Song of Ourselves for violin, cello, and piano was written to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the University at Albany’s College of Arts and Sciences. The work consists of five contrasting, self-contained but interrelated movements inspired by the poetry of Leonard A. Slade, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies at the University at Albany.

A brief, fanfare-like opening movement for solo piano introduces the motivic and rhythmic material heard throughout the work. The second movement (The Educator) makes use of the ancient Greek Seikilos Epitaph – one of the oldest western melodies dating to the year 200 B.C. A scherzo like movement (If, Addendum) follows, featuring a lively repartee among the ensemble members eventually giving way to a stylized version of the negro spiritual By an’ By. A mournful, somber solo cello peroration serves as fourth movement (Elegy). The final movement (Song of Ourselves) recasts materials previously heard throughout the work concluding with a quotation of the University at Albany’s alma mater – the melody composed in the 1920’s by A. W. Lansing.

Lifchitz’s Yellow Ribbons consist of a series of works written in homage of the former American hostages in Iran. These compositions represent a personal way of celebrating the artistic and political freedom so often taken for granted in the West. The tragic events that occurred on September 11, 2011, in New York City convinced the composer that returning to work on this series begun in the early 1980’s was both appropriate and worthwhile.

Yellow Ribbons No. 51 for violin and piano was written with great urgency and in a flurry of activity as news of the tragedy that befell Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016, saturated the news media. In response to what at that time was considered the deadliest mass shooting in US history, Pulse – the name of the night club where the misfortune unfolded – might be an appropriate subtitle for the piece.

The ear-piercing piano gesture that launches the work is immediately followed by a ghostly violin pizzicato passage. An array of paraphrases on the opening harmonic and melodic materials ensues. Ranging from the lyrical to the arrestingly dramatic, the constant transformations of the opening materials build gradually piloting the music to a moment of extreme tension. At this climactic moment the two instrumentalists branch out and start moving at their own speed or tempo while recapping the most salient gestures heard previously. As the tension subsides, a quiet passage based on the opening ethereal pizzicato melody brings the work to its serene closing.

The musical discourse of Yellow Ribbons No. 46 for cello and piano, is built around the timbrical and registral qualities available in the solo instrument. Subtitled Song Without Words – its opening features a lyrical melody accompanied by a rhythmically throbbing keyboard ostinato. A dramatic middle section ensues giving way to a virtuosic cello cadenza. The closing section of the work recalls the opening lines while exploring the contrasting high and low registers of the featured instruments.

Beethoven’s Moods for violin, cello, and piano, was written to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday. The title of the composition alludes to the notorious and unpredictable temper outbursts endured by contemporaries of one of the greatest musical figures of all time.

Hopefully, listeners will be pleasantly surprised discovering the striking and innovative outcomes that result from the “sampling” of vintage Beethoven’s themes when mingled with newly minted musical gestures.

Melodic and harmonic materials derived from the Pathétique Sonata -- one of Beethoven’s most famous piano pieces published in 1798 – are easily recognizable in the chiaroscuro permeating the first movement. The brighter second movement features infusions of Afro-Caribbean rhythms into themes found in Beethoven’s First Symphony, the Piano Sonata Op. 31 No. 3, the Archduke Trio Op. 97, and the Piano Concerto Op. 19.

The third movement is an imaginary ZOOM session among Beethoven and American composers Charles Ives and Philip Glass. A quote from the “short-short-short-long” motive that opens the master’s Fifth Symphony appears throughout alongside fragments of The Alcotts movement of Ives’ Concord Sonata; an excerpt from the religious hymn Fairest Lord Jesus; and a “minimalist” reinterpretation of the first movement of the opening arpeggios of the Moonlight Sonata.

The refrain around which the fourth movement is built is based on the opening melody of the bagatelle Fur Elise. Shadowing the Rondo (A-B-A-C-A) design of Beethoven’s enduring piano piece, the refrain is surrounded by contrasting episodes based on quotations from the first movement of the String Quartet Op. 18 No. 3, the C minor Piano Concerto, the Appassionata Sonata, the Ghost Trio, the Egmont Overture, the Kreutzer Sonata and the Cello Sonata Op. 69.