PROGRAM NOTE
The Sonatina for two flutes was written in Tel Aviv, Israel, and represents an important moment in my life. Having begun composing at the age of seven, all my early creations involved either the piano or the human voice—singing or narrating—and thus could be realized in performance by me alone. When I was 12 years old, I decided the time had come to stretch out and explore instruments I myself did not play, and the Sonatina was my first such effort. Very fortunately for me, it was soon played by a number of duos in Israel, most notably by Hanoch and Sharona Tel-Oren of Israel’s Radio Orchestra (now the Jerusalem Symphony), who toured with the work extensively throughout Israel.
At a later point, I withdrew from my catalogue all those works which I composed before 1968 (including several orchestral compositions and many solo and chamber pieces), because of their stylistic distance from my later music. Decades later, when approached by flutist Mary Stolper with the recording project of my chamber and solo works that include flute, I offered, hesitantly at first, to include the last movement of this early Sonatina. A while later, Mary presented me with a most persuasive performance, in concert, of the entire work, which led to the decision to add it to the five other compositions on her album, covering the period from 1969 to 1990.
In three movements, the Sonatina illustrates the Israeli/Mediterranean style employed by many Israeli composers at the time of its composition.
—Shulamit Ran
INFORMATION
Premiere: Tel Aviv Museum Chamber Music Series, c. 1961(?)
Hanoch and Sharona Tel-Oren, flutes
RECORDING
Mary Stolper and Mary Hickey, flutes, on Shulamit Ran MIRAGE, Chamber Music with Flute, ERATO 0630–12787–2
SHEET MUSIC
Available from your favorite sheet music seller, or directly from Theodore Presser.