Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Ha-Galgal Premiere, Sarasota Music Festival Julie Landsman, horn
Scored for: solo horn Duration: 8 1/2 min. Premiere: June 6, 2019, Sarasota Music Festival, Julie Landsman, horn Commissioned by: Julie Landsman Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press
Contact Andrea Clearfield for score and parts:
DESCRIPTION
Ha-GalGal (The Wheel) is a prayerful work inspired by the sound of the shofar, tropes from Jewish liturgical chant and the revolving wheel of life.
NOTES
Julie Landsman commissioned me to write a solo horn work for her that would be like a heartfelt Judaic prayer. The compositional process took me back to my own roots and love of the music of the synagogue. This piece was inspired by Julie’s Haftorah portion that she sang at her Bat Mitzvah when she was thirteen. Fragments of the melodies or tropes can be heard throughout the work, as well as melodic embellishments from traditional cantorial singing, where the horn simulates the singing voice. References to the sound of the shofar, or ram’s horn, played on the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, can also be heard. Repeated staccato blasts in the center of the work symbolize both jubilation and pain. The ending of the piece is a love song from the adult to the younger self where the horn plays in different registers as the two parts of the self sing to one another. The title, Ha-Galal is Hebrew for Wheel, and references the wheel or cycle of life.
–Andrea Clearfield
“Julie Landsman has an ability to charm and mesmerize with a wide range of tone qualities on the horn. Years ago, the Sarasota Music Festival introduced fellow faculty artists Landsman and the composer Andrea Clearfield. We heard one fruit of this friendship in the world premiere of “Hal-Galgal (The Wheel),” a work for solo horn that celebrated the shared Jewish heritage of both performer and composer. Drawing from classic cantorial singing styles and actual fragments of sung scripture from Landsman’s bat mitzvah, “Hal-Galgal” immersed the audience in a deeply personal world of introspection and observance. The beauty was in the minute detail: a pitch shifting from a whisper to a wail, the bend of a line, and even color shifts similar to changing vowels. Landsman was the master of the supple fluid line and held us with the music close to her heart.”
–Gayle Williams, Sarasota Herald, June 7, 2019
Ha-Galgal Premiere, Julie Landsman and Andrea Clearfield, Sarasota Music Festival, June 6, 2019
Ha-Galgal (The Wheel)
Ha-Galgal Premiere, Sarasota Music Festival
Julie Landsman, horn
Scored for: solo horn
Duration: 8 1/2 min.
Premiere: June 6, 2019, Sarasota Music Festival, Julie Landsman, horn
Commissioned by: Julie Landsman
Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press
Contact Andrea Clearfield for score and parts:
DESCRIPTION
Ha-GalGal (The Wheel) is a prayerful work inspired by the sound of the shofar, tropes from Jewish liturgical chant and the revolving wheel of life.
NOTES
Julie Landsman commissioned me to write a solo horn work for her that would be like a heartfelt Judaic prayer. The compositional process took me back to my own roots and love of the music of the synagogue. This piece was inspired by Julie’s Haftorah portion that she sang at her Bat Mitzvah when she was thirteen. Fragments of the melodies or tropes can be heard throughout the work, as well as melodic embellishments from traditional cantorial singing, where the horn simulates the singing voice. References to the sound of the shofar, or ram’s horn, played on the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, can also be heard. Repeated staccato blasts in the center of the work symbolize both jubilation and pain. The ending of the piece is a love song from the adult to the younger self where the horn plays in different registers as the two parts of the self sing to one another. The title, Ha-Galal is Hebrew for Wheel, and references the wheel or cycle of life.
–Andrea Clearfield
Watch a video of Andrea speaking about the work at Julie Landsman’s Sarasota Music Festival Horn Masterclass prior to the premiere.
Julie Landsman
REVIEW
“Music Festival faculty delights with unexpected gems: Season’s first artist showcase features an affecting world premiere by Andrea Clearfield”
“Julie Landsman has an ability to charm and mesmerize with a wide range of tone qualities on the horn. Years ago, the Sarasota Music Festival introduced fellow faculty artists Landsman and the composer Andrea Clearfield. We heard one fruit of this friendship in the world premiere of “Hal-Galgal (The Wheel),” a work for solo horn that celebrated the shared Jewish heritage of both performer and composer. Drawing from classic cantorial singing styles and actual fragments of sung scripture from Landsman’s bat mitzvah, “Hal-Galgal” immersed the audience in a deeply personal world of introspection and observance. The beauty was in the minute detail: a pitch shifting from a whisper to a wail, the bend of a line, and even color shifts similar to changing vowels. Landsman was the master of the supple fluid line and held us with the music close to her heart.”
–Gayle Williams, Sarasota Herald, June 7, 2019
Ha-Galgal Premiere, Julie Landsman and Andrea Clearfield, Sarasota Music Festival, June 6, 2019