Night's end Anthem (2009)

Orchestration

 

 Piccolo (changing with flute)
2 Flutes
2 oboes
English Horn
2 Clarinets in B flat (Cl I changing with Cl. In E flat)
2 bassoons
Double Bassoon
4 Horns in F
3 Trumpets in C
2 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Percussion (5 players)
Celesta
Harp
Piano
Strings
Duration: ca. 20'» Top

 

 

Program Notes

 

 Night's End Anthem

The connection with the poem of young poet "Roy "Chicky" Arad occurred accidentally. While searching for a text that would express my feelings for the city of Tel-Aviv of today, on its centennial anniversary, his name was mentioned to me by Yael Ronen, the stage director with whom I am collaborating these days.

Roy sent me a few of his "Tel-Aviv" texts, from which I chose "Night's End Anthem. At our meeting Roy gave me total freedom to interpret the poem as I deem fit, extract parts that I like from it and omit the rest, and already then, in our conversation, it was clear to both of us that I would take his poem in different directions than those he had intended.

The phrases I chose reflect Tel-Aviv's special rhythmic and diverse energy for me. I lively city, constantly on the move, the rhythm, defiance and contemporaneity along with the sorrow and loneliness. The night's end is an end but also a beginning of a new day. The stairwell and the rented apartment in Tel-Aviv with time became part of my autobiography over the years. Thus, I took Roy's poem, which perhaps is essentially pessimistic, and brought it to a much more optimistic place. A place of sorrow but also of great vitality, of poverty but at the same time of cultural richness, and these feelings penetrated into the music.

Nathan Alterman's poem "Bouquet of Carnations II", from which I took a few lines, relates with Roy's poem. In Alterman's poem night is falling and all has become silent. In Roy's, a night's end there is also silence but for me there is also the beginning of a new day. In Alterman's poem, there is the woman who stands in the distance and in Roy's – a man with an unknown woman. This is Tel-Aviv for me – a very romantic city on the one hand, but sometimes anonymous and full of loneliness on the other. This could be said about any city and the sounds tell a story that each listener could find within himself, yet this is the city where I live and city is the one that was clearly the inspiration for this work.

The music contains poignant and sudden changes of atmosphere and moods, sharp changes of various rhythms, and generally – a constant beat, even breathlessness. I find all this in Tel-Aviv, where each street has its own atmosphere, and where the pace of life is so incessant. I cannot say that I tried to tone-paint the streets and sights, but all this was my general and indistinct source of inspiration. In retrospect, when I finished the work I could understand and explain to myself why I did this and that.

I incorporated a passage for Darbukas in the work, performed by the Shanti House Drummers Circle. The idea for the connection with the Shanti House came from Irit Rub, director of KeyNote, the IPO's program for musical education and community outreach, and I am very grateful for it. These youngsters, whose lives have not been easy, will be sitting on stage at the Mann Auditorium for the first time in their lives. They have probably never attended a classical concert. This is precisely what fired my imagination and connected so nicely with Roy's text. I hope that the contrast between the percussionists and their rhythms and the orchestra musicians will give the music another aspect, perhaps somewhat wilder, that we, classical musicians, sometimes have difficulty reaching naturally.

​

Press

 

 "Standing ovation ended the season's final concert. The conservative Israeli audience stood on its feet to cheer for two Israeli composers and thank them for their extraordinary pieces.

‘Night's End Anthem’ by Ella Milch-Sheriff to texts by Roy ‘Chiki’ Arad and Nathan Alterman, starts with the energetic rhythms which is so characteristic of the city of Tel-Aviv: A cheerful, vivid fanfare. The music develops with beautiful cantilena parts for choir and also with the two extraordinary singers, Keren Hadar and Einat Aronstein."

Ora Binur, Ma'ariv, 14.7.09

"…Ella Milch Sheriff's melodies are composed with a lot of taste…great fantasy has been dedicated to the colors of orchestration… richness of sound that did not stop flowing…"

Noam Ben-Ze'ev, Ha'aretz, 14.7.09

"Ella Milch-Sheriff's composition ‘Night's End Anthem’ dedicated to Tel-Aviv to texts by Roy ‘Chiki’ Arad and Nathan Alterman is a beautiful and fascinating work which combines well the orchestra with the Children's chorus (Bat-Kol), the two excellent sopranos (Keren Hadar and Einat Aronstein) together with the Darbuka players. We were left at the end with the ‘taste for more’."

Danny Bloch, Israeli Radio's Channel B (Reshet Bet), 14.7.09