SHULAMIT RAN
SHULAMIT RAN
"Shulamit Ran has never forgotten that a vital
essence of composition is communication." So ran the review
in the Chicago Tribune following the premiere of
Legends by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
This sort of reaction is by no means unusual. Around the
country, from Seattle to Baltimore to Houston, commentary
on her music typically runs thus: "gloriously human", and
"compelling not only for its white-hot emotional content
but for its intelligence and compositional clarity,"
— "Ran is a magnificent composer." It is hardly
surprising, then, that Symphony, which has
drawn references to "the superior quality of her musical
imagination and artistic invention" and which has been
hailed as "a work that will reward each new listening"
should have won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Ms.
Ran’s work displays an emotional quality and
technical superiority that has led critics to acclaim her
work as "written with the same sense of humanity found in
Mozart’s most profound opera arias or Mahler’s
searching symphonies."
Ms. Ran began composing songs to Hebrew poetry at the
age of seven in her native Israel. By nine she was studying
composition and piano with some of Israel’s most
noted musicians, including composers Alexander U. Boskovich
and Paul Ben-Haim, and within several years was having her
early works performed by professional musicians, as well as
orchestras. She continued her piano and composition studies
in the U.S., on scholarships form the Mannes College of
Music in New York and the America Israel Cultural
Foundation, with Nadia Reisenberg and Norman Dello Joio,
respectively, later studying piano with Dorothy Taubman. In
1973 she joined the faculty of the University of Chicago,
where she is now the Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service
Professor in the Department of Music and artistic director
of Contempo, formerly the Contemporary Chamber Players. She
lists her late colleague and friend Ralph Shapey, with whom
she also studied in 1977, as an important mentor.
Among her numerous awards, fellowships and commissions
are those from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund, the Ford
Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the
Guggenheim Foundation, the Fromm Music Foundation, WFMT,
Chamber Music America, the Serge Koussevitzky Music
Foundation in the Library of Congress, the American Academy
of Arts and Letters, Eastman School of Music, the American
Composers Orchestra (Concerto for Orchestra),
the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Concerto
da Camera II), the Philadelphia Orchestra
(Symphony, first performed in 1990, Pulitzer
Prize 1991, first place Kennedy Center Friedheim Award
1992), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(Legends), the Baltimore Symphony
(Vessels of Courage and Hope), and many
more.
Orchestral works since the prize-winning
Symphony include Legends (a
joint commission celebrating the centennials of both the
Chicago Symphony and the University of Chicago), which
premiered in October, 1993, and Vessels of Courage
and Hope, commissioned by the Albert Shapiro Fund
and premiered by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 1998,
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of
the State of Israel and the voyage of the S.S. President
Warfield/"Exodus 1947."
More recent works include the flute concerto,
Voices, commissioned by the National Flute
Association for its year 2000 convention;
Supplications, for chorus and orchestra,
premiered in November, 2002 by the American Composers
Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; a Violin Concerto
premiered in June, 2003 by Israeli violinist Ittai Shapira
and British conductor Charles Hazelwood, also at Carnegie
Hall; Bach Shards, commissioned by the
Brentano String Quartet as part of the quartet’s
Art-of-Fugue project and performed in many major venues
since its premiere; Under the Sun’s Gaze
(Concerto da Camera III), an ensemble work for nine
players for the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players
commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation and premiered
in April, 2005 in San Francisco; Fault Line
for ensemble, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony MusicNOW
series, premiered in May, 2006 at Chicago’s Symphony
Center; and Credo/Ani Ma’amin, part of
And on Earth, Peace: A Chanticleer Mass,
commissioned and widely performed by Chanticleer, the noted
12-man vocal ensemble, following its premiere in New York
City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in April, 2007.
In 1990, Ms. Ran was selected by Maestro Daniel
Barenboim to be Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra as part of the Meet the Composer
Orchestra Residencies Program, a position she held for
seven seasons. From 1994 to 1997, Ran also served as the
fifth Brena and Lee Freeman Sr. Composer-in-Residence with
the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her first opera, Between
Two Worlds (The Dybbuk), which received its
much-acclaimed premiere in June, 1997, was commissioned by
the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and was described in Opera News
as "the most powerful new music-theater piece to emerge
from Lyric’s composer-in-residence program." The
European premiere of Between Two Worlds took
place in May, 1999, at the Bielefeld Opera, in a German
translation.
Ms. Ran’s music has been played by many of the
world’s leading orchestras, including the New York
Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, the Chicago
Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland
Orchestra, the Jerusalem Orchestra, l’Orchestre de la
Suisse Romande, the Amsterdam Philharmonic, the Baltimore
Symphony, the National Symphony, the Orchestra of St.
Luke’s, and the American Composers Orchestra; her
works have been conducted by, among others, Zubin Mehta,
Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Gary Bertini, Christoph
Von Dohnanyi (in two U.S. tours), Gustavo Dudamel, and the
late Yehudi Menuhin. Other performers include the
Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago
under Ralph Shapey and Cliff Colnot, Da Capo Chamber
Players, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Contemporary
Chamber Ensemble under Arthur Weisberg, Twentieth Century
Consort, Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, New York
Philomusica, the Pennsylvania Contemporary Players, on
"Music Today" in New York directed by Gerard Schwarz, the
Mendelssohn String Quartet, the Lark Quartet, the
Penderecki Quartet, the Cassatt Quartet, the Peabody Trio,
Musical Elements, the San Francisco Contemporary Music
Players, Callisto Ensemble (for which Ms. Ran was the
2006-2007 theme composer), both Collage and Musica Viva in
Boston, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW,
and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Ms.
Ran’s works have been performed at the Library of
Congress, Kennedy Center, and at the Tanglewood, Aspen,
Santa Fe and Yellow Barn summer festivals, among many
others. In 1989, her second string quartet
("Vistas"), commissioned by C. Geraldine
Freund for the Taneyev String Quartet of Leningrad,
received its first performance. It was the first commission
given in this country to a Soviet chamber ensemble since
the 1985 cultural exchange accord between the former Soviet
Union and the United States.
Shulamit Ran, who formerly performed extensively as a
pianist in the U.S., Europe, Israel and elsewhere, is
presently the Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service
Professor in the Department of Music at the University of
Chicago, where she has taught since 1973. In 1987, Ms. Ran
was Visiting Professor at Princeton University. She has
received honorary doctorates from Mount Holyoke College
(1988), Spertus Institute (1994), Beloit College (1996),
the New School of Social Research in New York (1997), and
Bowdoin College (2004). Ms. Ran was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992 and of the
American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2003. Her works are
published by the Theodore Presser Company and by the
Israeli Music Institute. Recordings have been released on
more than a dozen labels, including Albany, Angel, Bridge,
Centaur, CRI, Erato, Koch International Classics, New
World, Vox, and Warner Classics, with several all-Ran discs
available.
Current as of August 2007
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A
Prayer for Horn, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon,
and Timpani (1981) -- 6'
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Written in honor of the 75th birthday
celebration of the late Paul Fromm
Premiere Information: January 22, 1982, University of
Chicago
Available
Separately:
Score and parts
(#114-40638)
Set of parts (#114-40638P)
Full Score - Large (#114-40638S)
Bach-Shards for String
Quartet (2002)
Commission Information: commissioned by the Brentano String
Quartet as part of the quartet’s Art-of-Fugue project.
Additional Information: prelude to Bach Fugue X of the
Art-of-Fugue
• Reviews
Chicago
Skyline for Brass and Percussion (1991) -- 7'
4Tpt., 6Hn., 3Tbn.(B.Tbn.), 2Tu., Timp., 3Perc.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: WFMT Chicago for the station’s 40th
anniversary
Premiere Information: December 12, 1991, Chicago Symphony, Pierre
Boulez, conductor
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Large
(#416-41249)
Concerto da Camera I for
Woodwind Quintet (1985) -- 15'
Fl./Picc./A. Fl., Ob./Eng.Hn., B.fl.Cl./B.Cl., Bsn./Cbsn.,
Hn.
Not yet released (in prep: #554-00722)
Commission Information: National Endowment for the Arts
Consortium
Premiere Information: February 25, 1986, Musical Elements, Dan
Asia, conductor; Cooper Union Hall, New Yor, NY
Concerto da
Camera II for Clarinet, String Quartet and Piano
(1987) -- 17'
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
in conjunction with Mount Holyoke College for the College’s
sesquicentennial, 1987
Premiere Information: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on
a 10-city tour, 1987
• Recordings
Available
Separately:
Score and parts
(#114-40558)
Full Score - Large (#114-40558S)
Concerto
da Camera III (Under the Sun's Gaze) (2003-2004) --
20'
2Fl.(A.Fl., Picc.) 2Cl.(both d.B.Cl.) Sop.Sax. Perc. Pno. Vln. Vcl.
Commission Information: Commission Information: commissioned by
the Koussevitzky Foundation at the Library of Congress.
Premiere Information: Premiere Information: April 25th, 2005. San
Francisco Contemporary Music Players, conducted by David
Milnes.
Double
Vision for Two Quintets (Woodwinds, Brass) and Piano
(1976) -- 22'
1 1 2 1 - 1 2 2(T&B) 0; Pno.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Marion Corbett Memorial Fund,
Contemporary Concerts, Inc.
Premiere Information: January 21, 1977, for Contemporary
Concerts, Inc. by the Contemporary Chamber Players of the
University of Chicago
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Large
(#416-41250)
Excursions for Violin, Cello and
Piano (1980) -- 20'
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Premiere Information: April 24, 1983 Brandeis University
• Recordings
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Score and parts
(#414-41163)
Full Score - Large (#414-41163S)
Fault
Line (2005-06) -- 15'
Soprano (opt.); 1(d.Picc.) 1(d.E.H.) 2(d.E-flat Cl., d.B.Cl.) 0
– 1 1 1 0; 2Perc. Pno. 2Vln. Vla. Vcl. Cb.
Commission Information: Chicago Symphony for MusicNOW
Premiere Information: May 8, 2006, Cliff Colnot, Conductor, Tony
Arnold, soprano, Symphony Center, Chicago
Invocation for Horn, Timpani and
Chimes (1994) -- 4'
Published: #114-41021
Commission Information: Written in celebration of the L.A.
Philharmonic's 75th anniversary
Premiere Information: February 15, 1995, Los Angeles
Philharmonic
• Recordings
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Large
(#114-41021S)
Lyre of Orpheus for String Sextet with featured Cello solo (2009) -- 15'
Commission Information: Commissioned by Concertante for their “One Plus Five” project, with additional support from Chamber Music America.
Premiere Information: 14th March, 2009. Zvi Plesser, featured Cello solo, Concertante, Rose Lehrman Arts Center, Harrisburg, PA
Premiere concert series in Harrisburg (14th), Baltimore (College of Notre Dame, 15th) and New York (Merkin
Concert Hall, 16th).
• Reviews
Mirage for Five Players (1990)
-- 12'
Fl.(d.Amplified A. Fl., Picc.) Cl., Vln., Vcl., Pno.
Published: #414-41170
Commission Information: National Endowment for the Arts
Consortium commission which included the Da Capo Chamber Players
for their 20th anniversary concert
Premiere Information: March 7, 1991, 92nd Street "Y", New York,
NY
• Recordings
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Set of parts
(#414-41170P)
Private Game for Clarinet and
Cello (1979) -- 4'
Published: #114-40287
Commission Information: Da Capo Chamber Players, for their 10th
anniversary concert
Premiere Information: March 23, 1980, Alice Tully Hall, New York,
NY
• Recordings
Soliloquy for Violin, Cello and
Piano (1997) -- 8'
Published: #114-41033
Commission Information: Dedicated to the Peabody Trio
Premiere Information: February 27, 1998, Peabody Trio, Buckley
Recital Hall, Amherst, MA
Additional Information: Adaptation of "Yearning for Violin and
String Orchestra"
• Recordings
Sonatina for Two Flutes (1961)
-- 5' 30"
Published: #114-40806
• Recordings
"Song and
Dance" Duo for Saxophones and Percussion (2007) --
11'
soprano and alto saxophones, mallet percussion
Commission Information: Network for New Music
Premiere Information: April 24, 25, 27, 2008, in
Philadelphia
String Quartet No. 1 (1984) --
24'
Published: #514-02724
Commission Information: Chamber Music America, for the
Mendelssohn String Quartet
Premiere Information: July 31, 1985, 15th Annual Mozart Festival,
San Luis Obispo, CA
Additional Information: Score
• Recordings
Available
Separately:
Set of parts
(#514-02724P)
String Quartet No. 2 "Vistas"
(1989) -- 25'
Published: #114-40698
Commission Information: C. Geraldine Freund, for the Taneyev
String Quartet of St. Petersburg (First U.S. commission to a
Soviet chamber group since 1985 Reagan/Gorbachev accord)
Premiere Information: November 17, 1989, Mandel Hall, University
of Chicago
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Set of parts
(#114-40698P)
Full Score - Large (#114-40698S)
Under
the Sun's Gaze (Concerto da Camera III) (2003-2004)
-- 20'
2Fl.(A.Fl., Picc.) 2Cl.(both d.B.Cl.) Sop.Sax. Perc. Pno. Vln. Vcl.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: commissioned by the Koussevitzky
Foundation at the Library of Congress.
Premiere Information: April 25th, 2005. San Francisco
Contemporary Music Players, conducted by David Milnes.
• Reviews
East Wind for Flute (1987) --
6'
Published: #114-40469
Commission Information: National Flute Association, for 1988
Young Artists Competition
Premiere Information: August 19, 1988, by 6 semifinalists at NFA
San Diego Convention
• Recordings
Fantasy Variations for Solo
Cello (1979, rev. 1984) -- 14'
Published: #114-40392
Commission Information: Andre Emelianoff
Premiere Information: Andre Emelianoff, November 24, 1980,
Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, NY
• Recordings
• Reviews
For an Actor Monologue for
Clarinet (1978) -- 8'
Published: #114-40236
Commission Information: Laura Flax (of the Da Capo Chamber
Players)
Premiere Information: Laura Flax; Carnegie Recital Hall, New
York; May 10, 1978
• Recordings
Ha'llel for Solo
Organ (2005) -- 7'
Commission Information: American Guild of Organists for the
Biennial National Convention in Chicago, IL
Premiere Information: July 2, 2006, David Schrader, organist, at
the Symphony Center, Chicago
Hyperbolae for Piano (1976) --
7'
Published: #510-03095
Additional Information: Winner of competition for set piece to be
performed by all contestants in the Second Artur Rubinstein
International Piano Competition, Israel, 1977.
• Recordings
Inscriptions for Solo Violin
(1991) -- 9'
Published: #114-40643
Commission Information: Samuel Magad
Premiere Information: Samuel Magad, June 9, 1991, Orchestra Hall,
Chicago, in Great Performers Series
• Recordings
• Reviews
Sonata Walzer for Piano (1983)
-- 10'
Published: #110-40707
Commission Information: Claudia Stevens
Premiere Information: Claudia Stevens, December 5, 1983, Carnegie
Recital Hall (Concert sponsored by Composers Forum in honor of
Elliott Carter’s 75th birthday)
Three Fantasy Pieces for Cello
and Piano (1971) -- 22'
Published: #114-40721
Commission Information: Richard Markson
Premiere Information: Richard Markson, violoncello, London and
Hong Kong, 1972.
Additional Information: Transcription for Cello and Orchestra
also available (Cliff Conot, arr.).
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Large
(#114-40721S)
Three Scenes for Clarinet (2000)
-- 8'
Published: #114-41138
Commission Information: Yamaha Corporation Band and Orchestral
Division, for Arthur Campbell
Premiere Information: Arthur Campbell, November 12, 2000,
Loosemore Auditorium, Grand Rapids, MI
• Recordings
Verticals for Piano (1982) --
17'
Published: #410-41308
Commission Information: Alan Feinberg
Premiere Information: Alan Feinberg, March 2, 1983, Merkin
Concert Hall, New York, NY
• Recordings
• Reviews
Between Two
Worlds (The Dybbuk) Opera in Two Acts (1997) -- ca. 2
hrs.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Lyric Opera of Chicago as part of the
fifth Brena and Lee Freeman Sr. Composer-in-Residence program
Premiere Information: June 20, 1997, Merle Reskin Theater,
Chicago, The Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, Arthur
Fagan, conductor
Additional Information: Libretto by Charles Kondek, based on the
drama "The Dybbuk" by Ansky.
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Piano/Vocal Score
(#411-41103)
Concert
Piece for Piano and Orchestra (1970) -- 14'
Solo Pno., 4 2 3[B.Cl.] 2[Cbsn.] - 5 4 2[B.Tbn.] 1; 5Perc.
Str.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Premiere Information: July 12, 1971, Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra, Tel Aviv; Zubin Mehta, conductor, composer as
soloist
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Large
(#416-41247)
Concerto for
Orchestra (1986) -- 25'
2 2 3 2 - 4 3 3 1; Timp. 3Perc. Pno. Str.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: American Composers Orchestra for its 10th
anniversary, with funding from Francis Goelet
Premiere Information: February 1, 1986, ACO at Carnegie Hall,
Catherine Comet, conductor
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Large
(#416-41125)
Legends for Orchestra (1992-93, rev.
2001) -- 20'
3(Picc., A.Fl.)-2(E.H.)- 3(E-flat Cl., 2B.Cl.)-3(Cbsn.);
4-3-3(B.Tbn.)-2; Timp., 5Perc., Pno., Cel., Hp., Str.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: AT&T Foundation and Meet-the-Composer
Orchestra Residencies Program for the centennials of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra and the University of Chicago, Orchestra Hall,
Chicago
Premiere Information: October 7, 1993, Chicago Symphony
Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor.
• Recordings
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Study
(#416-41248)
Full Score - Large (#416-41248A)
The Show Goes On for Clarinet and Orchestra (Ha'hatzaga Nimshechet) (2008) -- 15'
Solo Clarinet (Bb, A); 2 1 2 2 – 2 2 2 0; Timp. 3Perc. Str.
Available from the Israel Music Institute
Premiere Information: Udi Nave, Clarinet; Buchmann-Mehta School of Music Symphony at the Tel Aviv University, conducted by Zeev Dorman. Clarinet Days 2008 - Claremount Hall, Tel Aviv Academy of Music (28), Henry Crown Hall Jerusalem Theater (29) that includes a live broadcast on Israeli Radio's Voice of Music
Symphony (1989-90) -- 34'
2(Picc.) 2(E.H.) 2(E-flat) A-flat Cl.(B.Cl.) 2Cbn.(Bsn. III) - 6
4 3 1; Timp. Perc. Str.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Philadelphia Orchestra
Premiere Information: October 19, 1990, Philadelphia Orchestra,
Gary Bertini, conductor
Additional Information: 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Music. First
place Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, 1992.
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Study
(#416-41126)
Vessels of
Courage and Hope for Orchestra (1998) -- 13'
3(Picc.) 3(E.H.) 3(E-flat Cl., B.Cl.) 3(Cbsn.) - 4 3 3 1; Timp.
5Perc. Pno. Str.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Commissioned in commemoration of the 50th
anniversary of the State of Israel and the voyage of the S.S.
President Warfield/"Exodus 1947."
Premiere Information: May 21, 1998, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,
Stefan Sanderling, conductor
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Study
(#416-41213)
Violin
Concerto (2002-03) -- 32'
2 2 2 2 - 2 2 2 2; 2Perc.(Timp.) Cel. Str.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Ittai Shapira
Premiere Information: June 13, 2003; Ittai Shapira, violin,
Orchestra of St. Luke's, Charles Hazlewood, conductor, Carnegie
Hall, New York, NY
• Recordings
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Large
(#416-41285L)
Set of parts (#416-41285)
Voices for a Flautist with
Orchestra (2000) -- 16'
2(Picc.) 2 2(B.Cl.) 2 - 2 2 2 1; 3Perc., Solo Flute/Amplified A.
Fl./Picc., Str
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: National Flute Association for its year
2000 convention
Premiere Information: August 19, 2000, Columbus, Ohio, Patricia
Spencer, solo flautist, Ransom Wilson, conductor
• Recordings
Available
Separately:
Solo Part
(#416-41222P)
Full Score - Large (#416-41222S)
Yearning for Violin
and String Orchestra (1995)
Available From Composer
Fanfare for Brass (1991) --
4'
2Tpt., 2Hn. Tbn.
Published: #114-40627
Additional Information: Transcribed by Cliff Colnot from "Fanfare
for Two Multi-tracked Sopranos."
Soliloquy
II (2007) -- 8'
Solo Violin, Str. (3 3 3 3 1) Perc.
Premiere Information: July 28, 2007, Yellow Barn Festival,
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst, MA, with Violaine Melancon, solo
violin
Additional Information: transcription by Cliff
Colnot
Three
Fantasy Movements for Cello and Orchestra (1993) --
22'
2 2 2 2 - 2 2 2 0; Timp. 2Perc. Str.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Premiere Information: October 2, 1993, The Women's Philharmonic,
Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA; JoAnn Falletta, conductor, Nina
Flyer, cello
Additional Information: Transcription by Cliff Colnot, from
"Three Fantasy Pieces for Cello and Piano" (1971, also
available).
• Recordings
• Reviews
Adonai
Malach (Psalm 93) -- 5'
Cantor, Hn. Picc. Ob. Cl.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Congregation of Emanu-El B’ne
Jeshurun, Milwaukee, WI, for the first Composers/Cantors
Conference, November, 1985
Premiere Information: November 5, 1985
Amichai
Songs (1985) -- 18'
Mezzo-sop., Ob.(d.E.H.) B(d.VdG) Hpsd.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Eastman School of Music
Premiere Information: Jan DeGaetani, Philip West, Martha
McGaughey, Arthur Hass, November 1, 1985, Rochester, NY
Available
Separately:
Score and parts
(#111-40144)
Set of parts (#111-40144P)
Full Score - Large (#111-40144S)
Apprehensions for Voice, Clarinet and
Piano (1979) -- 20'
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: WFMT Chicago as part of a series on the
20th Century Art Song
Premiere Information: Radio broadcast June 20, 1979, Judith
Nicosia, soprano, Laura Flax, Clarinet, Alan Feinberg, piano
• Recordings
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Large
(#511-01815)
Score and parts (#511-01816)
Credo/Ani
Ma'amin (2006) -- 12'
Commission Information: commissioned by Chanticleer, the vocal
ensemble
Premiere Information: Chanticleer, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City, April 26, 2007
Additional Information: abridged version
• Recordings
Ensembles
for 17 for Soprano and Instrumental Ensemble (1975)
-- 20'
Picc.(d.Fl.) Fl.(d.A.Fl.) 2Cl. Bsn. Hn. Tpt. Tbn. B.Tbn. 2Perc.
Pno. 2Vln. Vla. Vcl.
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Fromm Music Foundation
Premiere Information: April 22, 1975, Elsa Charlston,
Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago, Ralph
Shapey, conductor
Available
Separately:
Full Score - Large
(#416-41251)
Fanfare for Two Multi-Tracked
Sopranos (5-Voice Adaptation for live performance) (1981) --
4'
4 Sop., 1 Mezzo
Published: #111-40177
Commission Information: WFMT Chicago for the station’s 20th
anniversary
Premiere Information: Elsa Charlston, Diana Ragains, recorded
sopranos
Additional Information: Transcription for Brass also
available.
Hatzvi
Israel Eulogy for Mezzo-soprano, Flute, Harp, String
Quartet (1969) -- 7'
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Commission Information: Stanley Hoffman
Premiere Information: Susan Reid-Parsons, mezzo-soprano, Town
Hall, NYC
• Recordings
O
The Chimneys for Mezzo-soprano and Chamber
Ensemble
Not yet released (in prep: #111-40180)
• Recordings
• Reviews
Available
Separately:
Set of parts
(#111-40180P)
Supplications for Chorus and
Orchestra
Available from the Presser Rental
Library
Additional Information: Text from the book of Psalms, in Hebrew
and English.
• Reviews
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Voices
for a Flautist with Orchestra
|
Albany
Records TROY743:
Christina Jennings, flute, Bowling Green Philharmonia, Emily
Freeman Brown, Conductor
Vox-Box CDX 5145:
Gloria Davy, soprano, New York Philomusica Ensemble, A. Robert
Johnson, cond.
Erato Disques 0630-12787-2:
Mary Stolper, flute; Lucy Shelton, voice; Cliff Colnot,
conductor.
Koch
International Classics 3-7269-2H1:
Nina Flyer, cello and the English Chamber Orchestra, JoAnn
Falletta, conductor.
"Shulamit Ran won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for her
symphony, which one critic said ‘has the stamp of
genius— the quality that distinguishes a masterpiece from
merely competent workmanship’"
-James H. North,
Fanfare
"…an exhilarating variety of music, all of
it bearing the instrumental mastery, the bold dramatic invention,
the clean avoidance of superficiality that have always been
hallmarks of her style…"
-John Von Rhein,
Chicago Tribune
"Shulamit Ran’s smart, sinewy music is the
genuine article. Its tone of intelligence is congruent with its
sense of aliveness, necessity, soul."
-The Boston
Globe
"She has a distinct artistic profile, based on
the same things that distinguish all the great composers of the
past, the superior quality of her musical imagination and
artistic invention."
-Robert C. Marsh,
Chicago Sun-Times
"…She firmly grasps a principle that makes
all the difference in how contemporary music hits the listener's
ear. She genuinely seems to want her audiences to follow her
train of musical thought."
-Wynne Delacoma,
Chicago Sun-Times
"…Ran’s music was gloriously human,
whether slow or fast, solo or ensemble. Within the parameters of
her style, she has written with the same sense of humanity found
in Mozart’s most profound opera arias or Mahler’s
searching symphonies… Ran’s music had the shape and
the build to an emotional peak that great speakers exploit so
effectively."
-Houston
Chronicle
"…Lyre of Orpheus is a chamber work, and the notion of chamber music as a discussion among equals prevailed…
…Ms. Ran has stepped away from the abstruse characteristics of her earlier works and is now writing in a direct, accessible (if still texturally complex) style. "
-Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"…many beautiful moments and expressive
gestures, quite appropriate for the text [from Deuteronomy and
Psalms]."
-Leo Kraft, The New
Music Connoisseur
"…a bold setting of Psalms texts in
Hebrew, complete with crashing cymbals, surging choral outbursts
and hauntingly sustained harmonies, yet always direct, sonorous
and impeccably tasteful."
-Anthony Tommasini,
New York Times
"Ran's orchestral writing in the concerto is just
as alluring as the whirlwind solo line -- darkly moving brass
chords in the first movement, Bartok-like strings buzzing in the
second. The third is a long aria of farewell, with winds, strings
and brass joining the solo violin's sad song like fellow
mourners."
-Bradley Bambarger,
The Star Ledger (NJ.com)
"A strongly felt piece in three contrasting
movements, mercurial in mood and character, it made full use of
[Shapira's] virtuosity and big, expressive tone… virtuosic
enough to qualify as a high-wire act, although its most
distinctive feature was its strong, melodic emotionalism, from
lingering melodies to big, difficult climaxes… Mr. Shapira
played it with conviction, through to its beautiful, singing
finish."
-Anne Midgette, The
New York Times
"A remarkably grateful and graceful vehicle, it
explores the instrument's expressive range with idiomatic
sensitivity for 20 taut minutes. Shapira played it with silken
tone and gutsy bravado."
-Martin Bernheimer,
Financial Times
"On June 13 at Carnegie Hall, the infinitely
versatile Orchestra of St. Luke's presented the Violin Concerto
by Israeli-born Pulitzer Prize winner Shulamit Ran, commissioned
and performed by her compatriot Ittai Shapira. A strongly felt
piece in three contrasting movements, mercurial in mood and
character, it made full use of his virtuosity and big, expressive
tone; his identification with this clearly very personal music
spoke through every note."
-EPULSE
"Ran's beautiful 18-minute opus certainly does
its bit to welcome listeners into its orbit. The melodies are
gracious and shapely, the form clear without being predictable,
and the rhythmic language sparklingly brisk…the most
alluring aspect of the new piece is the pungency and variety of
its textures…a constantly shifting sonic landscape that is
crisp and lyrically swirling by turns. The plaintive introduction
of a soprano saxophone midway through sets the rest of the work
in dazzling relief."
-Joshua Kosman, San
Francisco Chronicle
"Under the Sun's Gaze… uses a rich palette
of nine woodwinds, saxophone, strings, piano and percussion to
create an absorbing evolution of starkly contrasted sounds moving
from darkness to light and back again. In the course of the three
interlocking movements, flute and violin dance a quirky duet; a
folklike melody in flute and piccolo builds to an exultant blaze
of sound as various instrumental layers are piled atop the
tune."
-John von Rhein,
Chicago Tribune
"…a work of uncompromising
brilliance… gripping drama in razor-sharp musical
responses… riveting…"
-Los Angeles Herald
Examiner
"…a score of remarkable beauty, passion
and formal clarity, and one that any cellist would be glad to
learn."
-San Francisco
Chronicle
"...began with a burst of fierce agitation
suggesting Paganini on speed, segued to a Rondino built around
scampering pizzicati and ended with a shadowed surge of melody
that spiraled to poetic heights. Violinists are always
complaining about the dearth of good modern solo pieces; Ran has
given them one. Inscriptions is a score of varied
and serious substance, grateful to perform and rewarding to
listen to…"
-John Von Rhein,
Chicago Tribune
"…the four-movement "Vistas"
turned out to be an important discovery — full of anguished
unisons and mysterious, keening solos that finally coalesce into
music that is intense, cathartic and beautiful. The ideas are
forcefully stated and sharply contrasted, set forth in clear
textures and resonant timbres that reveal a deep understanding of
the medium’s expressive possibilities."
-Chicago
Tribune
"…a highlight of the concert."
-Michael Cameron,
Chicago Tribune
"…a grand, passionate, Lisztian
composition, rhapsodic and shapely…"
-The New
Yorker
"A characteristic blend of lyricism and academic
modernism."
-John Rockwell, The
New York Times
"Mirage,imbued with the composer's
characteristic brand of dissonant lyricism, captured the
imagination. The writing is spiky but ineffably lovely, dominated
by purling flute melodies over still-toned backgrounds."
-Joshua Kosman, San
Francisco Chronicle
"Typically of her music, this is a highly
expressive score… compelling not only for its white-hot
emotional content but for its intelligence and compositional
clarity…"
-Seattle
Times
"…the landscape shifted from curving lines
to bright, crisply articulated statements, then again to melismas
that wiggled and then disappeared like a wisp of smoke."
-Elaine Guregian,
Akron (OH) Beacon Journal
"One should never use the term masterpiece for a
work one has just heard for the first time. So let me say this:
the force with which Ran’s
Apprehensions… hit me on first hearing has
been equaled only twice before by 20th century vocal works—
by Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and
Britten’s Illuminations."
-Stephen Wigler,
Baltimore Sun
"…Israeli by birth and a dramatic
philosopher by musical inclination… powerful…"
-The Washington
Post
"Ran draws you into the bleak, pained, uneasy
imagery of the Plath poetry in a way that makes you feel at once
assaulted, ennobled, and spiritually cleansed."
-Chicago
Tribune
"Shulamit Ran’s Apprehensions for soprano,
clarinet and piano – a major work and significant
contribution to the medium"
-William Nichols, The
Clarinet
"… a powerful 20+ minute, four-song cycle
based on poems from Sylvia Plath’s Winter Trees. Yes, it is
Sylvia Plath, and there is gloom and doom, but this work is too
good to be ignored. It wil grab and hold your attention. Diane
Ragains’ sung, half-spoken and spoken delivery of the text
is at times blood curdling, and throughout this work is heard a
committed and virtuoso performance by this trio…
…one of the best large works in the soprano/clarinet
repertoire."
-William Nichols, The
Clarinet
"Ran’s Concert Piece for Piano and
Orchestra is not a lengthy work, but it packs quite a
wallop… The orchestration is imaginative and the piano
part is extremely brilliant, with several big cadenzas, much
rapid, scampering, highly percussive passage work… This
piece, though short, is large in emotional scale… the
extroverted quality of this vivid piece won for it a warm
reception last night."
-The Plain Dealer
(Cleveland)
"Concerto for Orchestra (1986) is
big in musical scope and gesture, big in the technical demands it
makes of the modern symphony orchestra… Ran is a composer
whose music lives intensely in the late 20th Century, mindful of
tradition but possessed by a fiercely lyrical voice all its own.
She is a dramatist who happens to work with clashing, coalescing
sonorities rather than with actors, but her music is no less
theatrical for that. She gives her instrumentalists all sorts of
rewarding, virtuosic things to do even if her orchestral concerto
is not primarily about virtuosity. Did Ran perhaps unconsciously
have the punchy brilliance of this orchestra in mind when she
wrote this commanding score? It certainly seemed that
way…"
-John Von Rhein,
Chicago Tribune
"The work is essentially lyric-dramatic in
spirit… This is music that clearly repays careful study.
It has substance, and it is not afraid to be adventurous."
-Chicago
Sun-Times
"…a complex and ingenious work that makes
a very positive impression through the pure vitality of its
content and the immediate effect of its strong
writing…"
-Chicago
Sun-Times
"Every measure… is charged with dramatic
intensity… Forceful, compelling, beautifully wrought
music: here is a new piece one would very much like to encounter
again."
-Chicago
Tribune
"… With its Sephardic echoes along its
vast harmonic palette, the music boasts vivid links to the
composer’s homeland – a legendary, timeless
cycle."
-Andrew Adler,
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
"The two movements are natural, even inevitable
complements, bound by precise structural components and each
sumptuously orchestrated. The lower winds and brass (bass
clarinet, paired tubas, etc.) plus touches of muted trumpet,
celesta and great washes of percussion create an alluring swirl
of intricate sonorities."
-Andrew Adler,
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
"…one hopes it finds the wide public it
deserves. Legends means to evoke a mystical,
timeless aura, and it achieves that timeless quality without
resource to the obvious orchestral effects such evocation would
invite. Ran’s ideas and gestures carry within them the
seeds of their own development, and she compels us to follow
their evolution through a two-movement quasi sonata lasting about
20 absorbing minutes."
-Chicago
Tribune
"Ran’s work was radiant from the French
horn opening solo to the spectacular percussion cadenza…
This is a work that will reward each new listening."
-The Washington
Post
"The Symphony, which won her the
Pulitzer award… is immediately notable for its energy. It
has a thrust to the thematic ideas that sets her phrases moving
over a compelling pulse."
-Chicago
Sun-Times
"…clear instrumental manner allows her to
weave some tight musical ideas without letting her listeners miss
any details, or lose the thread of her argument… it is
music to exemplify an ideal — dramatic, colorful, clearly
directed."
-Philadelphia
Inquirer
"It's a big, important work, right down to the
mock-Bach finale."
-John Von Rhein,
Chicago Tribune
"Woodwind quintets everywhere should be eternally
grateful to her for producing a work so refreshingly free of the
cliches of the genre."
-John Von Rhein,
Chicago Tribune
"…a distinguished work by one of our most
gifted composers."
-Baltimore
Sun
"… full of percussive invention."
-Kurt Loft, Tampa
Tribune
"Dudamel first conducted a wondrous, impressive
composition by Shulamit Ran, Vessels of Courage and
Hope… …in this enthralling piece a festive,
extended fanfare was first heard, followed by splendid poetic
passages of serenity and longing…"
-Translated from Hebrew,
Ma’ariv, Israel
"…A fascinating opera
evening…"
-Westfalischer
Anzeiger (Germany)
"…strong stuff… Ran drew upon
everything from faux-Hassidic lament to creepy Bartokian
slithers, conventional arioso and spoken word, fusing these
diverse elements with her usual craft and sophistication…
she writes with remarkable assurance for voices… Charles
Kondek worked minor miracles in pruning, reworking and distilling
a talky four-act play into a libretto that clearly fired
Ran’s musical imagination… With amplified and
prerecorded voices echoing through the theater, and
prayer-shawl-clad Wandering Spirits haunting the spooky recesses
of Korogodsky’s semi-abstract stage, the opera’s two
worlds – the spiritual and the profane – merged in a
rather wonderful way…"
-Tribune
"…an impressive piece on several levels.
Musically, it has the vivid orchestral color and highly charged
vocal writing so typical of Ran, winner of the 1991 Pulitzer
Prize for music… and Ran’s score ranged easily from
cheery klezmer-shaded tunes to austere but compelling love
duets… unmistakably a 20th century work, though anyone
expecting unrelenting dissonance or constantly high decibel
levels would be disappointed. Between Two Worlds is
above all a compelling story, not a polemic for a given musical
style."
-Wynne Delacoma,
Sunday Sun-Times (Chicago)
"It is a potent tale, and the libretto is nicely
rendered in a singable poetic style… Ms. Ran, the 1991
Pulitzer Prize winner, is unquestionably a gifted concert
composer, and her orchestra writing is the real glory of this
opera... Wonderful colors emerge from the pit… Leitmotifs
and musical themes are assembled with great sophistication."
-James Paulik, New
Music Connoisseur
"This was Ran’s first opera, but her
writing for voice is every bit as colorful as her orchestral
works…"
-Opera
(England)
"…Ran’s score is formidable.
Resisting the soft, meditative trends of the 90's, she sticks
with a language as mercurially free as atonality but uses
dramatic gestures that ground the ear in the
familiar…"
-USA Today
"…The opera delivers… the music
lends itself extraordinarily well to dramatic interpretation. It
is cleverly orchestrated, generally with a free-tonality, though
with appropriate references to Klezmer and liturgical music.
Shulamit Ran has succeeded in writing an impressive synthesis in
which she gives full vocal lines to the singers – in
contrast to the philosophy of so many contemporary German
composers… this opera received long ovations, with
cheering… New Productions of Between Two Worlds
– The Dybbuk are strongly recommended as Ms. Ran
and her librettist have given something rare to contemporary
music theater: a work of substance at the highest musical level,
which shuns banalities yet speaks to the ear of the audience.
This happy combination is rare in contemporary music
theater…"
-Neue Westfalische
(Bielefeld, Germany)
"…extremely successful premiere of the
opera The Dybbuk by Shulamit Ran… Her opera
is a great musical achievement… A CD recording would be
highly desirable…"
-Westfalen-Blatt
"The music of Shulamit Ran, for many years
Composer-in-Residence of the Chicago Symphomy, is alive with a
subtle mixture of melodic material, both dancing and lamenting
Klezmer-motives, iridescent clusters and folklore – but
this is also a score that always allows the soloists to sing
effortlessly. She works tonally and atonally and expertly
illuminates the story with leitmotives… wonderful
music…"
-Opernwelt
(Germany)
"…impresses with its strength of
expression… The orchestral accompaniment plays ecstatic
accents and at the same time sets the rhythm for the impressive
vocal lines. On top of this, there are elements of folklore and
musical passages of the Jewish liturgy. Between Two
Worlds is an inspiring opera… A moving
experience!"
-Stadtblatt
(Germany)
"…Shulamit Ran has composed a remarkable
opera…"
-Westfalische
Rundschau (Germany)
"…Shulamit Ran has composed this love
story with strong expressive sounds that equally impress with
both the horror of possession and great emotions…"
-Munstersche Zeitung
(Germany)
"…Ran’s Between Two Worlds
(The Dybbuk)… is the most powerful new
music-theater piece to emerge from Lyric’s
composer-in-residence program and just might be the one that will
last… Ran’s sophisticated music drives the drama
rather than merely illustrating it…"
-Opera
News
Page last updated July 23, 2010
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