PROGRAM NOTE
The word “Hyperbolae” has a double meaning: it refers to a geometric design, and is also the derivation of a Greek word meaning extravagant, or fanciful exaggeration.
My work of the same name takes after both definitions. Its first few bars supply the materials for the entire composition, with each event thus being an aspect of an integrated whole, relating to all other points in a specifically circumscribed manner. At the same time, the work is not meant to be merely a logical realization of an abstract concept, but is also expressive of a fancifully extravagant sentiment. The performance indications in the score such as “like church bells — spaciously,” “like a hushed prayer,” “wild,” etc., were all chosen with the aim of setting the player’s imagination in motion.
Though in one movement, Hyperbolae is made up of six distinct, interlocking sections, the last of which (marked Majestic) combines most of the work’s principal ideas.
Hyperbolae for piano (1976) won the competition held by the League of Composers in Israel and the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition for a set piece for all contestants at the Competition which took place in April 1977.
—Shulamit Ran
INFORMATION
Winner of the Israeli League of Composers competition for the set piece played by all contestants at the 2nd Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel in 1977
Premiere performances:
April 1977
All competition contestants
Duration: c. 8’
RECORDINGS
Abraham Stokman, piano, Music of Shulamit Ran, made possible with support of an American Academy & Institute of Arts and Letters Composers Award Recording, Composers Recording Inc. (CRI), CD 609
Paula Ennis-Dwyer, piano, New Dimensions Music by Women LP format, Coronet Recording Company – LPS 3206
SHEET MUSIC
Available from your favorite sheet music seller, or directly from Theodore Presser.