MOHAMMED FAIROUZ NATIVE INFORMANT Sonata for Solo Violin
Mohammed Fairouz,born in 1985, is one of the most frequently commissioned, performed and recorded composers of his generation. Hailed by The New York Times as “an important new artistic voice” and by BBC World News as “one of the most talented composers of his generation,” Fairouz melds Middle-Eastern modes and Western structures to deeply expressive effect. His large-scale works, including four symphonies and an opera, engage major geopolitical and philosophical themes with persuasive craft and a marked seriousness of purpose. His solo and chamber music attains an “intoxicating intimacy,” according to New York’s WQXR. A truly cosmopolitan voice, Fairouz had a transatlantic upbringing. By his early teens, the Arab-American composer had traveled across five continents, immersing himself in the musical life of his surroundings. His catalog Photo: Samantha West encompasses virtually every genre, including opera, symphonies, ensemble works, chamber and solo pieces, choral settings, and electronic music. Prominent advocates of his instrumental music include the Borromeo String Quartet, The Imani Winds, violinist Rachel Barton Pine, and clarinetist David Krakauer; the Lydian String Quartet, The Knights Chamber Orchestra, Metropolis Ensemble, violinist James Buswell, and conductors Gunther Schuller, Mark Shapiro, Fawzi Haimor, and Yoon Jae Lee. He has been recognized as an “expert in vocal writing” by the New Yorker magazine and as a “post-millennial Schubert” by Gramophone Magazine. Among the singers that have performed his wealth of vocal music are Kate Lindsey, Sasha Cooke, D’Anna Fortunato, David Kravitz and Randall Scarlata. Fairouz’s music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, The Kennedy Center, and throughout the United States, the Middle East, Europe, and Australia. Mohammed Fairouz has been heard in interviews on nationally syndicated shows such as NPR’s All Things Considered and BBC/PRI’s The World, and has been profiled in Symphony Magazine, Strings Magazine, The American Music Center’s New Music Box, and the Houston Chronicle. He has also been featured on SiriusXM’s Symphony Hall channel, and reviewed in the New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, Gramophone Magazine, and many others. His music has been recorded on the Naxos, Bridge, EMI, Dorian Sono Luminus, Albany, GM/Living Archive, and GPR labels. Fairouz has received commissions from Musicians for Harmony, Northeastern University, Imani Winds, Cygnus Ensemble, Counter)induction, Alea III (Boston University), New York Cantori, Reach Out Kansas, Inc., Boston Back Bay Chorale, The Grinnell Singers, Alwan for the Arts, the University of Kansas Wind Ensemble, and the Foundation for Modern Music, and many others. The awards and honors that Fairouz has received for his work include the Tourjee Alumni Award from the New England Conservatory, which he received in 2008. He is also the recipient of the Malcolm Morse Memorial Award, the NEC Honors award and awards from the Merit Funds of the New England and Boston Conservatories. In 2008 he was honored with a national citation from the Embassy of the U.A.E. in Washington D.C. for outstanding achievement in artistry and scholarship. He has been invited to lecture and lead residencies across the country at institutions such as Columbia University, Brown University, Grinnell College, and Northeastern University (Boston). Fairouz’s teachers in composition included György Ligeti in Vienna as well as John Heiss, Gunther Schuller, Halim El-Dabh and Richard Danielpour with studies at the Curtis Institute and New England Conservatory. He has served on the faculty at Northeastern University in Boston as well as several summer festivals including SongFest and the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival at Juilliard. He lives in New York City.
Cover photograph: David Degner (www.incendiaryimage.com) Cover design: Ron Greenfield
The challenge for writing a big work for an instrument like the violin is partly due to the amazing baggage that comes with the instrument. Like the guitar, the violin holds an important position across genres and cultures. Native Informant is a five-movement response to a commission from Rachel Barton Pine. The first movement, Lyric Sketch, is an art song with secret lyrics. It begins with the violin playing an imitation of a piano intro and then the entrance of the “voice.” The “song” is complete with a vocal-like high note and ends with a short outro. Rounds, the second movement, is a vigorous Arabic round dance. This fast and flashy movement brings Arabic fiddling into the picture (the violin has a long history in Arabic folk-music). It is music of abandon. The third movement, For Egypt, begins with a descent from the heights of the violin’s range right down to the bottom. It is a lamentation of both intimate sadness and outright grief at the loss of civilian life in the 2011-12 Egyptian Revolution. The fourth movement is, by contrast, just plain fun. This Scherzo captures the retro spirit of New York’s cabaret music that is so dear to me. Although there are no explicit musical quotes in the movement, overtones of Porter, Gershwin and Blitzstein dominate much of the movement. Its cuteness offsets the tragedy of the third movement and prepares for the rebirth signified by the last movement. The finale, Lullaby of the Ex Soldat, is a tribute to the immense history contained within Rachel’s instrument. I was aware, while writing this piece, that I was writing for an instrument that jammed with Brahms and had a long history before that. We also discovered that while I was working on the Sonata, Rachel became pregnant. So the last movement is dedicated to her daughter Sylvia Michelle Pine, in celebration of birth and renewal. —Mohammed Fairouz
Commissioned by RBP Music LLC for Rachel Barton Pine
Native Informant is recorded on “Native Informant,” Naxos American Classics CD 8.559744, performed by Rachel Barton Pine. Duration: 25:00
Contents I. II. III. IV. V.
Lyric Sketch............................................ 2 Rounds .................................................... 4 For Egypt ................................................ 8 Scherzo ................................................. 10 Lullaby of the Ex Soldat ....................... 14
to Rachel Barton Pine
NATIVE INFORMANT Sonata for Solo Violin
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© Copyright 2013 by Songs of Peer, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.
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to Sylvia Michelle Pine in celebration of birth and renewal
V. Lullaby of the Ex Soldat Adagio flessibile (with breathing rubato), lonely
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