Wanderlust

Oseh shalom bimromav,
hu yaaseh shalom aleinu,
v’al kol Yisrael, v’al kol yoshvei teiveil,
v’imru. Amen.

May the One who makes peace in the high heavens make peace for us, for all Israel and all who inhabit the earth. Amen.

flowers of fire - Epilogue

Celestial Symphony takes as its primary inspiration two things I love dearly: the music of Beethoven and the mystery and beauty of the cosmos. Though seemingly two very different things, I find that they share quite a bit in common. The connection is most apparent in the Ode to Joy of Beethoven's 9th symphony with the word sternenzelt, which roughly translates to "star-tent" or "starry canopy." In the Ode to Joy, the text and music evokes a sense of spiritual wonder referring to the benevolent heavenly being who dwells above such an expanse. I experienced a sternenzelt first hand in the Colorado Rocky Mountains of Colorado in summer 2016. The beauty and profundity of this moment was the impetus for composing this symphony.

The journey of Celestial Symphony is that from the purely scientific and observational view of the cosmos from Earth to a more spiritual and mystical one. Sternenzelt, the final movement, revisits music from the previous movements while introducing new material of its own, and in a true Beethovenian sense, ascends from death and despair to light and hope. Episodic in nature, a dramatic introduction gives way to a jagged Danse Macabre, distinguished by multiple rhapsodic concertmaster solos. Death does not have the final word in this symphony however, and the uplifting end of the symphony evokes the visual and emotional experience gazing into a starry expanse — a sternenzelt. Wondrous.... celestial... mysterious.... existential... eternal.

Celestial Symphony: 3. sternenzelt (excerpt)

“Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.”

Rear-view is based on this perplexing sentence fragment commonly found on the rear-view mirror of one’s car. A series of musical ideas (objects) are presented in the following sequence: a chord progression, a melody, and an accompaniment. Then, in mirror, these objects are turned around and played backward, albeit slightly truncated. We get a closer look at these objects as they are developed in various ways, and finally at the end of the piece, they appear simultaneously in a rousing conclusion. On a more personal level, this same idea is reflected in my memories of old road trips, which conjure feelings of fondness but also nostalgia. Each road trip is filled with a series of memories that morph over time and together form the entirety of a grand adventure.

Rear-view (excerpt)

This piece is dedicated to my nana, Linda Blum, in memory of my papa, Manfred Blum, who passed away in the summer of 2021. At a young age, Papa Fred was forced to flee Nazi Germany with his mother and brother to meet his father in America, who preceded them to help make the arduous trip across the Atlantic Ocean possible. Though he lost most of his extended family in the Holocaust and never returned to Germany, Papa Fred was one of many displaced Jews who worked hard in the United States to create a successful and fulfilling life.

The title of the piece, Nifrach, translates from Hebrew to “we will blossom.” The metaphor of a flower in bloom serves as an important concept for the work. Musically a delicate opening gesture played by a single violin germinates over time into lush textures and emotional landscapes incorporating the entire string orchestra. On a more personal level, my grandparents surname—Blum—is Ashkenazi German-Yiddish for “flower.” I feel his story is but one example of the perseverance and resolve of the Jewish people, who have overcome many tribulations and have cultivated and blossomed wherever they found themselves in the world. This piece honors those who have planted the seeds that future generations will grow.

Nifrach (excerpt)

Ruach (and Other Delights) was composed during the spring and summer months of 2020. In an attempt to find some light amidst all of the darkness in the world, I began reading Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights, a series of essayettes in which he poetically documented one thing that delighted him every day for an entire year. Moved by this idea, as well as the essays themselves, I decided to document some of the things that delighted me during my quarantine in Dallas, TX with my girlfriend (now wife!) Emily Levin and our two dogs Charlie and JoJo.

The piece consists of a series of 12 short musical episodes or miniatures played without pause, always connected by or derived from the large 12 note chord that unfolds at the beginning of the work. I chose the Hebrew word Ruach (spirit/breath/wind) because to me it expresses an omnipresent force that is the source of and activates the twelve delightful episodes, uniting them throughout the work. The general form is that of an arch: Slow - Fast - Slow - Fast - Slow, but more specifically the titles of each of the connected miniatures that appear in the score are as follows:

Fairy Lights (m. 16)
Fairy Lights of a Different Color (m. 30)
The Blue Bar (m. 36)
Paws (m. 74)
Lift off from 72258 (m. 117)
More Paws (m. 144)
Final Descent into 75203 (m. 159)
Whipple Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight (m. 192) 
Zooming (m. 230)
Microburst (m. 301)
Midnight Walks (m. 321)
New Beginnings (m. 337)

I will be the first to admit that I often find myself losing faith, and more generally, I sometimes tend to see the negatives rather than the positives, especially in this troubling age. However, it is in the darkest of times that we must not forget all of the little delights in life. Perhaps a higher power is somehow guiding each of us down our own paths toward these special people, places, and things, and it is my sincere hope that the music inspires, you, the listener, to ponder this great mystery.

Season Finale

Ruach (and Other Delights)

These 7 Character Pieces were composed for Edoardo Turbil in the
summer of 2018. After composing Resonant Bells, a dark and brooding work for large orchestra, I wanted to write something that was entirely the opposite — something light and optimistic. I took inspiration in capturing the personalities of my colleagues in the DMA program at Juilliard. Each piece is dedicated to one of my friends, including the last piece which is dedicated to Edoardo himself.
The pieces try to capture the essence of the person, or in some cases, focus on incorporating music they enjoy writing or playing. All of the pieces are individualistic and could be played in any order or subset, provided that the Pezzo Capriccioso is performed last as it is the only piece that recycles material from some of the other pieces.

7 Character Pieces - 7. Pezzo Capriccioso

7 Character Pieces - 6. Willpower

7 Character Pieces - 5. Prelude And Fugue

7 Character Pieces - 4. A Song Without Words

7 Character Pieces - 3. Mahleriana

7 Character Pieces - 2. Toccatina

7 Character Pieces - 1. InterStellar

Growing up with a two younger siblings, there were often disagreements over silly things. Eventually my mother would have to break up the fights, and when one of us would blame the other she would always say the same thing: “It’s never just one person’s fault. It takes two to tango.” I know she didn’t invent this saying, but it’s always stuck with me. It allows me to have some perspective and understanding when I'm disagreeing with someone else.

The piece is structured in five continuous sections:
	Soliloquy 1 — Soliloquy 2 — Tension — Quarrel — Reconciliation 

Soliloquy 1 presents the first character, who asserts their presence with a fiery and passionate solo. This is followed by Soliloquy 2, presenting a contrasting character. This character is more introverted and calm. The second solo spirals suddenly into the Tension section when both characters finally play together, and thus, come into conflict with one another. This brief section accelerates little by little and launches into the fourth section: Quarrel, where the music has an angry and violent quality. At the breaking point, the music takes an ironic turn and fulfills the title of the piece by actually morphing into a tango. After this, the second character's dreamlike lyrical theme finally asserts itself and the music moves into the final section: Reconciliation. At the very end of the piece, the two character’s timidly accept each other by playing each others musical themes, and the piece comes to a pensive, yet hopeful conclusion. 

The piece was composed for, dedicated to, and played beautifully by Chelsea Starbuck Smith and Clare Elena Semes of Les Deux Violins.



It Takes Two...

While nearing completion of Toward a Brilliant Light I came upon this quotation of Leonard Bernstein that seemed to say everything that needed to be said:
"We must never forget that music is movement, always going somewhere, shifting and changing, and flowing, from one note to another; and that movement can tell us more about the way we feel than a million words can.”
The original goal was to write a piece that started in a very static place and ended in a very lively one. Subconsciously however, the music I was writing was also taking on a more emotionally charged role than originally planned. As the music changes it seems to move from a very dark place emotionally to a very light place.
To me, the title does not refer to anything specific. The ‘brilliant light,’ so to speak, functions as a metaphor to the gratifying emotional place that the music strives towards. At the same time, the ending of the piece undoubtedly has a definite luster about it which certainly could be taken more literally.

Performed by the Atlantic Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, July 2016.

Toward A Brilliant Light

Performed by Hannah Ji and Robert Fleitz

This piece is my journey into the world of the American Violin Sonata. It stems very much from tradition (i.e. the movement titles: Double Variations, Scherzo, Aria, Finale) but like many American composers who followed a traditional approach, the music also has contemporary characteristics. It fits within the mold of the 19th century sonata, but it contains the gestural qualities and expansive sound-worlds that embody much of 20th and 21st century American music. The piece expresses a feeling of optimism, which I also perceive to be a very American ideal.
I. The Double Variations are an ode to composers like Aaron Copland, Robert Beaser, Steven Stucky, and many other American composers who made use of variation form. The sound world is different though... much more restrained and introspective. The construction of this movement predicts the form of the rest of the piece, and thus functions as a prelude of sorts.
II. The Scherzo is the most neoclassical of the movements, and is an homage to the mid 20th century composers Walter Piston and William Schuman. It gives off an aura of being clearly rooted in tradition but “on the wrong notes.”
III. The main melody of the Aria is derived from the opening theme of Robert Beaser’s Violin Sonata; the pitches are different but the shape of the line is very similar. The agitated middle section is an ode to one of my favorite American composers, John Williams, in it’s soaring nature. By the end, this movement brings us out of the ambiguity of the first two movements into a place of quiet contentment.
IV. The Finale continues the positivity of the Aria and the introspective quality of the first movement is transformed into a jubilant and triumphant conclusion.

Violin Sonata No. 2: 1. Double Variations

1. Seethe
2. Breathe

Responses was written for cellist Ariana Nelson and was completed in mid November 2016. Two starkly contrasting movements present different responses to the same raw musical material.

	The first movement, Seethe, molds the material into savage running 16th notes in the cello. Mixed in with these more violent passages are moments of high register tremolando effects alternating with low register pizzicato glissandi, which offer an eerie counterpart to the opening gesture. The middle of the first movement contains the only respite, which foreshadows the more expansive sound-world of the second movement, entitled Breathe.

	This movement takes this same musical material as the first and transforms it into an aimless and ambiguous running 8th note line in the piano. As a listener, this line is difficult to follow or trace, but as we get lost in it, it becomes oddly comforting. 

	Personally, this piece was my response to the build up to the 2016 Presidential election. The music is filled with harmonic and rhythmic tension that reflected the looming anxiety I was experiencing during the weeks prior.

Responses: II. Breathe

Responses: I. Seethe

Something Borrowed (Emily Levin)

...comes the light

Premiered February 28, 2019 
Juilliard Orchestra
Kathleen O'Mara, soprano
Jeffery Milarsky, conductor

Program Notes:

Flowers of Fire uses Amy Lowell’s poem to capture the devastation of loss in all its forms—not just of life, but also of treasured family heirlooms, artistic dreams, and childhood innocence and safety. As the listeners and performers grapple with these manifestations of loss, the bass drum mercilessly bombards our ears, just as it did at the original reading.

While this piece commemorates the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War I, it also sheds light on our inability to learn from the past. In light of recent events, in particular the massacre at the Tree of
Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, I chose the Jewish prayer Oseh Shalom to close the work. 100 years later, we are still dealing with horrific acts of violence in our time and our world. This prayer’s eternal plea for peace is a message that I hope will resonate with all who listen.

Texts:

Excerpts from The Bombardment by Amy Lowell (1874 -1925)

Slowly, without force, the rain drops into the city. It stops a moment on the carved head of Saint John, then slides on again, slipping and trickling over his stone cloak. It splashes from the lead conduit of a gargoyle, and falls from it in turmoil on the stones in the Cathedral square. Where are the people, and why does the fretted steeple sweep about in the sky? (Boom!*) Silence. Ripples and mutters. (Boom!)

The room is damp, but warm. The lusters of the chandelier are bright, and clusters of rubies leap in the bohemian glasses on the `etagere'. Her hands are restless, but the white masses of her hair are quite still. (Boom!) The vibration shatters a glass on the `etagere'. It lies there, formless and glowing, with all its crimson gleams flowing red. A thin bell-note pricks through the silence. A door creaks. The old lady speaks: "Victor, clear away that broken glass. One hundred years ago my father brought it —“ (Boom!) The room shakes. Another goblet shivers and breaks. (Boom!)

It rustles at the window-pane, the smooth, streaming rain. Inside is his candle, his table, his ink, his pen, and his dreams. He is thinking, and the walls are pierced with beams of sunshine. A fountain tosses itself up at the blue sky, and through the spattered water in the basin he can see copper carp, lazily floating among cold leaves. A wind-harp in a cedar-tree grieves and whispers, and words blow into his brain, bubbled, iridescent, shooting up like flowers of fire, higher and higher. (Boom!) The flame-flowers snap on their slender stems. The fountain rears up in long broken spears of disheveled water and flattens into the earth. And there is only the room, the table, the candle, and the sliding rain. (Boom!)

A child wakes and is afraid, and weeps in the darkness. "Mother, where are you?” The child screams at the yellow petalled flower flickering at the window. The little red lips of flame creep along the ceiling beams. (Boom!)

The Cathedral is a torch, and the houses next to it begin to scorch. (Boom!) The bohemian glass on the `etagere' is no longer there. (Boom!)

The poet rushes into the street, and the rain wraps him in a sheet of silver. The city burns. Quivering, spearing, thrusting, lapping, streaming, run the flames. Now the streets are swarming with people. They seek shelter and crowd into the cellars. They shout and call, and over all, slowly and without force, the rain drops into the city. (Boom!) And the steeple crashes down among the people. (Boom!) The water rushes along the gutters. The fire roars and mutters. (Boom!)

Oseh shalom bimromav, Hu yaaseh shalom aleinu, v’al kol Yisrael, v’al kol yoshvei teveil. V’imru: Amen

He Who makes peace in His heights, may He make peace upon us, upon Israel, and upon all who dwell on earth. Now say: Amen

flowers Of fire

Still, moving consists of a set of 8 variations based on a short, monophonic “theme” constructed out of increasing intervals. Each variation corresponds to its numerical interval — for example, Variation 3 is built primarily on the interval of a 3rd. The variations also differ in length. Some are very short, while others, like the 5th and 6th variations, are much longer and function more like larger sections or movements within the piece.
The title refers to things that are either man-made or occur in nature that appear to be “still” (stationary, solid, or static) but are actually constantly moving. Each variation is titled after a specific occurrence, and while some are literal and pictorial, others are more philosophical. Musically, this premise is embodied by the roles of the two instruments. The piano remains fairly “still,” in that it adheres not deviate relatively closely to the theme, while the cello embellishes and introduces new content throughout the piece.
The variations along with their time code in the recording are as followed: 
1. Moving (O:35)
2. Clouds (1:03)
3. Tides (1:25)
4. Waterfalls (2:49)
5. Skylines (3:16)
6. Love (5:07)
7. In Orbit (8:41)
8. Still (9:02)
Still, moving was composed for Julian Schwarz and Marika Bournaki and was premiered by the duo on August 30, 2019 at Bargemusic.

still, moving

Jonathan Cziner (b. 1991) is an American composer based in New York City. His music combines colorful harmony and texture with nostalgic lyricism, creating a sound-world that ranges from dark and mysterious to vibrant. Drawing on a wide variety of inspirations, Jonathan’s writing engages the senses and the emotions, fully immersing listeners in the musical experience.  

A 2018 Charles Ives Scholarship recipient from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Jonathan's works have been performed in the United States and Europe by ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and New Juilliard Ensemble.  Recent commissions include Once New for the Lyric Chamber Music Society, Fantasy Chorale for the American Guild of Organists, and Nebulous for the Dallas Harp Quartet, with performances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, and (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City.

His orchestral work Resonant Bells, premiered by David Robertson and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, was awarded the William Schuman Prize for most outstanding score at the BMI Student Composer Awards as well as the 2018 Palmer Dixon Prize, awarded to the most outstanding work composed at the Juilliard School. The piece was then selected by the Minnesota Orchestra for performance at the 2018-2019 Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute with Maestro Osmo Vänskä. Cziner’s most recent orchestral piece, flowers of fire, was written to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the World War I armistice and was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra with soprano Kathleen O’Mara and Maestro Jeffery Milarsky in February 2019.

Jonathan is currently the associate artistic director of the Charles Ives Concert Series, which focuses its programming on the music of Ives, as well as other past and present American composers. He served for two years as co-artistic director of Dynamic Music Festival, an annual concert series dedicated to premiering works of student composers attending universities in the New York City area. Equally dedicated to film scoring, he has worked with writer/director Nora Unkel on her 2015 film The Goblin Song, and has most recently scored her first feature film, A Nightmare Wakes in 2019. 

Cziner began formal composition training upon his acceptance to New York University, where he received a Bachelor of Music degree studying with Justin Dello Joio. He completed his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert Beaser, and is in the midst of his studies in Juilliard’s prestigious C.V. Starr doctoral program.

Jonathan Cziner

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