Kli Zemer

Recorded by Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Stanley Sperber, Orit Orbach (clarinet), Robert Starer, MMC CD 2048. Program notes by the composer: while all the thematic ideas in Kli Zemer are my own, they do lean toward the melodies of Eastern-European Jewish music which I have been familiar with since my childhood in Vienna and my youth in Jerusalem, the music played at weddings and similar occasions by a small group of musicians whose favorite instruments were the violin and clarinet.  Kli Zemer, Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, is in four movements, the last two being played without a stop.  The titles describe the moods of the different sections.  T'filot (Prayers) begins with the clarinet alone in a meditative mood and slowly becomes more intense and ecstatic as a person in deep prayer would.  The second movement is called Rikudim (Dances).  At one point the clarinet is accompanied only by a bass fiddle and a drum, as it might be at a Jewish wedding.  The third movement is called Manginot (Melodies).  When I was a student at Tanglewood many years ago, Darius Milhaud said to me: "Always invent your own folk melodies."  I listened to him and have followed his advice.  Hakadashot (Dedications) concludes the work and, there is a reminiscence of the opening "prayers" just before the end.