It all began many months ago when I received an invitation from the wonderful Eva Wassermann – clarinettist extraordinaire – to spend a week in Israel giving masterclasses.
Eva Wasserman
On Monday we had the first class at the Kfar Saba Conservatory and I heard some terrific young players in both familiar and unfamiliar repertoire. The first performer brought a Fantasia by Sarah Feigin – a brilliant piece by this Russian-born composer who has spent all her life in Israel. I’ve brought a copy back and intend to play it at the next available opportunity! We had lovely performances of Nielsen, Krommer, Knezek (a concerto I didn’t know) and much more besides. The day ended with a lovely performance, by a young group, of my Clarinetwise – the conductor was Nurit Blum who taught many of these excellent players. I also saw my first lemon and kumquat trees plus much sumptuous looking fruit in shops. And met the charismatic Ron in his nut shop!
Left: Ron’s nut shop
Right: Kfar Saba Conservatory
From the English snow, I walked into a warm and sunny Summer – most of the time anyway. But Tuesday was somewhat different. We awoke to a ranging storm – of biblical proportions! Our first port of call was to the venue where the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra rehearse. They are a top orchestra and, maybe the most exciting part of the trip, 5 members were going to give the world premiere of my Clarinet Quintet. They had a break from orchestral rehearsals and had some time to rehearse my piece – I was invited to attend. Danny Erdman, himself a pupil of Eva’s, principal of the JSO was taking on the work. It was an awesome experience for me.
Left: Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in rehearsal
Right: Danny and the quintet
On the way from the JSO’s HQ to the Givatayim Conservatory, Eva and I were waiting at a bus stop. The road was a river (and a deep one at that) when a somewhat inconsiderate driver came past at a very aggressive speed drenching us all totally! Eva rang her husband who happily was able to bring us a change of clothing which he dropped off at the conservatory. More splendid young players, and again some unfamiliar music - Dreseke and Baklanova for example. But also many old favourites, Saint-Saëns, Hoffmeister and Nielsen among them.
I didn’t start until late on Wednesday, so we were able to go for a walk – there was very little time overall for sight-seeing generally. But it was good to get a local feel – it’s all very hustle and bustle and there’s a feeling of high energy wherever you are in Israel. In the afternoon we made our way to the Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv. Milhaud, Mozart, Gade, and Weber featured and the standard was very accomplished.
Thursday was the really big day. Jamie, Eva’s husband drove us to Jerusalem. There is some tension in Israel at the moment and there was supposed to be a protest in Jerusalem today. These protests can attract over a quarter of a million folk. Luckily today’s demonstration was postponed. It would have made the whole experience very uncertain. So we arrived at the Jerusalem Academy of Music in glorious sunshine and warmth. The players in the afternoon were of a very high standard indeed and we worked on Brahms, Mozart, Muczynski and more. Also, a couple of small clarinet ensembles for the evening concert – which was great fun.
The evening concert itself included a number of the young players with their ensembles and then Danny and Ido Azrad played a little duet, Celebration, which I wrote especially for the occasion.
Then the Quintet. It was a very special performance. I don’t write too much music that is particularly complex and extended in length – and makes a serious statement about the world in which we live. But this piece does. It’s subtitled The Nine Muses and each section considers each of the Greek gods who gave artists, philosophers and individuals the necessary inspiration for their creation. The work tries to affirm the ultimate goodness of art and how it underpins humanity. A thought we need to remember now – almost more than any other time in our history.
The 5 members of the JSO, Clarinet, Danny Erdman; violins, Jenny Hünigen and Yuliya Sigalovskaya; viola, Itamar Ringel and cello, Talia Erdal gave it a spectacular performance.
It brought a truly amazing week in Israel to a truly amazing conclusion.
