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?), music by Sholom Secunda and lyrics by Israel Rosenberg, to take us on a journey into […]
Call of the Cicadas
The profile video at the top of this page was created by Aileen LeBlanc for Public Radio International’s “Living on Earth.” Allentown Symphony’s Go Green concerts feature Call of the Cicadas Program notes: In summer 2005, the cicada calls to mate were exceptionally strong, with 20-30 second waves of overlapping sound energizing Carolina and Georgia nights […]
Shacharit (Sabbath Morning Service)
Shacharit (morning service) interprets the form and content of the Sabbath morning synagogue service. While conceived as a concert setting of the texts, the harmonic/melodic structure also contains references to the traditional Ashkenazic prayer modes of the service. Baruch She’amar: “Blessed is the One who spoke and the universe came into being,” opens with a […]
Let’s Get the Rhythm
Born on a River
As the Waters Cover the Sea (a response to Mozart)
A 1992 interview with Aileen LeBlanc on WHQR 91.3 FM explores Warshauer’s inspiration and compositional process. As the Waters Cover the Sea (a response to Mozart), written in honor of the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death, is my response to Mozart’s G minor Symphony. The title refers to the time when “the earth shall be […]
Revelation
Liner notes from the CD Robert Black Conducts: “Based on a 1980 experience of religious energy and personal sense of the infinite, the piece depicts the composer’s overwhelming spiritual encounter followed by its absorption and the resultant tranquility. It is the composer’s attempt to answer the question “How real is God to you?” posed by […]
Ahavah (Love)
In July 1991, I was invited to teach at a Jewish Renewal retreat on the campus of Bryn Mawr College. My class was studying Jewish texts about the environment and expressing our relationship with the earth through music. One day, after saying my afternoon prayers, I turned to behold a magnificent beech tree. Drawn to […]
YES!
RICHARD STOLTZMAN, AFTER THE 1997 RECORDING SESSION, WARSAW YES! is an exciting, rhythmically energizing piece with lots of jazz accents and a fun, driving beat.
Shabbat with King David
Shabbat with King David combines two melodies: a pentatonic melody on D and an e-minor melody. I associate the pentatonic melody with the biblical King David and his ecstatic dancing when bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. The melody came to me one Friday night (the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath) in June […]
Jerusalem, Open Your Gates
Revered by the three Abrahamic traditions as a holy city, Jerusalem embodies the hope for harmony and peace in the world. Jerusalem, Open Your Gates is a three movement symphonic work which interprets ancient teachings to create a musical vessel for peace. The three traditions consider Jerusalem to be on an elevated spiritual level. According […]
Like Streams in the Desert
Like Streams in the Desert was commissioned in honor of the 50th anniversary of the state of Israel. It is inspired by Psalm 126, whose theme is the return of exiles to Zion. This psalm, sung at festive meals on Sabbath and holidays, has sustained generations of Jews in exile. Communities throughout the Diaspora (dispersion) […]
Beyond the Horizon
“Beyond the Horizon is an invitation to imagine a more perfect world. The orchestra will play the 5 minute composition twice.* The first performance is for you, the listener, to absorb, as a meditation. You may close your eyes and experience the sound vibrations in your body as well as your mind. Let any emotions […]
Living Breathing Earth Symphony
The title Living Breathing Earth came to me in contemplating the image of the rainforests as lungs of the earth. I felt our planet, alive with all variety of creatures and plants living in symbiosis with each other, breathing in and out, and the planet as a whole, pulsing with breath. I also contemplated the […]
Tekeeyah (a call)
Tekeeyah is the Hebrew word for sounding a long tone on the shofar (horn of a ram or other kosher animal). I believe our time calls for an awakening to our true essence as human beings. How do we wake up to who we really are? How do we hear and connect to our deepest […]
In Memoriam (for cello and strings)
(Artwork upper right, “September Sorrow,” mixed media, by Christina Bosna Farley. Performed by Ina Esther Joost Ben-Sasson, cello, with Donald Portnoy and the University of South Carolina Chamber Orchestra, March 31, 2017. ) I wrote these sketches during the days of watching the horror of the attacks of September 11: the collapse of the World […]