“Northern Wind” – improvisation and raga, for harp solo (2017)

A piece commissioned by and performed during the International Tel-Aviv Harp Contest 2017.
It was also among six finalists at the The Composition Contest for the USA International Harp Competition (USAIHC).
It was chosen from 90 works submitted by composers from 33 countries.

Publications: IMC

Performances:
26-09-17, Israeli Music Day, “Debuts for harp” series, Gittit Boasson, harp;
8-7-19, Auer Hall, Bloomington, Indiana, Composition Forum at the 11th USA International Harp Competition;
17-11-19, Tel-Aviv Philharmonic Zucker Hall, International Harp Day, Marina Fradin, harp;
24-11-19, Jerusalem Center for Eastern Studies, Marina Fradin, harp.

Listen HERE

“… A violin hung over David’s bed, and as midnight arrived, a northern wind came and blew in it and it played
on its own …Immediately he awoke and engaged in the Torah until the dawn rose …”
(Tractate Brachot 3: Babylonian Talmud)

I always heard in my head the delicate sounds of the harp strings echoing to the wind.
On the other hand, I also thought of the sudden burst that caused them to produce stronger,
sharper sounds, ones from which one can wake up from sleep.

I was looking for a kind of musical form in which to express this duality, which contains and combines
these contradictions in a very organic way. I used the terms “improvisation” and “Raga” as expressions
for the two “sides of the coin” – the savage, the unexpected and at the same time the most materially non-existent,
and on the other – something cyclical, something repeated over and over again every night..

From here the characteristics of the work are derived – a lot of “free space” in the form of long breaks,
glissandi played quietly on the edge of hearing ability, imitations of the sound of the sitter together with
complex rhythms and models with the scent of the Far East.
All of these are components of the delicate balance that I tried to express,
stemming from this wonderful description of the Sages.

Towards the end of the work, all of these elements unite and come to a climax where the sound
of the performer is heard – a voice of Revelation, proclaiming the dawn arrival of the new day,
of a new spiritual awakening.