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) have created their own melodies for this text, and many of these communities have now fulfilled the dream of returning to the land. In this composition, I have selected three melodies with contrasting interpretations of the experience of exile and return.

The music begins with a plaintive Salonikan Greek melody in the oboe and later the trumpet, infused with yearning for return. It is the call of a lover for her beloved from afar. The atmosphere has a dreamlike quality enhanced by the vibraphone and other percussion colors which leads to an ecstatic vision of reunion with trills and tremolos in the woodwinds and strings. This gives way to a vigorous dance expressed by a Yemenite version of the psalm. Here the percussion joins the orchestra in accenting rhythmic and tonal shifts as the music frees itself from the bonds of exile and revels in the joy of return. In the midst of this energy the music slows to allow a melody from Morocco to emerge in the strings. Recalling the lover’s yearning from the opening, the Moroccan melody expresses the sweetness of intimacy when two lovers finally reunite. After this interlude, the energetic dance continues, now widening the circle to invite all to join. Hints of other melodies fly by (a motive from a Gregorian chant, Jerusalem et Judaea; motives from a Persian melody for Adon Olam or Sovereign of the Universe; church bells) as the whole world is beckoned to participate in a universal dance of joy and redemption.-

This composition grew out of a six-week residency in Israel during spring of 1997 sponsored by the South Carolina Arts Commission and Hillel at the University of South Carolina.

Psalm 126