We are excited to continue our collaboration with the New York Women Composers. This month, we spotlight composer Judith Lang Zaimont.
“For for a dramatic, expressive cellist.” – Judith Lang Zaimont
Bio (from Judith Lang Zaimont’s website):
Judith Lang Zaimont is internationally recognized for her music’s distinctive style, characterized by expressive strength and dynamism. A grantee of both National Endowments, winner of the 2015 The American Prize in Chamber Music Composition and a 2003 Aaron Copland Award winner, she has enjoyed a distinguished career as composer of over 100 works with performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Camerata Bern, Berlin and Czech Radio symphonies, and the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra. Her music is widely performed throughout the U.S. and Europe and has been recorded for the MSR Classics, Naxos, Navona, Koch Classics, Arabesque, Milken Family Foundation, Albany, Jeanne, Leonarda, Northeastern, and 4Tay labels. Her principal publishers are Subito Music, Galaxy/ ECS, Jeanné and Vivace. She is a distinguished teacher and pianist, and creator and editor-in-chief of the critically acclaimed book series The Musical Woman: An International Perspective.
Featured Work: TANYA Poems for unaccompanied cello
COMPOSITION DETAILS
- Title: TANYA Poems
- Composer: Judith Lang Zaimont
- Year of Composition: mvt. 1 and 2 – 1999 / mvt. 3 – 2019
- Instrumentation: unaccompanied cello
- Movements: 3
- Duration of Work: ~18 minutes
- Number of Measures: I. 76; II. 190; III. 48
- Number of pages: 14
- Tempo: a gamut
- Difficulty Level: advanced/professional
- Highest Position Reached: thumb
- Techniques Employed: No extended techniques used.
- Publisher: Subito Music Corp.
- Where to Purchase the Score: Subito Music Corp.
- Cost of Score*:$17.95
Recording
Performance Notes
“This piece asks for a dramatic, expressive cellist with a fully-developed technique. But no extended techniques are used.” – Judith Lang Zaimont
Program Notes
“Wanting to highlight admired cellist Tanya Remenikova’s large artistic presence — expressive and technically adroit — I turned to poetry where distilled expressive power and closely reasoned discourse seemed written-word equivalents. Couplet proposes two duos of contrast: long notes which swell and scuttle away, and expansive triple-stop sonorities resting harmonically in place. In six-sectioned Sestina; the cello carries on a chromatic conversation with itself – from indistinct mutterings kept within discrete registers to sections in harmonics and rapid pizzicato. Envoi returns to a more peaceful, questing atmosphere, yet consistently asks a question it cannot fully answer.” – Judith Lang Zaimont
Judith Lang Zaimont’s Other Works with a Prominent Cello Part
- 3 string quartets
- 4th movement of Pure, Cool (Water) – Symphony No. 4
Links
- Website
- Facebook: @judith.zaimont
A Collaboration with the New York Women Composers (NYWC)
The NYWC series at the Cello Museum was created to showcase its members who have composed various pieces for cello, informing cellists seeking new music to add to their repertoire, and helping listeners find new favorites. Many thanks to the NYWC for this wonderful collaboration.
Read other installments in the series here.
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*Prices are accurate at the time of article publication, but the Cello Museum cannot take responsibility for subsequent price changes.
