A Song for Silenced Voices
Recitative and Aria
Duration
10 minutes Scored for cello, piano Commissioned by Concert Artists Guild and Semyon Fridman |
World Premiere
February 27, 1995 WQXR Radio November 30, 1997 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Steven Honigberg (cello), Brian Zeger (piano) |
Audio Sample
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This is a very pretty and deeply touching lyrical work for cello and piano. Its impetus was an opportunity to participate in a form of "cultural exchange" but its emotional source is Cohen's deep involvement in other projects involved with the words or memory of Anne Frank, the renowned victim of the Nazi German racial death apparatus. The work originated when composer Michael Cohen met Russian cellist Semyon Fridman after the performer played one of Cohen's chamber works. In their conversation, Fridman revealed that the Soviet state has prohibited him from performing any American music, so now he was interested in commissioning an American composer to write a new work for him. Fridman's schedule included a live radio recital on the series On Air over The New York Times' station WQXR-FM. Cohen wrote the piece for that series and as such, it was premiered on February 27, 1995. Knowing this background, there seems to be a Russian quality in the lyricism of the composition expression. The form of the work is operatic: in two parts, it comprises a recitative (quasi spoken sung music) and an aria (melodic music). Its original title was, in fact, Recitative and Aria. Prominent intervals In 1997, Cohen revised the work. Its new version constituted its "live concert" premiere, at the U.S. Holocaust Museum.
–All Music Guide |