Elegie pour B.R.
Bruce J. Taub
About this work:
Fortunately, some of my family emigrated from Poland to the United States shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Most of my family remained in Poland. Bronya Ratzenstein Rosenblatt (1922-2001) was the sole survivor.
It is appropriate that this piece, written for Gilles DeLiege (viola) and Magali Goimard (piano), members of the Trio Maurice Durufle, be premiered in Paris which is where mu cousin Bronya managed to live until the end of the war. She left for the United States from a Displaced Persons Camp in Germany in 1951. Her arrival in New York is one of my earliest childhood memories.
Elegie consists of a cancrizan (or "crab" canon) between the viola and the piano (upper voice) that is superimposed over a gradually ascending chromatic line in the lowest voice and a gradually descending chromatic line in the middle voice that "meet" at the end of the piece. The total duration of each pitch of the ascending chromatic line becomes gradually longer while the total duration of each pitch of the descending chromatic line becomes gradually shorter.
Elegie pour B.R. is published by the Association for the Promotion of New Music.
Year composed: 2001
Duration: 00:05:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Keyboard plus One Instrument
Instrumentation: 1 Piano, 1 Viola
Instrumentation notes: Can be performed immediately following Companion Piece for solo piano