Includes unlimited streaming of Composing Israel: The First Three Generations
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Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Off Piano was composed for Michal Tal, whose 1984 Jerusalem premiere was aired live by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority. This is the first commercially released live recording. Shapira wrote: “In this piece, I tried to find a new piano sound—restrained, hermit-like, obsessive, anti-virtuoso, and above all a piano piece in which the pianist is deeply involved in—in brief: off piano.” A more recent performance by Michal Tal is included in the ICL/IMC Psanterin anthology.
Arie Shapira (1943-2015) was born at Kibbutz Afikim in the Jordan Valley. In 1947, his family moved to Petach Tikva, where he received his first piano lessons. After initially studying philosophy, Shapira studied composition at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv with Abel Ehrlich, Oedoen Partos, Mordecai Seter, and Yitzhak Sadai. He received the 1986 Prime Minister’s Prize, the Israel Prize in 1994, and the ACUM Prize in 2012. Shapira was only the second composer (after Steve Reich) to be welcomed by the Royal Academy in The Hague as its honored guest for a week of concerts and other events; (Noam Ben-Zeev in Haaretz, November 28, 2005). He composed symphonic and chamber works, electronic music, opera, and music for theater, and was a Lecturer in the Department of Music at Haifa University.
