In Her Words
This album is a breakthrough for me: it is all electronic, and it is all dance music.
In recent years, I have turned increasingly to electronic music composition as a rich source of experimentation, of new sonorities – and of total control. Or something like that. The result is an eclectic combination of vernacular and classical influences: I refer, in equal parts, to the Bulgarian and Hungarian folk songs of my childhood; to the historically hallowed Western genres of my education; and to the American popular music of my adulthood.
Above all, I search for glimmers of joy and beauty, even in situations (like our current predicament) that are often desperate and ugly.
This recording showcases four results of a four year collaboration with choreographer Ariel Grossman, the founder and director of the all female Ariel Rivka Dance company. Our work together has been steady, fruitful and happy. Ariel constantly asks me to traverse slightly unfamiliar terrain, and the results are eye-opening and refreshing.
The four pieces are diverse in sound, outlook,orientation. But they are unified in theme: they all confront the difficulties faced by women everywhere, of all backgrounds, of all stations in life -themes that live close to my heart.
For a composer used to taking center stage, writing for dance can be a little daunting. The music needs to be infectious, inspiring, rhythmically vibrant, physically compelling. But it also needs to recede slightly into the background to allow the dancing to shine, to engage our full attention. It’s not an easy balance. It’s not an easy dance, one might say.
