PROGRAM NOTE
Birkat Haderekh – Blessing for the Road begins its journey as a spacious, gently inflected solo melody, slowly unfolding as it gathers the full ensemble around it, carving out a distinctive musical “space.” Looking at this piece in its totality, the opening phrase is, at some level, emblematic of the entire piece, as this 8-minute single-movement composition can be heard as one extended, gradually evolving melody. At around mid-point of the piece, with just a small melodic twist, the music takes on an imploring quality, almost in the spirit of an invocation, increasing in urgency, thus becoming a form of prayer. In my own mind while composing the piece, and no longer just thinking in the strictly musical terms of the formation and development of sound shaped in time, the piece became, for all of its modest proportions, a parable of one of life’s journeys. I found myself thinking of the array of conflicting emotions associated with preparing for a voyage, destination uncertain, of someone precious. Anticipation, anxiousness, longing, hope—all mingled together. Perhaps it is a mother praying for her child’s well being; a small, private ritual that cuts across time and place, speaking to our common humanity.
*This is an adaptation made for Ear Taxi Festival and Latitude 49 of Birkat Haderekh – Blessing for the Road for mixed quartet, a commission honoring the 75th Anniversary of the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2015, premiered on July 24, 2015 at Tanglewood.
—Shulamit Ran
INFORMATION
Premiere:
October 9, 2016
Ear Taxi Festival
Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center
Latitude 49 ensemble