May 4, 2018 By: yunews
Dr. David Glaser, professor of music at , premiered a new piece on April 11, 2018, titled Proof Positive, for the annual Beatrice Diener Ensemble-in-Residence New Music Concert at the .
The piece was composed specifically for CXX Proof, a newly formed music ensemble of clarinet, violin and piano. The ensemble’s name comes from the first initials of the performers: Christopher Grymes, clarinet; Xiao-dong Wang, violin; and Xak Bjerken, piano.
“As with most of my music,” said Glaser, “the ensemble itself generates the piece. I think about the instruments, their sonorities and capabilities, and try to find ways to get them to interact. Proof Positive had a long gestation and the composing went slowly until I realized that the material was going to become either a long and lyrical piece or a short and intense work. It turned out to be the latter.
“In addition to my piece, the program showed a wide range of the styles that were explored by Jewish composers in the 20th and 21st centuries and includes neo-classical music by Darius Milhaud, a piece for clarinet and electronic sounds by Mario Davidovsky, modern romanticism in the Bagatelles by Gerald Finzi, George Gershwin’s Three Preludes and Shulamit Ran’s For an Actor for solo clarinet.”
