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Living Breathing Earth
meirawarshauer.com |
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Purchase: Watch: Listen: PRI Living on Earth interview WCQS interview WHQR interview SC ETV Radio Your Day interview WFMT interview Connect: Living Breathing Earth Facebook Page CD Reviews: "Living, Breathing Earth presents two significant works by an egregiously unsung American composer….Both works show that she has done her teachers proud. Symphony No. 1, “Living, Breathing Earth,” reflects her profoundly ecological sensibilities. Tekeeyah (a call) is a concerto for shofar/trombone and orchestra that takes one deep into her Jewish roots. The performances go far beyond mere advocacy, and Navona’s sound is spine-tingling."
Composer Meira Warshauer’s musical vision of tikkun olam permeates two new orchestral works. “Symphony No.1: Living Breathing Earth” is a shimmering, joyous and soothing ode to the world’s beauty; “Tekeeya” is the first concerto written for shofar, trombone and orchestra. Soloist Haim Avitsur plays a masterful shofar, alternately plaintive, insistent, mysterious and raw, calling for an awakening to inner truth and a reconnection to the earth.
Warshauer's music is shot through with and inspired by mystical and spiritual matters that span a love and respect for Mother Earth and the Jewish faith.
The experience of listening to the CD is enlivening and deeply moving. The shofar calls out to humanity to appreciate the earth, seek individual purpose, and find inner strength.
Both pieces showcase simple and assured beauty.
Heavenly Music and a Wake-Up Call for the Earth
...broad appeal, yet sufficiently advanced to satisfy those who look for the music of our time to engage in the sounds of our time...highly recommended." Textures and rhythms found in nature – bird song, mist, water drops, insect hisses – infuse this exciting symphonic music .... Meira Warshauer's orchestral voice expresses a passion for nature, and also for the musical and liturgical languages of Jewish tradition, in a sophisticated symphonic language native to our time.
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Orchestral Music of Meira Warshauer Symphony No. 1 Living Breathing Earth Moravian Philharmonic, Petr Vronsky, conductor
Aileen LeBlanc's slideshow and profile of Living Breathing Earth Symphony. Paintings byCharlotte Riley-Webb. Radio piece aired June 3-10, 2011, on PRI'sLiving On Earth.
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Haim Avitsur, shofar and trombone soloist photo by Ed Zirkle Articles: IAWM Journal"The Sacred Concert Hall: Orchestra works of Meira Warshauer," Christina Reitz Performance Reviews: "Living, Breathing Earth" deserves to be heard many, many more times, not only for its message that life on earth is in danger, and that we must be good stewards of the environment, but because it is such beautiful music.
Seldom have I been so moved on the first
hearing of a new work. Some people hear music in colors. Some in images. Some in harmonic analysis. Some as passive entertainment. But somehow, Tekeeyah seemed to make us hear a search for meaning. David Lowry, Free Times, Columbia SC...read more
It is without question that Mr. (Haim) Avitsur is an extremely accomplished trombonist. That he can coax tonal sounds and beautiful music out of a ram's horn is truly virtuosic and astounding. Listener Comments from Live Performances: “…a quick email saying how much I enjoyed the performance of your symphony at the Dayton Phil. I don't make it to concerts nearly as much as I used to, but when I heard the interview and excerpts from the piece, I had to go. The sounds and atmosphere you got from the orchestra were amazing. Are there plans to record it?” “I heard Ms. Warshauer’s piece, Living Breathing Earth on KRCC radio (Living on Earth broadcast). It is so moving. I wonder if there’s any way to purchase a recording of it?” “I heard part of your symphony on my local classical radio station in San Francisco. Since then, I have wanted to get a recording. Is it available?” "...your concerto was absolutely inspiring! I was so taken by the music and the story it told. We all listen to music but on this night I really heard the music and the lessons it revealed about the mind-body connection, finding purpose and inner strength, awakening our souls, and overcoming challenges. The final shofar calls in the piece, familiar to me from Rosh Hashana, were chilling, awakening us to be true to ourselves and others. I was inspired." “This piece (Tekeeyah) …was so profound, I left the concert with a sense of renewal and strength. Thank you again.” "I attended the premiere in Brevard, NC, and it was a profoundly moving experience. The audience was held breathless by the beauty and quiet contemplative power of this composition." In Memory: Jose (Ze) Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria, who supported their family by tapping rubber trees in the rainforest of Brazil, were murdered May 24, 2011 for speaking out against forces destroying the forest. Their story was featured on the same PRI's Living on Earth program which ran Aileen LeBlanc's profile of my symphony. Here is a link to that story, with a moving video of Ze Claudio's prescient speech. |
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