Reviews, etc.

Colleen Neubert, soprano, was the vehicle for the warm lyricism of A Time to Blossom, Meira Maxine Warshauer’s meditation on natural beauty and divine unity for soprano and flute, cello, and piano. Warshauer’s selection and setting of three texts by Hildegard, Emily Dickinson, and Hannah Senesh, indicated a mastery of word setting and of contrapuntal lyricism.

"Like any true work of art, Warshauer's work casts the familiar in a new light. For Christian and even Jewish composers, the Catholic Mass has served to inspire countless symphonic and choral works.... Very few works inspired by the Jewish liturgy, however, have been accepted into the classical canon. Warshauer's works deserve to be included in that canon.

Ahavah (Love)...is a grand choral work for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra that proclaims the profound connection between ourselves and the earth upon which we stand.

To attempt to describe this music is like trying to describe one's feelings of awe and inspiration. It is at times bright, rhythmic, and powerful; at others filled with wonder and amazement. It culminates in a peak of faith and affirmation.

Both these CDs (Streams in the Desert and Living Breathing Earth) contain music that is very beautiful and deeply moving. I recommend them to listeners of all persuasions. (copyright 1977-2011 Fanfare, Inc.)

Wonderfully unified and using a modern musical idiom that compels listener involvement, As the Waters Cover the Sea is a tribute to music’s ability to renew and transform older models. Warshauer’s style is mature, comprehensive and dynamic, and she received a well-deserved ovation.

When I play "Bati l'Gani" I feel transported, carried into a lush garden filled with trees heavy with fruit, water gently flowing, birds singing, and a voice filled with love calling out to me. I'll be forever grateful that Meira has written this beautiful music for all of us.

[Beyond the Horizon] create(d) a sound that was lush and meditative, setting the tone for the program.

(Bracha)--an extended rhapsodic violin solo with modal inflections that yields to a spare piano solo before the players join in beautiful melody—retains its simple power over repeated listenings.

Blending clarinet with vibraphone and other percussion, Meira Warshauer’s stunning “We Are Dreamers” provides a lyrical meditative work that offers dense Lauridsen-like choral writing and a theme that brings us full circle to the more declamatory opening.

While I found the entire album profoundly moving, I have to single out 'We Are Dreamers' as particularly noteworthy. With it's otherworldly delivery this rounds the album off beautifully.

Meira's music (In Memoriam Sept. 11) comes from a place which is beyond music. It is like a prayer, a niggun, from deep within the soul. It always evokes deep responses from the listeners and is very moving for me to perform.

(In Memoriam September 11, 2001 is) my favorite 'In Memoriam' yet.

Whether the music is jaunty or introspective, (the Land of Promise soundtrack) is all part of a thoughtful accompaniment to a documentary following the experiences of South Carolina’s Jewish communities from their founding early in the 18th century until today.

To attempt to describe this music is like trying to describe one's feelings of awe and inspiration. It is at times bright, rhythmic, and powerful; at others filled with wonder and amazement. It culminates in a peak of faith and affirmation.

Both these CDs (Streams in the Desert and Living Breathing Earth) contain music that is very beautiful and deeply moving. I recommend them to listeners of all persuasions. (copyright 1977-2011 Fanfare, Inc.)

Waves and Currents… sketches a vivid picture...glissandi of a chain pulled across the piano strings recall the bursting foam of the surf, while thunderous chords in the lows evoke the destructive power of the dangerous undertow…

From the Depths offers a plethora of extended techniques…we seem to hear the calls of seagulls,… at other times the whisper of the wind… The hushed character creates an almost spiritual atmosphere.

…The Giant Blue … has a charged atmosphere… as if the ocean is in pain and literally crying out for help.

"With Ocean Calling, Meira Warshauer composed a glowing plea for our planet, that should be mandatory listening..."

It was a night of triumph for the composer and the performers. This music took the listener on an epic journey. The two keyboards offered broad aural space for the play of gesture and timbre, including the mysterious interior piano effects. The sound world embraces lovely liquid sounds from the pianos, open harmonies, splashes of color like waves, the rumble of surf, and towers of massed harmonies. The message of ocean beauty, healing, and preservation was conveyed with conviction from beginning to end.

Each work is very fine and well worth hearing. Revelation is especially outstanding.

(Revelation) is a brilliant work, and in and of itself, a compelling reason for acquiring this disc.

Composer Meira Warshauer’s glorious interpretation of the Shabbat morning service (“Shaharit”) for orchestra and chorus is lush, powerful and moving—from the dramatic cadences of “Sh’ma” to the tender strains of “Oseh Shalom.”

"Like any true work of art, Warshauer's work casts the familiar in a new light. For Christian and even Jewish composers, the Catholic Mass has served to inspire countless symphonic and choral works.... Very few works inspired by the Jewish liturgy, however, have been accepted into the classical canon. Warshauer's works deserve to be included in that canon.

Shacharit, a masterpiece of form and content, effectively captured a sense of the spirituality of the Jewish people.

(Shacharit) vibrates with color and excitement and summons up enormous power on both the emotional and decibel levels. Ms. Warshauer’s style is eclectic in the very best sense of the word; she chooses swiftly and certainly among all the techniques currently available to composers, and she has a flair for instrumentation.

Spiritually ecstatic, Shacharit powerfully portrayed, in Ms. Warshauer’s words, 'my soul’s yearning to relate something of the awe and beauty I feel in the presence of the Holy One.'

Shacharit is a very powerful and impressive work that deserves many performances. I congratulate you on a tremendous achievement. I think it is truly a significant statement of the liturgy and a real affirmation of faith. I am most excited and enthusiastic....I think it is important that such magnificent work is heard by as many people as possible.

In this beautifully-felt music (Shacharit) Warshauer creates a musical representation of (the) mystical creative process.

Shacharit ... an expansive lyricism filled with an almost ecstatic feeling of compassion.

To attempt to describe this music is like trying to describe one's feelings of awe and inspiration. It is at times bright, rhythmic, and powerful; at others filled with wonder and amazement. It culminates in a peak of faith and affirmation.

Both these CDs (Streams in the Desert and Living Breathing Earth) contain music that is very beautiful and deeply moving. I recommend them to listeners of all persuasions. (copyright 1977-2011 Fanfare, Inc.)

A soulful outpouring of resignation and hope, {Shevet Achim--Brothers Dwell} ... is performed with intensity and introspection by bass clarinetists Nunemaker and Zavadil.

[Spirals of Light] is an intimate and spiritual collection- very affecting.

Composer Meira Warshauer and poet Ani Tuzman have created a rare gem -a work of fine art both contemporary and sacred. Blending spoken text...with chamber music, Spirals of Light is a marvelous work.

Composer Meira Warshauer’s glorious interpretation of the Shabbat morning service (“Shaharit”) for orchestra and chorus is lush, powerful and moving—from the dramatic cadences of “Sh’ma” to the tender strains of “Oseh Shalom.”

…The underlying theme of the symphony—the exquisite delicacy, and vulnerability, of the earth’s life support systems—is metaphorically depicted by the essential act of breathing. Periodic repetitions, both harmonic and rhythmic, abound throughout its four deeply interrelated movements. The first, titled “Call of the Cicadas,” presents the riot of ever-renewing insect life found in the Carolina or Georgia summer; the second, “Tahuayo River at Night,” is a gentle barcarole set in the Peruvian rainforest; the third, “Wings in Flight,” depicts the playful flight of butterflies at water’s edge and the soaring birds above; and the fourth, “Living Breathing Earth,” is slow, measured, and seemingly timeless. It soars majestically, but brings the symphony to an unsettling, indeed questioning, close.

Any competent biologist will attest to the fact that all earthly life support systems are inextricably interdependent and fragile. Yet we are all too ready and willing to destroy life through our ongoing pollution of our earth and its atmosphere, and to destroy our tropical rainforests, one of our primary sources of life-sustaining oxygen, in the interest of our geopolitical supremacy and economic prosperity—an unquenchable, not to mention unsustainable, quest for short-term gain at the long-term cost of life itself. So what, in the end, is of real value?

An unusual but ambitious first symphony, Living Breathing Earth grabbed me from the very start of the album. The Moravian Philharmonic did a wonderful job performing a very difficult and intricate piece, and the subtle harmonies in the second and third movements were well balanced and sounded beautiful. The fourth movement ... explored the earth as a whole and reached a very great conclusion with wonderfully dynamic chords and melodies.

Thank you so much for your first symphony (Living Breathing Earth). It is quite something when audience and orchestra greet a new work with such enthusiasm. It could not have been a better contribution to the season. More--it was one of the highlights of my tenure here.

In the first movement, nature could not provide better sound effects of the cicadas, the orchestra buzzing and chirping throughout. The second movement recalls a nighttime canoe ride in the Peruvian rainforest, with the sparkling reflections of stars and fireflies in the dark, still water. This section is so gorgeous and emotional that it could bring tears to one's eyes. The third depicts the playful dance of the butterflies and sunlight at the river's edge. The fourth movement takes us into space, where we look onto the living, breathing, pulsating earth and its many changing colors. ...."Living, Breathing Earth" deserves to be heard many, many more times, not only for its message that life on earth is in danger, and that we must be good stewards of the environment, but because it is such beautiful music.

Ms. Warshauer has mastered the art of depicting nature in sound.

Both these CDs (Streams in the Desert and Living Breathing Earth) contain music that is very beautiful and deeply moving. I recommend them to listeners of all persuasions. (copyright 1977-2011 Fanfare, Inc.)

Warshauer's music is shot through with and inspired by mystical and spiritual matters that span a love and respect for Mother Earth and the Jewish faith.

The experience of listening to the CD is enlivening and deeply moving. The shofar calls out to humanity to appreciate the earth, seek individual purpose, and find inner strength.

Both pieces showcase simple and assured beauty.

Heavenly Music and a Wake-Up Call for the Earth

...broad appeal, yet sufficiently advanced to satisfy those who look for the music of our time to engage in the sounds of our time...highly recommended.

Textures and rhythms found in nature – bird song, mist, water drops, insect hisses – infuse this exciting symphonic music .... Meira Warshauer's orchestral voice expresses a passion for nature, and also for the musical and liturgical languages of Jewish tradition, in a sophisticated symphonic language native to our time.

I heard part of your symphony on my local classical radio station in San Francisco. Since then, I have wanted to get a recording. Is it available?

I heard Ms. Warshauer’s piece, Living Breathing Earth on KRCC radio (Living on Earth broadcast). It is so moving. I wonder if there’s any way to purchase a recording of it?

...a quick email saying how much I enjoyed the performance of your symphony at the Dayton Phil. I don't make it to concerts nearly as much as I used to, but when I heard the interview and excerpts from the piece, I had to go. The sounds and atmosphere you got from the orchestra were amazing. Are there plans to record it?

Composer Meira Warshauer's musical vision of tikkun olam permeates two new orchestral works. "Symphony No.1: Living Breathing Earth" is a shimmering, joyous and soothing ode to the world’s beauty; "Tekeeya" is the first concerto written for shofar, trombone and orchestra. Soloist Haim Avitsur plays a masterful shofar, alternately plaintive, insistent, mysterious and raw, calling for an awakening to inner truth and a reconnection to the earth.

Living, Breathing Earth presents two significant works by an egregiously unsung American composer….Both works show that she has done her teachers proud. Symphony No. 1, “Living, Breathing Earth,” reflects her profoundly ecological sensibilities. Tekeeyah (a call) is a concerto for shofar/trombone and orchestra that takes one deep into her Jewish roots. The performances go far beyond mere advocacy, and Navona’s sound is spine-tingling. (© 1977-2011 Fanfare, Inc.)

"Like any true work of art, Warshauer's work casts the familiar in a new light. For Christian and even Jewish composers, the Catholic Mass has served to inspire countless symphonic and choral works.... Very few works inspired by the Jewish liturgy, however, have been accepted into the classical canon. Warshauer's works deserve to be included in that canon.

Ms. Warshauer has mastered the art of depicting nature in sound.

Both these CDs (Streams in the Desert and Living Breathing Earth) contain music that is very beautiful and deeply moving. I recommend them to listeners of all persuasions. (copyright 1977-2011 Fanfare, Inc.)

Warshauer's music is shot through with and inspired by mystical and spiritual matters that span a love and respect for Mother Earth and the Jewish faith.

The experience of listening to the CD is enlivening and deeply moving. The shofar calls out to humanity to appreciate the earth, seek individual purpose, and find inner strength.

Both pieces showcase simple and assured beauty.

Heavenly Music and a Wake-Up Call for the Earth

...broad appeal, yet sufficiently advanced to satisfy those who look for the music of our time to engage in the sounds of our time...highly recommended.

Textures and rhythms found in nature – bird song, mist, water drops, insect hisses – infuse this exciting symphonic music .... Meira Warshauer's orchestral voice expresses a passion for nature, and also for the musical and liturgical languages of Jewish tradition, in a sophisticated symphonic language native to our time.

I attended the premiere in Brevard, NC, and it was a profoundly moving experience. The audience was held breathless by the beauty and quiet contemplative power of this composition.

This piece (Tekeeyah) …was so profound, I left the concert with a sense of renewal and strength. Thank you again.

...your concerto was absolutely inspiring! I was so taken by the music and the story it told. We all listen to music but on this night I really heard the music and the lessons it revealed about the mind-body connection, finding purpose and inner strength, awakening our souls, and overcoming challenges. The final shofar calls in the piece, familiar to me from Rosh Hashana, were chilling, awakening us to be true to ourselves and others. I was inspired.

...a quick email saying how much I enjoyed the performance of your symphony at the Dayton Phil. I don't make it to concerts nearly as much as I used to, but when I heard the interview and excerpts from the piece, I had to go. The sounds and atmosphere you got from the orchestra were amazing. Are there plans to record it?

It is without question that Mr. (Haim) Avitsur is an extremely accomplished trombonist. That he can coax tonal sounds and beautiful music out of a ram's horn is truly virtuosic and astounding.

Some people hear music in colors. Some in images. Some in harmonic analysis. Some as passive entertainment. But somehow, Tekeeyah seemed to make us hear a search for meaning.

Seldom have I been so moved on the first hearing of a new work.

(Tekeeyah is) a beautiful, almost transcendental work ... I was altogether impressed with this disc! Meira Warshauer is a wonderful composer with a tonal, emotional melodic and harmonic vocabulary that reminded in spots of Jennifer Higdon and I find her music to be refreshing and revealing ... In reading Meira's website all of her works, frankly, sound wonderful! I would love to hear more of her orchestral works in particular. These are terrific pieces that deserve to be performed more often.

Composer Meira Warshauer's musical vision of tikkun olam permeates two new orchestral works. "Symphony No.1: Living Breathing Earth" is a shimmering, joyous and soothing ode to the world’s beauty; "Tekeeya" is the first concerto written for shofar, trombone and orchestra. Soloist Haim Avitsur plays a masterful shofar, alternately plaintive, insistent, mysterious and raw, calling for an awakening to inner truth and a reconnection to the earth.

Living, Breathing Earth presents two significant works by an egregiously unsung American composer….Both works show that she has done her teachers proud. Symphony No. 1, “Living, Breathing Earth,” reflects her profoundly ecological sensibilities. Tekeeyah (a call) is a concerto for shofar/trombone and orchestra that takes one deep into her Jewish roots. The performances go far beyond mere advocacy, and Navona’s sound is spine-tingling. (© 1977-2011 Fanfare, Inc.)

Blending clarinet with vibraphone and other percussion, Meira Warshauer’s stunning “We Are Dreamers” provides a lyrical meditative work that offers dense Lauridsen-like choral writing and a theme that brings us full circle to the more declamatory opening.

While I found the entire album profoundly moving, I have to single out 'We Are Dreamers' as particularly noteworthy. With it's otherworldly delivery this rounds the album off beautifully.

YES! is an exciting, rhythmically energizing piece with lots of jazz accents and a fun, driving beat.

Employing an impressive percussion battery (YES!) freely fuses jazz and rock style in a bracingly raucous way...

Based on the chant of Hebrew Scripture, the work (Yishakeyni) reveled in the beauty of the Song of Songs poetry and sounds of the ancient language. (Amalia) Ishak's soprano soared over the rhythmic piano trills, ebbing and flowing while the flute echoed and supported the melody. As the piece drifted to close on a singe piano tone, the audience was momentarily hushed; it then broke into well-deserved applause for the performers and the composer.

We can always count on a warm audience reaction to "Yishakeyni". Comments from our audiences about "Yishakeyni: "riveting", "breathtaking", "sensuous and at the same time ethereal", "a beautiful, touching rendition of the famous verses of love from the Bible.