Piano

It seems like you have reached the end

for piano solo (2023) '15

commissioned by and dedicated to Ran Dank

Bursting Light

for piano solo (2019) '7

commissioned by the 2020 European Piano Competition Bremen

Bursting light plays around light and shadow. Rays of light are trying to pierce through a dark room during the entire piece, finally breaking through at the very end. The player must not show the beginning of each beat, everything should sounds as ambiguous and supple as possible, almost improvised.

Drei Klavierstücke

for piano solo (2013) '11

first performance: Philharmonie Berlin, October 2013, Matan Porat

The three piano pieces were composed in 2013. Formed on the same bass, those highly expressive short pieces are all played without break. the first piece, “Prelude”, is loosely based on the nursery song “Twinkle twinkle little star”, and is in a simple ABA form. The second piece, “Fantasia”, is the heart of the whole work. In a rhapsodic writing, the melody is trying to break through the contrary motion of the hands, with little success. The third and last movement, “Totentanz” is a fast and frantic movement interrupted by a constant low bass, which also ends the piece. The work is dedicated to Andras Schiff.

Whaam!

for piano solo (2009) '8

commissioned by and dedicated to David Greilsammer

first performance: Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris, April 2009, David Greilsammer

I have always been fascinated by the immediate, violent response of hard-bop Jazz from the 60’s. Artists such as Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman and Thelonious Monk played pieces that at times were much closer to contemporary classical music than to the precedent, smoother kind of Jazz. “Whaam!” draws its inspiration from these musicians and from a painting with the same name by the American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, painted in 1963. The picture shows a plane being exploded by another, with the text: “I pressed the fire control… and ahead of me rockets blazed through the sky…” Like the painting, the music is also violent, comic, harsh, tragic, immediate and in constant motion.

Parables and Paradoxes

five miniatures for piano solo (2009) '9

Hot Hands

suite for piano solo (2008) '12

In four movements, loosely connected to each other thematically, an attempt is made to explore the different sonorities and the different expressive approaches to the instrument. The concise opening Prelude presents the piece’s main thematic material: two motifs of three-note each. The first Aria, In Memoriam Claude Vivier, is a tribute to the late Canadian composer. Slow and meditative, a repeated E note is the base for all ideas and sound spectrums. The following short Toccata returns to the percussive approach of the Prelude. The mechanical rhythmic vitality and the prepared piano make the instrument resemble a harpsichord. The second concluding Aria is freely based on the Prelude materials. An extensive solo cadenza for the right hand is divided into five continuous variations. A final section comes back to the meditative mode of the first Aria, quietly concluding the whole piece.

...for piano

four movements for piano solo (2006) '18

first performance: Ravinia Festival, July 2006, Matan Porat

Images

three pieces for piano solo (2002) '13

first performance: Paris, July 2002, Juliana Steinbach

Variations

for piano solo (2000) '8

first performance: Tel-Hai International masterclasses, Matan Porat