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TO ALWAYS REMEMBER SCORE - SHARON FARBER
TO ALWAYS REMEMBER
SONG CYCLE IN THREE MOVEMENTS FOR SOPRANO, CLARINET, PIANO, VIOLIN AND CELLO
Published by Score By Score
THREE MOVEMENTS, 18 MIN.
#Chamber #Soprano #Clarinet
#Viola #Cello
Sharon Farber: Forever to Remember | Sharon Rostorf-Zamir & Hagai Yodan
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“To  Always  remember”,  A  song  cycle  based  on  poet  Israeli/Hungarian Yaakov  Barzilai’s  writing,  consists  of  three  poems

“To  Always Remember,  “Also  the  Ashes”,  and ” I  Turned  a  Leaf”. When  I  read  Yaakov’s  moving  poems,  I  was  moved  to  tears; I could  only  try  to conceive of  the  horrendous  and  gruesome  sites  Yaakov  had  witnessed,  yet,  through  his  poems,  I  was  transformed  back  to  those  time  and place.

 

I thought  about  Yaakov  the  child at  the  age  of  ten,  learning  to  recite  KADISH,  the  Jewish  prayer  for  the  deceased,  to  be  said  for  his  dead father,  whose  ashes  were  already  floating  in  the  river.  Can  we,  who  live  today,  truly  comprehend  the  pain  and  suffering  that  others  have endured  in  order  for  us to  live  and  create  freely?

 

I chose  these  three  poems,  as  I  felt  that  they  were  moving  from  complete  darkness  into hope  and light.  In  “To  Always  Remember”,  I  began  by describing  the  poem’s  graveness  and  anger,  but  also  Yaakov’s  sorrow  and  pain.  In  the  second  part  of  this  poem,  the  rhythm  becomes  stormy and  urgent,  when  we  become  familiar  with  the  dreadful  things  the  poet,  as  a  young  child,  had  to  observe.  The  Jewish  theme  comes  to  life when  we  get  to  KADISH,  where  everything  slows  down  in  time.  The  end  of  the  song  is  distressing  again,  while  preparing  us  for  the  second movement;  a  short  segment,  which  starts  softly  and  delicately,  but  grows  into  a  mourning-like  prayer.  

 

The  third  movement  begins  solemnly,  with  frustration  and  anger  for  the  injustice  of  it  all,  but  it  reaches  a  simple  major  chord  at  the  end.  This chord,  however,  is  intertwined  with  a  minor,  as  well  as  poignant  one,  as  the  poet,  while  ready  to  turn  a  new  leaf  and  look  for  a  brighter day,  always  remembers.  

 

“To  Always  Remember”  was  premiered  in  2005,  at  the  Main  Synagogue  of  Berlin,  as  a  commission  to commemorate  60  years  since  the  end of  the  war.

 

From  Poet  Yaakov  Barzilai;“As  a  survivor  of  concentration  camp  Bergen-Balzen,  my  poems  are  a  mirror  of  the  gruesomenessI’ve  witnessed, through  writing.  Every  poem  is  a  story-its  seed  a  truth,  its  shell  -imagination.  I  left my  dad  and  grandmother  behind  me  in  the  camp.  As  there is  no  grave,  their  ashes  run  in  the  rivers.Every  Holocaust  survivor  is  a  life  prisoner,  with  no  redemption.  My  poems  are  a  message  to  the next generation,  which  will  keep  on  going  forever.  Every  generation  must  remember.” 

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