About the creation

The work From My Diary was commissioned for the International Piano Masterclasses in honour of Ada Caspi, to be held in the summer of 2001 in Tel Hai. The work is in 5 parts, each one of which pertains to a personage, a work of art or an idea which has a special and personal meaning for me.

The Lost Pastorale (Claude Debussy) is based on a motif of a fifth impressionistic in character, but later on, a feeling of conflict between the pastoral mood and the more dramatic element enters and puts the pastoralism in doubt. A contrasting percussive element in the rhythm of a hora dance, characteristic of Israeli music in the period when village life was generally idealized, appears later in the piece.

Heroic Fiddling (on Paul Klee's painting of the same title) attempts to illustrate by means of the piano keyboard the bravura gesticulation characteristic of the violin. Monophonic lines and chords suited to the four strings of the violin are the major features of this part.

Night Song of the Flying Octopus (on a painting by Juan Miro) relates to my impressions of Miro's works which make the spectator feel he is watching a world of weird and enthralling creatures floating through the air. The feeling of time in this piece must be free, in fact this is the only piece written without defined time or meter. The figures found here are often of the rhythmic crescendo kind (similar to accelerando). This as well as other elements such as dynamics, frequent use of pedal and colorful registers are meant to contribute to a notion of free, floating sounds.

Sin Lieth at the Door concerns the character of Cain, who suffers the punishment and then commits his terrible crime. Cain, the frustrated man of the field, whose offering was rejected, is a tragic figure driven to murder by his jelousy of his brother in their contest to find favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Amen concerns the philosopher Martin Buber. Buber would probably call the loudest amen in the 20th century and the study of his writings is the brightest ray of light in the somber paths of human suffering. Even in the questioning which he presents to us from time to time, he is forever seeking out the positive and the acceptance which I translate into the D major chord which ends this part and concludes the entire work.