeeyah (a call) yesterday. Now starting the Symphony. Getting really REAL now!
Here’s a photo of me and Haim Avitsur (shofar/ trombone soloist for Tekeeyah) relaxing after the last session for Tekeeyah. Haim was leaving that afternoon to go back to Prague and prepare for his early morning flight back to the US. I still had 3 sessions of recordings coming up–devoted to the Symphony No. 1 Living Breathing Earth. It was a nice moment–taking it all in. This was our favorite restaurant for lunch, right next to the Philharmonic entrance. Not bad, eh?
Haim Avitsur and Meira Warshauer
Today is Tisha b’Av, a fast day in the Jewish calendar in which we remember the destructions of holiness in the world, symbolized by the destructions of the Temples in Jerusalem, but extending to all the ways in which we turn away from holiness and cause suffering.
This morning I was reading the book for Tisha b’Av services which contains prayers and special readings for this day. The main reading is the book of Lamentations attributed to Jeremiah. (My piano trio, Aecha (Lamentations) is based on the traditional melodies for reading this book.) Included in the back page of the collection of readings and prayers is a quote from the prophet Isaiah that struck me as important to share:
“In that day shall Israel be third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth; For the Lord will bless them saying ‘Blessed be Egypt My people, and Syria the work of My hand, and israel Mine inheritance.’ ” (Isaiah 19:24-25)
I looked up ch. 19 of Isaiah, and not surprisingly, it was full of some harsh prophecies before getting to this vision. But at least there is a vision from long ago that we will get to a point of harmony and shared blessing. Isaiah was good at describing visions like that.
But that quote was at the end of the readings. Today, for a few more hours, we can feel the sadness of a world in pain. Today we don’t have to get busy fixing it. We also don’t have to turn away from things too difficult or inconvenient to face. We can live with the sorrow. We don’t eat, we don’t bathe or listen to music. We are just present with the broken-ness of our world. We feel compassion. We let our hearts break.
Our first Shabbat home after the Czech Republic trip. Last two Shabbatot we were in Prague, and attended services at the oldest synagogue in Europe, the Altneuschul (Old-New Shul), which dates from 1270.
It was awesome to be there, and especially to feel the presence of the Maharal, the great rabbi of Prague from the 16th century. The power of his spirit made a great impression on me. He is most famous for making the Golem of Prague, and other miracles that helped protect the Jews at that time. But his spirit is so strong that one can feel it today, especially in the shul itself and at his grave in the old Jewish cemetery. I already wrote about visiting the grave and praying for blessing for my family and for the music I have been given. Now I want to write about the synagogue.
When one enters the stone structure from the street, there are several steps down to the level of the floor, so that the ceiling is higher than it appears from the outside (like some split level houses). There is an elevated bema in the center, where the Torah is read in the main sanctuary. But during the rest of the service, the Hazzan or prayer leader chants from a special place near the ark (where the Torah’s are kept), facing Jerusalem. The place of the prayer leader is not elevated, but is actually lower than the rest of the floor—recessed about 8 inches. So the leader is standing at a lower level than the congregation. I thought of the need for the leader to approach the prayers with humility, especially when representing the congregation, and loved the architectural reminder.
Above the lectern, where the prayer book is placed, there is a silver-framed mizrach (Eastern wall plaque) with the four-letter holy name of God and some other mystical writings. In small letters under the tetragrammaton is the word “Tamid” which means always. This is a reference to Psalm 16:8, “Shiviti HaShem l’negdi tamid” which means “I place God in front of me always.” The first letters of the words of that phrase are also written on the wall next to the ark, directly in front of the prayer leader.
The women’s section is behind and to the side of the main sanctuary, separated from it by thick walls, which were originally outside walls of the structure. There are small windows from which to view the sanctuary. The entire space felt very holy, even the separated women’s section. But after the service I went into the sanctuary to see what it was like there.
Of course, I was immediately drawn to the spot of the prayer leader. I had the chutzpah to stand there for a few minutes! I was overwhelmed by the holy energy in that spot. I imagined the Maharal himself standing there, leading the congregation, praying with his intensity and devotion, and perhaps gazing at the mizrach with the Holy Name and the reminder, tamid, “always.” I felt him whispering to me, to all of us, “Remember, always, keep the Holy Presence before you, always, constantly remind yourself, place a sign with the Holy Name in front of you, imagine the sign when you are away from it, always. See the letters of the Holy Name, the letters that represent the holiness of Being, tamid, always, always.”
And the most special thing is I felt his strength coming with the thought—an encouraging strength, that somehow he would help me to remember. I felt I had been privileged to meet him in this synagogue, in that cemetery, in the Jewish section of Prague, and that because of that encounter, I could now draw on his strength to remind me, to point me towards the Holy One, as a blessing to help me in good endeavors. Even here, across the ocean, in South Carolina, or wherever I may be. May it be so. And may you receive this strength as well.
OK. I wrote my letter to Christoph Eschenbach and my publisher, Joe Derhake at Keiser Music, sent him the score of Symphony No. 1 Living Breathing Earth. I’ll let you all know when he tells me he’s performing it. Ha, ha. But at least it’s on it’s way. Now on to other things.
But first, here’s a gem–in looking for Eschenbach’s contact info, I visited his website, and saw he is streaming ALL of Mahler’s Symphonies from live performances with the Orchestre de Paris. They posted Mahler’s 5th yesterday. You can see and hear him conduct it, and you’ll see why I was so impressed with the performance in Prague. Here’s the link
http://www.christoph-eschenbach.com/
Christoph Eschenbach
www.christoph-eschenbach.com
Official website of the great German conductor in English, French, German, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
One of the neat surprises about being in Prague after the sessions was viewing the outdoor photography exhibit, Wild Wonders of Europe. You can see these amazing photos online at their website: http://www.wild-wonders.com/exhibition_prague.asp
Wouldn’t it be great to have a performance of the Symphony Living Breathing Earth alongside this exhibit? One can dream, right??
