Karim Al-Zand is a Canadian-American who is currently a professor of Composition at Rice University in Houston, Texas. His compositional style is quite broad in its performability range with his music for young musicians in addition to professional ensembles. His work is known to reach into other disciples as well as draw inspiration from a variety of places including his Middle-Eastern heritage. His music devotes time to exploration of different musical topics as well such as counterpoint, jazz, and improvisation.
Whirling Dervish is the fourth instalment from the larger piece Imaginary Scenes, a four-movement piece written for violin and piano. Written in 2005, the piece was inspired by an English poem (the first movement), a letter from Nicolo Paganini (the second movement), a work form the French illustrator J. J. Grandville (the third movement), and “An episode from my folktale setting Parizade and the Singing Tree” (http://www.alzand.com/WordPress/?page_id=714). The piece truly represents the title very well as it plunges head first into the music and provides both performers and audience with very little rest.
Whirling Dervish
Lamentations on The Disasters of War is a piece written for string sextet inspired about Napoleon's war with Spain. Napoleon, believing himself to be the future “liberator” of Spain, had misplaced confidence in the people of Spain’s attitude towards him. The French army devastated much of Spain’s resources and civilians and left them fleeing for their lives. Francisco de Goya created a set of etchings dedicated to this tragedy of this war called The Disasters of War which Al-Zand uses for inspiration. While the piece draws from Goya’s art of a war long gone, it was also dedicated to the composer’s brother, who was killed during the Iraqi war. Rightfully so, the lyrical lines and harmony are incredibly sad and mournful which creates this space for the audience to reflect on the horror that war creates.
Lamentations on The Disasters of War
Four Fables is a collection of four short pieces that are derived from “animal apologues” from various authors. The first piece, an ode to Aesop’s The Grasshopper and the Ant, is written in a “acrobatic dance” style. One can really feel the dance-like features as the clarinet and flute create a homogenous texture like dancers moving to the rhythm of the piano. The second piece pulls from Jean-Baptist Perrin’s The Owl and the Echo. This piece follows the owl’s journey through his nights spent alone. The third piece The Lion, the Fox and the Fish by Ivan Kyrlov is based on the author’s political fables concerning the Russian royal family. The fourth and final piece by Ambrose Bierce titled The Man and the Fish-Horn. It is written as a fanfare to portray Bierce’s mimic of Aesop’s fables concerning fishermen.
Four Fables
Written with wit and fire, Al-Zand’s music is a joy to listen to and has left me wanting to explore even more of his work. To follow Al-Zand’s career or to listen to his music, please visit his Website or subscribe to his YouTube Channel.
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I do not own any of the music or videos in this blog post or in any of the other posts that you may find in this blog.
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