On Wed May 4th 2011, at the Interfaith Center’s Concert series, flutist Laura Falzon together with soprano Dawn Padmore, and pianist Steve Beck performed the New York premieres of two works: Andrea Clearfield’s Gaia for soprano, flute and piano and Reza Vali’s Persian Suite for flute and piano.
Gaia for soprano, flute and piano by composer Andrea Clearfield
Text by Aura Fischbeck
American composer Andrea Clearfield, who has been praised by the New York Times for her “graceful tracery and lively, rhythmically vital writing”, explains that “Gaia is a prayer to the Earth and a prayer for peace. It was inspired by a poem written by a fourteen year old girl who invites the spirit of the Earth Mother to join her in a ritual of gratitude. The ritual grows from a chant into a dance celebrating the eternal pulsing of the earth. Witnessing also the destruction of the environment, the girl’s plea competes with more dense and dissonant material which threatens, but never silences, her prayer. The composition incorporates fragments of a Hopi Native-American lullaby.”
Persian Suite for flute and piano by Reza Vali
Persian Suite by Iranian born composer Reza Vali, currently a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh is in three movements. All movements feature authentic Persian and Armenian folk songs. The first movement is based on an Armenian folk song. The second movement Allegro Scherzando is more playful than the first and the melody is embellished with grace notes and glissandos, and syncopated rhythms. Material from the first movement reappears in the bridge of this movement. The movement comes to an end with a bird song played by the piano. The third movement is characterized by a vibrant rhythm of accented 16th’s and further syncopation.