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The ISRAELI EMBASSY IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC and the ISRAEL MUSIC INSTITUTE will present a collection of scores and recordings of Israeli music, published by IMI, as a gift to the MUSIC FACULTY of the ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS in Prague.

The gift will be presented to the public by Dr. Noemi Zárubová, Vice-Dean of the Academy; Mr. Ziv Nevo Kulman, on behalf of the Embassy; and Mr. Paul Landau on behalf of IMI. The presentation will take place on April 9, in Prague, prior to a concert by cellist Dominika Hoškovà and the Quattro Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Marek Štilec, which will include, among other works, Tzvi Avni’s Kaddish for vcl & StrO (1987/1991; IMI 6909).

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CRITICAL PRAISE FOR PARTOS CENTENARY CD

In celebration of the anniversary of Oedoen Pártos (1907-1977), the record label Hungaroton has issued a CD featuring three of his concertante works: the first of his two viola concerti, Song of Praise (1949; IMI 300); the Violin Concerto (1958; IMI 32); and Fusions (Shiluvim) for viola & Chamber Orchestra (1970; IMI 161). Bálint Veres, in his liner notes, suggests that these works exemplify Pártos’s stylistic development – and with it the more general course of the founding generation of Israeli art music. Attempts to create a uniquely Israeli musical style, he writes, “ranged from the exoticism of early 20th century Impressionism and the search for a Mediterranean style to abstraction – to the idea of a systematic unifying of the mutually alien idioms of Eastern and Western music. The role of Pártos in this story of pioneers is particularly interesting because in the space of little more than twenty years his works covered this complete spectrum”.
The three works are performed by the violinist Vilmos Szabadi, the violist Péter Bársony and the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra conducted by their music director, András Ligeti; see also http://www.hungaroton.hu/en/node/4245/news. 

The CD has already received a welcoming review in the German web-based journal Klassik Heute, which awarded the disc 9 stars (out of 10). The review can be read on http://tinyurl.com/2abk26.

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IMI-CD-14: Andre Hajdu's Book of Challenges

This CD presents 42 excerpts from Andre Hajdu’s Book of Challenges –  a three-volume collection of 97 “games and exercises for the comprehension of the inner fabric of music” (1991-1999; IMI 7228-7230). The five pianists – Ariel Halevy, Amit Gilutz, Yuval Brunner, Avital Reshef and Yonathan Wagner – studied with Hajdu at the Israel Arts and Science Academy in Jerusalem. In the course of their studies, they experienced the distinctive pedagogical method that Hajdu developed with Michael Wolpe at the School, which combined playing, singing, improvisation, acting and composition. The Book of Challenges was created as part of this pedagogical method, resulting in a “multiplex work combining composition, improvisation and interactive pedagogy”.

The CD can be purchased through the Audio CD Catalogue section of the IMI website.

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IMI-CD-13: Piano Music by Tzvi Avni

This 2-CD set presents the complete works for solo piano by Tzvi Avni (b. 1927), performed by Arie Vardi and seven of his students, past and present. Avni dedicated the album to the memory of the composer’s wife, Hanna Yaddor-Avni (1946-2005), who initiated the project in collaboration with Prof. Vardi. It features the following works: Capriccio (1955/1975; IMI 6142) with Jonathan Aner; Piano Sonata No. 1 (1961; IMI 7791) with Michal Tal; Epitaph – Piano Sonata No. 2 (1979; IMI 6287) with Tomer Lev; Piano Sonata No. 3: On the Verge of Time (1993; IMI 7425) with Arie Vardi; Triptych (1993; IMI 6996) with Dorel Golan; From There and Then (1998; IMI 7184) with Shai Rosenboim; From My Diary (2001; IMI 7262) with Daniel Gortler; and Autumn Interludes (2006; IMI 7726) with Ran Zemach. The booklet includes an essay on Avni’s piano music by the pianist and musicologist Assaf Shelleg, as well as Avni’s own notes on the individual works.

The set can be purchased through the Audio CD Catalogue section of the IMI website.

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In Memory of Pnina Salzman

Members of the Israel Music Institute, its board of directors and staff, mourn the death of the distinguished pianist and Israel Prize laureate Pnina Salzman (1922-2006), who passed away on December 16 2006. Prof. Salzman was one of the leading figures in Israeli musical life – as a soloist, chamber music player and teacher. Her playing inspired some of Israel’s prominent composers, who dedicated several works to her, and she made an invaluable contribution to the performance and dissemination of Israeli music at home and abroad. May her memory be blessed.

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In Memory of Josef Dorfman

The composer Josef Dorfman died unexpectedly on June 7 this year. He died during a concert intermission, shortly after giving a talk on Shostakovich’s Jewish song cycles and taking part in a performance of his work Trio In Memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich for violin, cello and piano (1976). Dorfman’s last public appearance therefore represented several of his musical activities: as a composer, as a pianist, and as a musicologist who specialised, inter alia, in Russian Jewish music and its influence on Russia’s overall musical culture.
Dorfman was born on August 3, 1940, in Odessa, Ukraine. In 1971 he received his Ph.D. from the Gnessin Music Academy in Moscow. During the 1960s he was among the first Soviet musician to perform and discuss contemporary Western music.
Dorfman immigrated to Israel in 1973. He served as the Head of Composition and Theory Departments at the Rubin Music Academy, Tel Aviv University, and was the Academy’s Director in 1985-1989. He was also appeared as guest professor and lecturer, and directed several master classes, in many universities in Israel and abroad.
As a composer, Dorfman is regarded as one of the pioneers of the Israeli avant-garde, both for his activities in electro-acoustic improvisation, on record and in live performances, and for his daring combination of graphic and traditional notation. However, Dorfman also described himself as the Last of the Klezmers and as the successor of the St. Petersburg School. His creative legacy includes music for solo instruments, chamber ensembles and orchestra, ballet and theatre music, operas and oratorios, as well as multimedia and educational works.
			U.G.

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Ms. Maya Kopytman's Design Studio received the American Graphic Design Award 2006 for her design of the IMI publication Yulia Kreinin: Mark Kopytman - Voices and Memories (see our Book Catalogue).

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THE IMIC LIBRARY: A NEW PHASE FOR IMI

In the 44 years since its foundation, the Israel Music Institute has prided itself on its varied and fruitful activities: we have published about 2300 works, produced dozens of CDs, and gathered and distributed a great deal of information by a variety of means – from IMI News, through our website, to biographies and monographs. We are happy to announce that IMI has undertaken a new, unique and vital task, which will constitute a novel and significant phase in our development.
The Israel Council for Art and Culture and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Arts Administration, decided to establish a central library of Israeli music, and has appointed the Israel Music Institute (IMI) – in its role as the Israel Music Information Centre (IMIC) – to carry out this vital project. The aims of the library will be to collect information about Israeli music, and to house the majority of works by Israeli composers, published and unpublished alike, making them accessible to the public in Israel and abroad. One can hardly overemphasise the importance of this decision, after the long years in which Israeli works were scattered among different institutions and different publishers (whose number – like the number of music shops – has steadily decreased). Too many works have disappeared from the concert repertoire simply because it became virtually impossible to obtain the scores or parts essential for their performance. Once the library is established, it can serve as the first port of call for all those interested in Israeli music – a place where they will be able to peruse most of the works written in Israel over the years, obtain relevant information about them, listen to them, order them and/or purchase them on location.
The preparations for setting up the library are already underway. We are in the midst of preparing a new and detailed catalogue, listing hundreds of works (not published by IMI) which had already been part of our library, in addition to receiving new works. The large collection of scores used by ‘Rinat’, Israel’s national choir, which remained unused since the dissolution of the choir, will also be incorporated into the new library. We are negotiating contracts with copyright owners (composers and publishers) which will establish the legal framework for obtaining licenses to duplicate, sell or rent the works in our collection. We are also upgrading the Institute’s website, making it bi-lingual (Hebrew and English) and adjusting it to fit the new task of serving the readership of the new library. In addition, we are preparing suitable conditions for storing the scores, recordings and other materials and for making them accessible for prospective readers.
Let me take this opportunity to ask all Israeli composers to assist us in carrying out our vital task in the best possible way. We ask that you make available to us copies of your works – be they works published by other publishers or legible manuscript copies. We are interested in scores as well as in sets of parts. Recordings of your works will also be welcome. You are invited to contact IMI to receive full information on the library’s future operation.
We hope that our collection will soon grow and that the library of the Israel Music Information Centre will fill what has remained, all too long, a void in Israel’s musical life. We are aware of the great importance of the task that we have taken upon ourselves, and hope that in the near future we will be able to make the new library a central institution in Israeli musical scene. We share the joy of all Israeli composers who well deserve this service, and we are heartened and excited by this new phase in the activities of the Israel Music Institute and the Israel Music Information Centre. 

Paul Landau
Editor in Chief, Israel Music Institute

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NEW PUBLICATION

Yulia Kreinin (ed.). Mark Kopytman – Voices of Memories: Essays and Dialogues. Tel Aviv: IMI Israel Music Institute, 2004. 288 pp. 
This book is dedicated to the life and work of Mark Kopytman, who celebrated his 75th birthday in 2004. Its first and largest section, About compositions, introduces a representative cross-section of the composer’s oeuvre. It contains surveys of major genres (Yulia Kreinin on the instrumental and vocal music) and periods (Yevgeny Kletinich on The 1960s: Kopytman in Moldova), as well as analyses of individual works. Three of the analytic essays – Nancy Usher’s on Cantus II, Jehoash Hirshberg’s on Memory and Beyond All This, and Deborah Bradley’s on Variable Structures – explore a key issue in Kopytman’s musical aesthetics: the use of heterophony to evoke what the composer himself calls “diagonal relationships (like a third dimension in music) which are flexible and free from strong vertical control”. The section concludes with essays on Kopytman’s two operas (Yevgeny Kletinich on Casa Mare and Elena Dubinets on Chamber Scenes from the Life of Süsskind von Trimberg). 
The second section, About creative process, features four dialogues with the composer, presenting his own perspectives on many of the topics discussed in the analytic essays (e.g., the creative process, text-music relationships, nationality and folklore in music, and others). The dialogues are framed by two essays: Yossi Tavor discusses Kopytman’s success in creating a musical idiom that reflects his new cultural environment (after his immigration to Israel) while retaining his artistic personality; and Yevgeny Trembovelsky surveys Kopytman’s contributions to musicology and music theory.
The third and fourth sections (About Personality and Just a Few Words) present personal tributes to Kopytman by friends, colleagues, performers and students. These tributes contain valuable commentary on Kopytman’s music, but they focus primarily on his personality – not least on his high standards and dedication as a teacher. 
Collectively, these essays and tributes constitute a fascinating, multi-faceted portrait of the composer. Critics worldwide acclaim Kopytman as “one of the fairly rare breed of modern composers: his music is both advanced and ethnically/culturally identifiable” (Fanfare Magazine). Mark Kopytman – Voices of Memories substantiates and deepens this characterisation, and contributes to our understanding of Kopytman’s remarkable artistic achievements and of the ideas and ideals that inspire him.

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IMI-CD-12

A CD of Israeli music for flutes, recorded by the world acclaimed Israel Flute Ensemble, was released recently (IMI-CD-12). The CD includes works from piccolo solo up to five flutes, by Shlomo Yoffe, Betty Olivero, Tzvi Avni, Haim Permont, Daniel Galay, Sarah Levi-Tanai, and Yoav Talmi.

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IMI-CD-11

A CD "Israeli Music for Piano", played by the world acclaimed Israeli pianist Alon Goldstein, was released recently (IMI-CD-11). Five works are included in the CD: J. Tal: Sonata, M. Seter: Moto perpetuo, B.-Z. Orgad: Toccata, J. Radzynski: Canto, and P. Ben-Haim: Music for Piano 1967.

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IMI-CD-9
A CD of five orchestral works by Alexander Uriyah Boskovich was released recently (IMI-CD-9). In 'historical' and new recordings it includes: Concerto for ob & SO, Song of Ascent, Ornaments, and Daughter of Israel.

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IMI-CD-10

A CD of three orchestral works by Tzvi Avni was released under the title Ship of Hours (IMI-CD-10). The Israel PO conducted by Mendi Rodan, Sharon Rostorf-Zamir,S with The Haifa SO conducted by Stanley Sperber, and The Jerusalem SO with the conductor David Robertson, perform the following works: The Ship of Hours, Se questo e un uomo, and Metamorphoses on a Choral.

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