The Pain Will Find Us (piano, violin)

Commissioned by violinist Lara St. John, The Pain Will Find Us (Dui Dui) is a transcription and arrangement of a Greek folk tune from the Vasilis Paiteris recording Song of Greece's Gypsies. St. John sent me a selection of folk tunes from which to choose and base two new works on. I chose o ilios (the sun), a tsamikos dance from Roumeli (the colloquial name for the central region of Greece), and dui dui (two two), which I renamed My Love Awakes and The Pain Will Find Us, respectively.

I first met Lara in 2011 in Queenstown during the Michael Hill Violin Competition. I'd written that year's solo violin text piece (Gyftiko), and Lara was on the jury. We got on instantly; my family and I subsequently stayed in Lara's New York apartment (although we never quite made it to that inner circle of trust that included looking after Iggy Cane - Lara's iguana).

Lara is an incredible musician, a phenomenal violinist. There are so many examples online - take a look at her Tiny Desk performance. Lara also has a long career as a record producer with her own label.

Some time after we met Lara planned a new album project that was eventually called Shiksa. This album features traditional folk tunes from the Jewish Diaspora, Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus and Middle East, reimagined by today’s composers. Jazz pianist Matt Herskowitz, proved a catalyst to her idea that some of these tunes might be well heard anew. This project includes songs from Armenia, Palestine, the Jewish Diaspora, Russia, Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, Romania, and Hungary. Some are fully written, some are partly improvised, but they all come from tunes that Lara has known and loved for years.

I was asked about transcribing and arranging this song, and The Pain Will Find Us (which made it onto the album).

I was quite literal in my transcriptions, wanting to also be faithful to the original artists. But after hearing what others did, I wish I'd embraced the role of Arranger as much as I did the Transcriber. It's a fantastic album, and Lara nails it.

Here's an incredibel endorsement: "No other classical player can play with this kind of real gypsy style, and while gypsy players' technique can dazzle, St. John's virtuosity is on a whole other planet entirely. Its as if she has managed what both classical and gypsy fiddlers both aspire to but can never totally achieve in their reach to the other side." Alicia Svigals, World's Foremost Living Klezmer Violinist

TRACK LIST

1. CZARDASHIAN RHAPSODY (6:07) Hungary/M. Kennedy
2. VARIAIUNI (“BAR FIGHT”) (3:22) Romania/L. St. John
3. ČOČEK (4:27) Macedonia/ M. Paranosic
4. NAFTULE SHPILT FAR DEM REBN (3:50) Yiddish/L. St. John
5. AH YA ZAYN (7:49) Palestine/J. Kameel Farah
6. MISIRLOURI (3:31) Jewish Diaspora/Y. Boguinia
7. SARI SIROUN YAR (4:30) Armenia/S. Kradjian
8. NAGILARA (7:57) Israel/M. Herskowitz
9. KOLO (3:09) Serbia/L. St. John
10. FIVE LADINO SONGS (6:51) Judeo-Spanish/D. Ludwig
11. OLTENIAN HORA (2:43) Romania/L. St. John
12. MOSCOW (5:11) Russia/G. Pritsker
13. THE PAIN WILL FIND US (5:04) Greece/J. Psathas
14. CA LA BREAZA (2:37) Romania/M. Atkinson

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Review

DAVID FLESHLER, SOUTH FLORIDA CLASSICAL REVIEW, MARCH 2013

Alternately dreamy and manic, with memorable melodies and stern technical demands on the performer, this could easily be an effective substitute on recital programs for the showpieces that have been played for 100 years.

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Resources

RESEARCHERS: EXPLORE THE PAIN WILL FIND US: DUI DUI (TWO TWO) VIOLIN AND PIANO AT THE ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY

PERFORMANCE MATERIALS