Author: Boris Pigovat

Oct, 2018: The Wandering Stars at the 20th International Harp Contest, Israel
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Oct, 2018: The Wandering Stars at the 20th International Harp Contest, Israel

  • Duration: ca. 10 minutes
  • Harp Solo

For several days I was a guest at the 20th International Harp Contest in Israel.
It took place in the historic Knight’s Halls in the Old City of Akko, chosen by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

My piece The Wandering Stars for Harp Solo was in the program of the first stage of the competition, together with works of Haydn, Smetana, Salzedo, and Permont.

29 musicians from several countries, including Finland, Italy, Russia, the United States, France, South Africa, China, Serbia, Switzerland, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Germany, and Israel, participated in the contest, 21 of them choose to perform The Wandering Stars at the first stage.

It was an incredible and wonderful experience – to listen to a lot of very different interpretations of this piece  performed by such a talented musicians!

Jerusalem
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Jerusalem

  • Duration: ca. 17 minutes
  • SO: Picc, 2 Fls, 2 Obs, 2 Cls, B.Cl, 2 Bsns, C.Bsn, 4 Hns, 3 Tpts, 3 Tbns, Tba, Timp, Perc, Hp, Cel, Str.
  • SWB: Picc, 2 Fls, Ob, Bsn, 3 Cls, B.Cl, 2 A.Sxs, T.Sx, B.Sx, 4 Hns, 5 Tpts, 4 Tbns, Bar, 2 Tbas, Harp, Str.B, Synth, Timp, Perc

The inspiration behind this work is a city at the centre of three religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam, City whose name means “peace”, and whose fate is war, City which has known pain and joy, destruction and renewal, sadness and hope, City whose past is submerged in blood. As for its future… Would anybody dare to say that he knows it?

The poem Jerusalem exists in three versions: for solo piano, for symphonic wind band, and for symphony orchestra.

I wrote the piano version  in 1991, and revised it in 2002 and in 2009.
Below is a recording of the 2002 version, performed by Michael Zelevinsky in Jerusalem.
The final piano version premiered in 2014 in Paris, at the first COMPETITION-FESTIVAL – modern piano repertoire, performed by Olivier Seuzaret.

Jerusalem for Piano was published in 2015 by Le CHANT du MONDE, Editions Musicales (in France).

In 2017, this work was performed several times by Albanian pianist Almira Emiri. Below is a recording from YouTube.

In 2012, I wrote the symphonic wind band version.
It was premiered in 2013 by the Petach-Tikva Conservatoire Wind Orchestra, conducted by Michael Delman.
Below is an audio recording of that performance. Although both the orchestra and the recording are not professional, the performance was very enthusiastic and presents a favorable rendition the work.

I wrote the initial version for symphony orchestra in 1993, shortly after I wrote the piano version. However, I was not satisfied with the result; I’ve added a lot of additional content to orchestral version, and the combination resulted in a musical structure that lacked cohesion.

After I wrote Holocaust Requiem in 1994-1995, my attitude towards orchestration changed. As result,I put aside Jerusalem until autumn 2017, when I prepared a new version.

Below are recordings of the piano solo version and of the symphonic wind band version.

Piano Solo version

Almira Emiri, Piano
2022

Michael Zelevinsky, Piano
2002

Symphonic Wind Band version

Petach-Tikva Conservatoire Wind Orchestra
Michael Delman, Conductor
2012

Sept, 2017: Amazing performance of “Poem of Dawn” at 44th International Viola Congress, Wellington, New Zealand
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Sept, 2017: Amazing performance of “Poem of Dawn” at 44th International Viola Congress, Wellington, New Zealand

Here is another amazing performance of Poem of Dawn, Romantic Music for Viola and Symphony Orchestra, by Anna Serova, this time with conductor Hamish McKeich and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Jun, 2015: NAXOS Records launched “Holocaust Requiem & Poem of Dawn” CD
Jun, 2015: NAXOS Records launched “Holocaust Requiem & Poem of Dawn” CD
Nov, 2013: “Poem of Dawn” for Viola and Symphony Orchestra at Il Settembre dell’Accademia
Nov, 2013: “Poem of Dawn” for Viola and Symphony Orchestra at Il Settembre dell’Accademia

Composed in 2010, Poem of Dawn was performed by Anna Serova for the first time in 2013, with maestro Nicola Guerini and the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, they recorded the piece for the Naxos Records CD, which won Pizzicato’s Supersonic Award.

        Anna Serova, Viola
        Hamish McKeich, Conductor
        New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
        Duration: ca. 15 minutes
        2 Fls, 2 Obs, 2 Cls, 2 Bsns, 4 Hns, 2 Tpts, 3 Tbns, Timp, Perc, Hp, solo Vla, Str.

Click to play the video
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Sept, 2017: Therefore Choose Life for Symphony Orchestra
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Sept, 2017: Therefore Choose Life for Symphony Orchestra

  • Duration: ca. 14 minutes
  • Picc, 2 Fls, 2 Obs, 2 Cls, B.Cl, 2 Bsns, C.Bn, 4 Hns, 3 Tpts, 3 Tbns, Tba, Timp, Perc (3), Hp, Cel, Str.

Therefore Choose Life was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) in honor of Manfred Honeck‘s tenth season as music director. The work premiered in Heinz Hall on September 22, 2017, and conducted by Manfred Honeck.

The work based on verse from Deuteronomy 30:19:

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live…

I feel that the phrase “therefore choose life” is essence of the verse.
In my work I tried to express my feeling that life (with all its pain, suffering and tragedies) is meant to be filled with beauty, hope, light and love.
I have written other pieces based on biblical themes: “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” oratorio, A Song of Ascent for Symphony Orchestra, and On Mount Sinai for Symphonic Wind Band. Hence, I was very glad to know from the PSO that maestro Honeck was hoping that my new work “would be inspired by spirituality”.

Therefore Choose Life was written as a free symphony poem, and its duration is approximately 14 minutes.

There are not quotes or references to Jewish liturgical music or other music, but in the coda,  the theme of flutes & clarinets alludes to the singing of morning prayers or psalms.

The 11-minute symphonic poem is meditative but well varied at slow tempos, starting with a strong statement by the strings that conveys concern and aspiration. It leads to a section expressing some of life’s pains before turning to its antithesis – a beautiful and lushly scored section lifted by the light of a flute solo...
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Mark Kanny
Classical Voice North America
September 25, 2017

When I conducted the Israel Philharmonic, I got to know Boris Pigovat a little more and started looking at other pieces he's written. I wanted to do more with him. So I was very happy when he agreed to write something new for this season. I think his musical language is very beautiful. It has Russian depth and enormous emotions, but he is also a very, very humble man.
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Manfred Honeck
Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
September 20, 2017
Nigun (1996)
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Nigun (1996)

For String Orchestra / String Quartet / Solo Viola / Solo Violin / Solo Violoncello
  • Duration: ca. 5 minutes

The first version of Nigun was written in 1996, for string orchestra.
In this piece, I give expression to the tragic spirit that I feel in traditional Jewish music. However, there are no themes  from traditional melodies in the piece. Rather, , the composition expresses the style and spiritual atmosphere of the ancient tunes.

The piece was premiered in Israel in 1997 by the Jerusalem Camerata, conducted by Horia Andreescu. Later it was performed by various orchestras in Israel and around the world.

In 1997, I prepared the version for solo violin. Unfortunately, this version has not yet been performed.

In 2008, I prepared the version for solo viola for the American violist Scott Slapin; he recorded it a few months later.

In 2010, I prepared the string quartet version for the Requiem CD (Atoll Records). This version is very similar to the 1996 version. However, I eliminated the contrabass part, and the opening unison of violas, violins and cellos I replaced with a violin solo. The piece was recorded by the Dominion String Quartet.

In 2017, I prepared the solo cello version for Israeli cellist Inbal Megiddo, who premiered it that autumn.

Below you can find recordings of various versions of Nigun.

Version for String Orchestra

Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra 
Yuval Zaliouk, Conductor
2001

Version for SOLO Viola

Scott Slapin, Viola
Premiere
2008

Tatjana Mead Chamis, Viola
2009

Barbara Sudweeks, Viola
2013

Samples from the "Requiem CD"

     Dominion String Quartet
         Donald Maurice, Viola
         Yuri Gezentsvey, Violin
         Rosemary Harris, Violin
         David Chickering, Cello
     2010

“Dedicated to Marc Chagall” (“Hava Nagila”)
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“Dedicated to Marc Chagall” (“Hava Nagila”)

Jewish Rhapsody for Wind Orchestra / String Orchestra (with Optional Piano) / Brass Ensemble / Saxophone Quartet / Solo Bayan

  • Duration: ca. 9 minutes

My work Dedicated to Marc Chagall is based on the popular Jewish song Hava Nagila, which means Let us rejoice.
I had originally intended to write a rhapsody based on Hava Nagila, but I found myself writing episodes that were not derived from Hava Nagila. Suddenly, I realized that I was actually composing a tone poem, evoking scenes of a small Jewish town at the beginning of the 20th century. Such images and moods typify novels by Shalom Aleichem and the earlier paintings by Marc Chagall. I felt a particularly strong association to Chagall’s pictures. For this reason, I named the piece Dedicated to Marc Chagall, in addition to the secondary title of Jewish Rhapsody “Hava Nagila”.

I composed the piece in 2003, for wind orchestra, and then for string orchestra (with optional piano). The main part of both versions is similar, but  the nature of strings required a completely different introduction for the string version.

The wind orchestra version premiered in 2003, performed by the Petach-Tikva Conservatoire Symphonic Band at Festival Kfar-Saba (in Israel), and conducted by Michael Delman.

The premiere of the string-orchestra was in 2005, performed by the Ramat Gan Chamber Orchestra (in Israel), and conducted by Aviv Ron.

Later, both versions were performed many times in Israel and around the world.
In 2015, the wind-orchestra version was also performed at the WASBE Conference in San Jose, California, by the Israel Youth Wind Orchestra, conducted by Motti Miron. Unfortunately, I don’t have a recording of that performance. However, below is the recording of a different performance of theirs, in Israel, in 2012:

In 2005, I was contacted by the Brandt-Brass Ensemble from Saratov, Russia. They sough a challenging piece to perform for international competition, and I prepared for them a version of Dedicated to Marc Chagall for brass ensemble.

In 2015, I also prepared a version for saxophone quartet; below is recording of that version performed by the Mestizo Saxophone Quartet, in 2018:

In 2012, I received an unexpected application from Ukrainian accordionist Pavel Fenyuk, asking for my permission to write an arrangement of the piece for solo bayan (chromatic button accordion). Below, is his virtuoso performance of that version:

The piece has already seen many variations, and who knows where else it will go?