Jan Freidlin - Reviews

Drawing from and inspired by the folk traditions of Russia, this showcase of Russian and Israeli music composed by Jan Freidlin is dramatically and beautifully showcased by classical guitarist, artist, and Argentine Tango dancer, Gregory Nisnevich. Especially highlighting the incredibly expressive voice of this instrument, unlike the majority of guitar albums that come by the dozen, "Letters from Arles" allows the instrument to truly speak: it whispers, it cries, it complains, it softly whimpers and it proudly proclaims, all with conviction and passion. With the genius of Freidlin's imagination and vision made real by the arresting command of Nisnevich's playing, this disc is no less than breathtaking. Harmonically, melodically, compositionally and conceptually, this music is a great step forward in challenging the old ideas of what's possible and idiomatic for the guitar.

From Amerita goes beyond Italian baroque
The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 14, 1997
by Daniel Webster, Inquirer Music Critic

"Nitzan Haroz gets miffed at the misperceptions about his instrument, 'People think it's always loud. . . Of course, I like the power I have, but I appreciate no less the softness. There's a kind of singing sexy Tommy Dorsey sound I love.'

That singing, sexy sound was in evidence Wednesday night at the Art Alliance, when Haroz, principal trombone of the Philadelphia Orchestra, gave the U.S. premiere of Jan Freidlin's Winter Ballad. Freidlin wrote the piece for Haroz, and the music certainly showed the composer's understanding of the trombonist's concerns.

Winter Ballad flows freely, providing a fetching pallete for the trombone's dynamic subtleties and softness. It contains spare tones and bluesy chords for the piano, and long yearning lines for the brass instrument, whose tones Haroz pitched freely while catching the melody's jazz-inflected meters."

Letters From Arles by Jan Freidlin (Editions Orphee. 7 pages)
Reviewed in Classical Guitar Magazine, August 1997
by Chris Dumigan

"Anyone, like myself, who thought that one of the highlights of the Russian Collection (Vol. 5) was the Strophes of Sappho by Freidlin will no doubt welcome this fascinating addition to his guitar works. The title refers to the Vincent Van Gogh letters although, as stated in the preface, this must not be taken too literally as a musical illustration of them but rather as a description of the underlying emotional current of the man and his work.

The work divides into six short movements, the first, an Allegro Animato, consisting largely of semi-quavers with a syncopated melody interweaving, and the second a Moderato Pittoresco with changes of metre and tempo and encompassing a number of contrasting ideas. The third, Andantino e molto rubato, begins dream-like in quavers with a middle section marked Presto Senza Metrum consisting of fragmented ideas separated by commas each of one second duration, and finishing with a brief reference to the initial idea, the last chord of which links directly into a Sostenuto Imporisazione. This begins with a slow mysterious section, countered by an allegretto with quaver quintuplets before returning to the first idea. The fifth is a hair-raisingly fast 5/8 interspersed with 7/8, marked Vivace e molto agitato, and lastly an Andante e molto rubato which begins calmly, reaching a huge climax preceding a Lento section and a short coda with a disturbing ending where the player slowly detunes the open sixth string.

This is an intriguing work, not too modern, needing a mature technique to do it full justice. It certainly succeeds in capturing the troubled mind of Van Gogh. Give it a try."

M.A.M.A.C.: harpe seule et harpe sœur...
Nice Matin, August 12, 1997
by André Peyregne

" Il y eut un beau moment dans le concert d' avant-hier donne au Musee d'art moderne par les sœurs harpiste et pianiste Helvia et Amédée Briggen: l'interprétation de l'Introduction et Allegro de Ravel.

Cette œuvre, dans laquelle la harpe est généralement accompagnée par un petit orchestre, et que la même Helvia Briggen, harpiste-soliste de l'orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, avait Brillamment jouée de cette namière ci dimanche dernier sur la scene de l'opera, scintilia hier dans l'interprétation à la harpe et au piano.

Au brio des artistes s'ajouta la complicite de leur duo. Sœurs en musique, sœurs dans la view! Il ne manquait plus qu une cheminée et un feu bois pour completer l'ima ge que l'on se fait de la musique de chambre en familie!

Pour ce qui est du reste du concert, on goûta davantage Debussy dans l'alternance du piano et de la harpe (c'est à dire dans les "Prèludes") que dans leur duo (à savoir dans les "Epigraphes"). On apprécia aussi trois "Visions" d'un moderne classicisme de Jean Freidlin, compositeur sibérien émigré en Israël.

l' œuvre en question était pour harpe solo. C'est ainsi que l'on applaudit ce soir-là les vertus de la harpe seule et de la harpe sœur."

Concerto for Cello, Vibraphone and Strings by Jan Freidlin
Performance Reviewed in The Jerusalem Post, January 31, 1995
by Ury Eppstein

"The Israel Philharmonic went Slavic in its Subscription Concert No. 4, conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, with works by Dvorak, Shostakovich and Jan Freidlin - a new immigrant who came from Russia five years ago.

Freidlin's Concerto for cello, vibraphone and strings (1994), in its world premiere, sounds unexpectedly Romantic. The cello sings lyrically most of the time, though in unpredictable melodic lines, while the strings provide a mostly soothing background.

Cellist Michael Haran rendered the solo part with devotion and a capacity to sing with his instrument. Ayal Rafiah played the vibraphone with noteworthy dexterity and sense of balance.

Rozhdestvensky held the IPO in a firm grip, making a veritable orchestral celebration out of Dvorak's rather stereotyped My Home Overture, in its first IPO performance, and of Shostakovich's boisterous Leningrad Symphony.

It would honor Shostakovich if the IPO forgot that he ever wrote this inflated made-to-order showpiece."