About the creation

The Semitic Suite is one of the original works of the East Mediterranean Style in Israeli art music. Boskovich distilled this style after a period of intensive research, and wrote the Semitic Suite's core versions for orchestra and for piano solo in 1945/6. During the 1950s, he added the versions for two pianos (1954) and piano four-hands (1957) and revised the first two versions (1958/9) These revisions include changes in the number of movements, phrase structure, texture and rhythmic patterns, while retaining the work's specific style and character. The eastern sonorities of this music arise from a mixture of different modes and maqam patterns, often sharing a common tonal center; short melodic patterns recurring in variations; the predominance of seconds, fourths, fifths and sevenths; the enrichment of the texture with bourdons, chromatic alterations, ornamented heterophony and unisono patterns; sharp rhythms and phrases in alternating metres; a colorful palette of staccato touches; from pizzicato to a stormy marcato; which evoke the sound world of oriental plucked instrument like the oud, qanun and santour accompanied by the darbouka drum; and melodic patterns reminiscent of the zourna (oriental shepherd flute). The work's soundscape, as defined by the composer, allows for copious use of the pedal. Boskovich felt that Mid-Eastern music has a spacious quality, evocative of the vast expanses of the desert. This out-of-doors character, comparable to the sonorities of the Indonesian Gamelan orchestra, inspires the listener with a cosmic feeling of illuminated transparency, imbued with optimism. The work consists of the following movements: 1. Prelude; Toccata - in the style of a taqsim; an improvised piece, prelude or interlude in Arab music; 2. Meditation; lyric and poetic in character; this movement is included in the orchestral and piano-solo versions only; 3. Amamiyah; a folk-style dance; 4. Nofiyah; a pastoral 5. Toccatina; this movement is included in the orchestral, piano-solo and two-pianos version; 6. Hodaya (Praise); a festive and jubilant rondo. Miriam Boskovich