Coquelicot (Poppies) for flute and cello Jeux–Let’s Play (duration ca. 1:30) Coquelicot Reverie–Dreaming Poppies (dur. ca. 4 min.) Course Pursuite–Catch me if you can! (dur. ca. 4:30) When I first met Duo Coquelicot, flutist Carol Wincenc and cellist Velleda Miragias, I was enchanted by their playful spirit. Even the name they chose for their duo, […]
Fantasy for Violin and Piano
Serenade Fantasy for flute and cello
Serenade-Fantasy weaves back and forth between an opening baroque melody and whole tone scales which lead away from the tonal center. It may be interpreted as portraying the path of the seeker, encountering diversions and obstacles, but always returning to the call of inner guidance. Parts available upon request. On Spirals of Light CD, performed […]
Yiddish Fantasy for violin and piano
Yiddish Fantasy is an arrangement of several Yiddish songs and klezmer tunes which were popular among the Jews of Eastern Europe at the turn of the century. It opens with Vu is dus Gessele (Where is the little street?), to take us on a journey into the time and place of the shtetl, a little […]
Figment
Jack Burkheimer (pictured right) has become a poetic spokesperson for the homeless community in Columbia, South Carolina. His poem, “Figment,” eloquently portrays his experience living on the street, and routinely being ignored by passers by, as if he were not even there. The recurring phrase, “figment of my imagination” describes the haunting feeling of disappearing […]
Carolina Gallery: Women in the Country
Women in the Country is inspired by a large, abstract painting by Philip Mullen from 1983 titled “Women in the Country [Series 2 No 5],” which occupies a prominent place in the lobby of the Koger Center for the Arts at the University of South Carolina. As I attend many rehearsals and concerts in this […]
Carolina Gallery: Dis-Orientation Garden
Dis-Orientation Garden was inspired by the playful spirit and formal precision of Christian Thee’s “Orientation Gallery” at the Columbia Museum of Art. The Gallery, which greets visitors to the museum, creates the feeling of inhabiting a formal garden laced with illusion. Its four walls and ceiling are painted with latticework, ivy (both 2-D and 3-D), […]
Carolina Gallery: Perpetuate Slavery Or
Perpetuate Slavery Or is a musical response to the painting with this title by Alex Powers, found at the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina. The artwork grapples with President Lincoln’s decision to engage in war with the slave-holding South, and heightens the human costs of both war and slavery. The music here portrays […]
Lament
Five Reflections
1. turning inward towards the source 2. outward strokes 3. a baby’s sigh, floating clouds, wisps of sound 4. heart’s pure beauty, the internal jewel 5. a cloud hovers and then evaporates. the mist is dried by the sun. This composition was written just after the birth of our first child. The “baby’s sigh” is […]
Night Lumens
Awakening
Awakening was written in 1984, as a response to the threat of nuclear annihilation, at the height of the US-Soviet arms race. It was premiered (by the composer) at a Concert for Peace which she organized in Columbia, SC, to benefit the Carolina Peace Resource Center’s work to prevent nuclear holocaust. The opening movement is […]
String Trio
Psalm 19
Psalm 19 (1986) communicates the silent praise of the heavenly spheres as they traverse their paths, expressing the awesome majesty of the Creator. — Meira Warshauer Psalm 19 (vs.1-4) The heavens declare the glory of G-d, Hashamayim m’saprim k’vod (k)Eil And the expanse of the sky tells of Her handiwork. Uma’asay yadav magid harakiya Day […]
Love Song
Caesaria (Eli,Eli)
A Time to Blossom
I. A Song to Mary II. Have You Got a Brook? III. Caesaria (Eli, Eli) A Time to Blossom (1990) sets the poetry of three women from divergent times and traditions who express the inter-connectedness and holiness of all of life. For Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th century abbess, the “verdant sprout” is an inner […]
Aecha (Lamentations)
Aecha (“How”) is the Hebrew title of the book of Lamentations, which is chanted on the Jewish fast day of T’isha b’Av to commemorate the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The first section of the composition uses melodic motives from this mournful chant, which carries the weight of centuries of sorrow and laments the […]
Four Songs from the Holocaust
Four Songs from the Holocaust arranges four selections from We Are Here: Songs from the Holocaust published by the Workmen’s Circle, NY, in 1983. The songs were composed by Jews in the ghettos and concentration camps during World War II or immediately afterwards. The melodies and Yiddish texts (with English translations) are expressions of love, […]
The Butterfly
I. The Last Butterfly II. My Ideals III. Caesaaria Premiered at “Anne Frank in the World” exhibit, South Carolina State Museum, 1992 Texts: Friedman, Frank, Senesh