Music
for harpsichord and six instruments

Music for harpsichord and six instruments: the composer chose the quite unusual combination of: flute, clarinet, two violas, violoncello, and double-bass to match the sonority of the harpsichord. The work opens with two pulsating chords, introducing a number of short motives, alternatively exposed by the harpsichord, the strings and the two woodwinds. These motives are gradually developed and culminate in a fugato (including the long-cadenza- like harpsichord solo). A stretto brings this first movements to its climax. The second movement presents broken fragments of the already familiar motives; a viola solo leads a variation on the two chords heard in the beginning of the work. "Music for Harpsichord and Six Instruments" (1964) was commissioned by the "Israel Composers Fund" for the late Frank Pelleg, who premiered it in Jerusalem in 1964, with Uri Toeplitz – flute, Gideon Feidman – clarinet, Zeev Steinberg and Avraham Bornstein – violas, Yaakov Menze – violoncello and Thalia menze – double-bass. In 1966 the work was awarded the MILO prize.