Vocalise
For Violin (or Viola, or Cello) and Piano
A Single Movement work
Duration: 6′
Arrangements are available for Flute and Piano, Oboe and Piano, Clarinet and Piano, Marimba and Piano or Theremin and Piano.
Premiere: Helena Winkelman
Publisher: Rassel Editions, NY
Lasser’s Vocalise is performed around the world by hundreds of musicians in over a dozen transcriptions and has been recorded multiple times by such artists as Frank Almond and Giora Schmidt.
Lasser writes: “I wrote my Vocalise, inspired by the mournful eponymous work by Rachmaninov. Just as in his work, my Vocalise is not simply about a melody alone but rather the interplay between the melody and the counterpoint hidden beneath it in the harmonies of the piano. These lines which live in the sonorities of the piano, serve to light up different areas of the violin melody much like spotlights are used to illuminate a sculpture; one does not consciously acknowledge their existence, one notices only the beauty of the art work.”
Recordings:
Portraits and Elegies: Frank Almond, violin; Brian Zeger, piano Purchase Recording
Vocalise Giora Schmidt violin; Rohan De Silva, piano
Allegro Records END 1021Purchase the CDThe Golden Age; Emil Chudnovsky violin, Daniel Grimwood, piano
JB Records