Concert Music / Instrumental Pieces

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ACT III - Song 14 - A Prophet, Holy and Pure

Country Holiday (from Four Miniatures, 1972)
by Sergiu Shapira (b. 1931)

| The Israeli Contemporary Music Project

Sergiu Shapira: Country Holiday | Hagai Yodan, piano

Violin - Yael Shachar,
Music & Piano - Amit Poznansky.
© Sept. 2014 

Prelude, for Violin & Piano

After Joseph Smith, 38 years of age, was assassinated on June 27th, 1844, many saints blamed his wife, Emma, because she had written the letter that convinced him to go to Carthage where he was murdered just a few days after arriving. The attitude of the saints towards Emma was further exacerbated by Brigham Young who blamed Emma’s public stance against plural marriage for undermining Joseph as the Prophet of God, emboldening his enemies and animating them into action against him.  The effects of which culminated in the creation of the first break-a-away branch of the church in Nauvoo (“The True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” led by William Law, a former member of the First Presidency), the printing of the Nauvoo Expositor and Joseph’s murder. 

The chaos in Nauvoo, both in the months leading up to Joseph’s death and the immediate aftermath, has often caused me to ponder: what was it like and how did people maintain their testimonies?  There was so much noise, so many accusations, so much gossip and misinformation.  The truth was certainly hard to hear.

As I have studied the history of the restoration, one of the things that has become abundantly clear to me is this: Emma was a great woman, indeed an “Elect Lady” as the Lord called her (D&C 25:3 “thou art an elect lady, whom I have called”) and the First Lady of the Restoration.  I love what Joseph Smith wrote of Emma while he was in hiding in the summer of 1842: “Again she is here, even in the seventh trouble, undaunted, firm and unwavering, unchangeable, affectionate Emma.”  I believe my testimony of Emma Hale Smith as an integral part of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is as firm as my testimony of Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Restoration.

By the time Joseph left for Carthage on June 24th, 1844, Emma had given birth to 8 of Joseph’s children and was pregnant with the nineth.  Sadly, by 1844 she and Joseph had buried 5 of those children and one adopted child (Alvin, Thaddeus, Luisa, Joseph Murdock, Don Carlos and Thomas).  Knowing what we know of small children who die before the age of accountability, I look forward to one day meeting these elect souls.

As Emma and her remaining children watched Joseph leave for Carthage, I wonder what she must have felt. Having already lost so much, and knowing today what was about to transpire in her life, did she have a feeling of impending doom?

Enter the song, “I Should Have Said”.  In the show Emma sings just as Joseph leaves for Carthage.  She sings half to herself and half as a prayer to God.  She wonders if she should have said something else to Joseph.  Intermittently, the ensemble sings the names of her deceased children as they are on her mind.  Emma pleads with the Lord to not be left alone.   Eventually, she submits her will to the Lord’s will and the ensemble sing one final refrain adding Joseph to the list of family members she lost all too young.

Before Joseph left for Carthage, Emma requested that he give her a priesthood blessing.  Much was being demanded of him that last afternoon in Nauvoo.  Joseph suggested that she write the blessing herself and upon his return from Carthage, he would pronounce the blessing upon her.  The last sentence of that blessing was surely needed for the coming days:

"Finally, I desire that whatever may be my lot through life I may be enabled to acknowledge the hand of God in all things."

ACT III - Song 16 - I Should Have Said

Emma tries to get baptized.  Her Aunt and Uncle disrupt the service.  Joseph casts a devil out of Newel Knight. Joseph is arrested for disturbing the peace because he preached from the Book of Mormon.

Dancing With The Devil

Emma's Uncle, Nathaniel Lewis (and Methodist minister) tries to talk Emma out of associating herself with Joseph Smith.  Emma stands firm in her convictions.

The Cost of Faith

Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon & Piano - by Amit Poznansky
Trio - Mov. 3 - Tempestoso

Michal Beit Halachami - Clarinet,
Uzi Shalev - Bassoon,
Einat Fabrikant - Piano.

Recorded by Rafi Eshel at The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music studio, Tel Aviv, July 24th 2016.

Special thanks to Oren Lewin, Daphna & Josh Lewin.

Dedicated to Uzi Shalev, Michal Beit Halachmi and Einat Fabrikant.

3. Tempestoso [Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon & Piano]

Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon & Piano - by Amit Poznansky
Trio - Mov. 2 - Andante

Michal Beit Halachami - Clarinet,
Uzi Shalev - Bassoon,
Einat Fabrikant - Piano.

Recorded by Rafi Eshel at The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music studio, Tel Aviv, July 24th 2016.

Special thanks to Oren Lewin, Daphna & Josh Lewin.

Dedicated to Uzi Shalev, Michal Beit Halachmi and Einat Fabrikant.

2. Andante  [Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon & Piano]

Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon & Piano - by Amit Poznansky
Trio - Mov. 1 - Vivace con brio

Michal Beit Halachami - Clarinet,
Uzi Shalev - Bassoon,
Einat Fabrikant - Piano.

Recorded by Rafi Eshel at The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music studio, Tel Aviv, July 24th 2016.

Special thanks to Oren Lewin, Daphna & Josh Lewin.

Dedicated to Uzi Shalev, Michal Beit Halachmi and Einat Fabrikant.

1. Vivace con brio [Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon & Piano]

From the Album "Light and Dark" (HYM 103)

Light & Dark

Buy on iTunes

Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo, op. 118, no. 2 | Hagai Yodan, piano

Fantasia, for Two Harpsichords
by Amit Poznansky

Performed by:
Jochewed Schwarz & Emer Buckley

Recorded by Jonathan Ducasse at the Reinhard von Nagel studio, Paris, March, 2018.

4. Gigue  [Fantasia, for Two Harpsichords]

Counterclockwise - נגד סיבוב השעון | by Rami Levin (b. 1956)

* World Premiere Recording *

| The Israeli Contemporary Music Project

Rami Levin: Counterclockwise | Hagai Yodan, piano

Music and arrangement by Amit Poznansky
Performed by TAU Wind Band | Conductor - Uri Reisner
**********
“Footnote” Suite, comprises several of the main musical themes from the soundtrack Amit Poznansky composed for Joseph Cedar's film Footnote. The Suite has a neo-classical character and is built like a waltz, which undergoes many transformations throughout it. The music reflects the main characters in the film and their contrasting forces: the strictness and seriousness of Eliezer, the father, against the tenderness and forgiveness of Uriel, the son. Yet, each one has a hint of the other. These two forces collide, at times, but they create a beautiful harmonic musical reflection of the complexity of the storyline.

The film won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay (2011), was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film (2012), and the soundtrack was chosen as Best Original Score (Feature Film) at the International Samobor Film Music Festival in Croatia (2013).
The original soundtrack was recorded by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Doron Salomon.

In 2017, the piece was performed by Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta, in the opening of their 82nd season, and in their USA and Canada tour.

The arrangement on this video, was specially commissioned by the TAU Wind Band, conducted by Uri Reisner, and premiered at the "Film Music Evening" concert at the Smolarsh Hall, Tel Aviv University, on January 2, 2020.

Footnote Suite by Amit Poznansky | TAU Wind Band / Uri Reisner, Cond.

Evening's Serenity (2020) שלוות ערב
by Rafi Kadishson (b. 1953)

* World Premiere Recording *

| The Israeli Contemporary Music Project

Rafi Kadishson: Evening's Serenity | Hagai Yodan, piano

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Amit

4. Gigue [Fantasia, for Two Harpsichords]

Amit Poznansky

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