Talia Amar
Israel
Into the Maelstrom was written for the 32 Bright Clouds project in the winter of 2021.
It is connected to Beethoven’s Sonata no. 17 in d minor Op. 31 no. 2 “Tempest” .
The piece is dedicated to the people affected by the ongoing tensions around the Gaza Strip and Southern Israel,
two peoples who share a deep love for the same land.
Composer’s Note:
In Into the Maelström, I wanted to explore the duality of two intertwined entities sharing a single space. My inspiration was the struggle in the Land of Israel between the Israeli and Palestinian people, two peoples who share a love for the same land. Given the nature of things, some areas contain predominantly one of the people with a smattering of the other, and in other areas the roles are flipped. In my piece, this is expressed via two musical themes in a form comprised of two sections. Rather than separate between the two themes, I combined them and placed them both throughout the piece. In the first section, the first theme is dominant, the second theme sharing perhaps 20% of the spotlight. The same musical materials continue into the second section of the piece, with the roles reversed. Neither theme is ever presented without the other, just as it is impossible to truly divorce the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.
Into the Maelström also shares a connection with the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata n.17 “The Tempest”. One of the most intriguing aspect of Beethoven’s sonata is the unclear definition of what the first theme is. The sonata starts with something that feels like an introduction with low chords and sharp tempo changes. After this opening something that sounds like a first theme is finally reached. However, looking at the recapitulation at the end of the Sonata shows that we might have misinterpreted what the first theme is. The introduction returns and we recognize that what sounded like the first theme doesn’t appear at all, being replaced instead by a new rhythmic material. Clearly, what we considered to be an introduction is something more, and the initial obviousness of the identity of the first theme now becomes muddled.
Following a climax, there is a heavy cluster sustained by a pedal in Into the Maelström. This moment is paralleled to the moment in “The Tempest” where the introduction/first theme reappears with a melody while the pedal of the chord is sustained. Interestingly, the pedal marking appears in Beethoven’s original manuscript, which is a rarity. In my piece, the melody that is played over the sustained cluster is taken from the “peace theme” of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. This motive plays an important role in all 32 compositions comprising 32 Bright Clouds, serving as a thread connecting the works together. After this dramatic moment, the piece doesn’t go to the expected theme of the beginning but instead goes to a new rhythmic texture, paralleling Beethoven’s sonata. The piece ends with all three main ideas together (first theme, second theme, and Missa Solemnis) in equal parts, each of them is in its own register. No resolution is given to the conflict of which is the main theme.
“Into the Maelstrom” was composed for pianist Yael Weiss as part of the project 32 Bright Clouds with support from The Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund. It is dedicated to the people affected by the ongoing tensions around the Gaza Strip and southern Israel.
Talia Amar (b.1989) is an Israeli composer and pianist. Described as “a master composer… (she) has a fine ear for sound as well as sure compositional technique” (David Schulenberg, The Boston Musical Intelligencer), she is the recipient of many international awards including the Prime Minister prestigious award 2018, The Acum award 2019, The Rosenblum Prize for Promising Young Artist 2016 by the Tel Aviv Municipality ,the Klon Award for young composers granted by the Israeli Composers League, CIRCE Composition Competition, London Ear Festival, North-South Consonance Composition Competition, International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition, and she also has consecutively been awarded scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation both in piano and composition (with honors). Her string quartet “Obsession” was featured in Castleton Festival after being hand selected by Maestro Lorin Maazel. She was selected to be the Composer Fellow of Collage New Music for 2015-2016.
Her compositions have been performed in France, Canada, Belgium, Norway, Australia, Philippines, Taiwan, Germany, USA, England, Greece, Italy and Israel by ensembles such as: ICE, Itinéraire Ensemble, Standing Waves, Yarn/Wire, Collage New Music, Lydian String Quartet, North-South Consonance, Meitar Ensemble, Israel Contemporary Players, Les Cris de Paris, Atar trio, Ensemble Recherche du Midi, and Uroboros Ensemble. She was selected to represent Israel in different festivals such as ISCM World New Music in Vancouver, ECCO Festival in Brussels, and Asian Composers League Festival in Taiwan.
Additionally, her pieces were performed in Vox Feminae Festival, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, CEME Festival, Castleton Festival, London Ear Festival, and Visible Sounds Congress. She participated in various classes such as analysis classes at the Conservatoire National Superieur De Musique Et De Danse de Paris, the Royaumont composition course at the Royaumont Abbey in France, Contemporary Encounters in Tel-Aviv, the conference Matrix on Tour in Montreal, IRCAM ManiFeste, soundSCAPE, the IRCAM workshop at Boston University with Grégoire Lorieux, and the Composers Conference at Wellesley College guided by Mario Davidovsky.
She has attended master classes in composition with renowned composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Hèctor Parra, Detlef Heusinger, Marc André, Philippe Leroux, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Michael Lévinas.
Talia began studying piano at the age of 6 with Mrs. Luisa Yoffe and composition at the age of 14 with renowned composer Prof. Mark Kopytman. She earned her B.M. in composition with honors under the guidance of Prof. Ari Ben-Shabetai and Prof. Yinam Leef at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She completed her piano program with honors with Prof. Emanuel Krasovsky at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel-Aviv University. She earned her M.M. at the Mannes College of Music in NYC with Prof. Mario Davidovsky in composition and Prof. Victor Rosenbaum in piano. She earned her PhD at Brandeis University where her instructors included David Rakowski, Eric Chasalow, and Yu-Hui Chang. She was awarded an Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award for 2015-16 and have been named the recipient of the Irving G. Fine Fellowship in Music Composition for the 2016-17 and 2017-2018 academic years. She was also selected as one of this year's recipients of the Sandy Fisher Prize for Exceptional Achievement in the Creative Arts at Brandeis University.
Since 2017, Talia joined the composition faculty at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in Israel and is a council member of the Israeli Composers League.