1492:
“…interesante uso de los silencios para que todo cree unaconversacion entre los instrumentos perfectamente bien balanceados.” – El Nuevo Dia
Akhmatova Songs:
“Judith Shatin’s powerful Akhmatova Songs are luminous settings of three poems by the iconic Russian poet. While handsomely contrasting in mood, all three songs boast crystalline text settings and an ear for darkly glittering instrumental sonorities. The arresting second song, All Is Plundered, speaks of how the void left by an unnamed catastrophe is filled by an improbable sense of hope. Shatin sets the text with gleaming vocal lines that soar high above a roiling cauldron of strings, woodwinds, and piano. Pamela Dellal was the excellent vocal soloist…Shatin’s work was a standout…” – The Boston Globe
Clave:
“Clave sounds like a deconstructed West Side Story, capturing the tropical heat and playfulness of the bomba beat” – The Kansas City Star
Dreamtigers:
“Judith Shatin has a strong musical personality, an assurance made firmer by this CD; it’s a major release.” – New Music Connoisseur
“There is an earthy, even primeval energy in such pieces as Stringing the Bow and The Passion of St. Cecilia that breaks from the shackles of formality. This music has both a savage roar and, as appropriate, a gentle purr…She seems to be at heart a storyteller.” – Fanfare
“Dreamtigers is like a conversation with someone smarter than you, on a subject about which you know little — but instead of making you feel dumb, it sparks your curiosity and your intellect.” – Splendidezine
“…these are far from simplistic pieces; even the lilting Gazebo Music, which tries its best to be a lighthearted affair, turns into a crashingly contrarian beast. More excellent work from one of America’s most underrated composers.” – The Orlando Weekly
“Two new CD’s of music by Judith Shatin…offer convincing proof that she is a leading figure among composers in this country….Her mastery of colorful and imaginative instrumentation and subtle compositional technique are evident.” – C-ville Review
Doxa:
“Two works by Judith Shatin, her L’étude du Coeur for Solo Viola (1984) and her Doxa for Viola and Piano (a world premiere; both are dedicated to Glyde) proved musically riveting and brilliantly devised for the instrument.” – The Strad
Gabriel’s Wing:
“Gabriel’s Wing, for flute and piano conveys a well-crafted sense of ecstatic climax… Meditatively this charmer does play.” – Fanfare
“Judith Shatin’s Gabriel’s Wing, for flute and piano (1989), likewise conveys in its nine minutes a well-crafted sense of ecstatic climax…Much of this program makes difficult demands, and I hear no tentativity, reach, or strain; a strong sense, rather, of Patricia Spencer’s skillful empathy. If it’s a rapturous mood you’re after. this well produced Neuma provides it in high-quality abundance.” – American Record Guide
“…The works by Shatin are more challenging technically, but are worth the extra effort for their unusual and attractive atmospheres. Gabriel’s Wing won the National Flute Association’s Published Music Competition in 1992. …Judith Shatin (b.1949) is an American composer and flautist familiar with the possibilities of the instrument in both traditional and extended techniques. She is known equally for her dramatic acoustic compositions and for her imaginative use of computer-generated sound. Gabriel’s Wing (1989) for flute and piano. In a tightly constructed piece, the angelic flute takes flight through the piano’s evocative medium. By clever use of pedalling, chords rich in overtones and other harmonic effects, the piano provides an exciting backdrop for the flute’s soaring phrases which are enhanced by singing with the flute tone.” – Pan, The Journal of the British Flute Society
“Judith Shatin is a highly accomplished composer, whose music deserves to be better known than it is. She is also a talented wind player and her familiarity with the flute makes her compositions for this instrument particularly effective. Three of her works appear on this disc. Gabriel’s Wing (1989) is a fairly short piece (9 mins) for flute and piano. It makes use of unusual flute-playing techniques to extend the instrument’s sonorities. Throughout, it is never anything less than lyrical.” – Stonegnome
Gazebo Music:
“Gazebo Music, Judith Shatin’s flute and cello piece composed for an open-air performance, effectively evokes a nature scene without resorting to blatant pastoral imitation.” – The Washington Post
Gregor’s Dream:
“Gregor’s Dream is a witty musical thriller that brings great reactions from the audience! As a performer, I love Shatin’s way of telling a story from the first note to the last in a dramatic and convincing way. The Atar Trio has performed it many times since we first commissioned it for our international tour and it now holds a major place in our repertoire.” – Ofer Shelley
Hearing The Call:
“….With the distinguished exception of Hearing the Call, a brief, effective fanfare in the form of double duet for two snare drums and two trumpets by Judith Shatin, this was an all-Beethoven program….” – The Washington Post
“….Judith Shatin’s two-minute Hearing the Call – smartly, crisply scored for two trumpets and two snare drums – is the eponymous work for this collection, and is the perfect ceremonial attention-getter. She follows this work up with Fantasìa sobre el Flamenco for two trumpets, two trombones, and tuba (1998), a clash of bright and dark melodies borne by regimented and free-flowing rhythms…. What performances! The brass players of St. Mary’s Brass are culled from St. Mary’s faculty members and Maryland/New Jersey/New York area musicians, who are all profiled individually in notes in the back of the program booklet. Brass enthusiasts everywhere: This is grand stuff, with sound and invention” – Fanfare
Ignoto Numine:
“The other recent piece here is Ignoto Numine, a fine 15-minute work by the intriguing Judith Shatin. The profusion of musical ideas is both engaging and splendidly controlled; and it gets a committed reading.” – San Francisco Chronicle
“Judith Shatin is Professor of Music at the University of Virginia. Her quarter-hour, single-movement work explores ‘the mystery of musical ideas’ by creating its own gloss on typically classical devices: a theme is clearly announced; development begins immediately, quickly fragmenting and transmuting it beyond recognition. At times the three instruments sound together as one organ-like mass; elsewhere they play as a trio and have solos. The direction is from simplicity to complexity, clarity to mysticism. Tension builds to a final coda where instruments can no longer contain it, and the players are forced to join in vocally. This is another intriguing piece, in another very personal idiom.” – Fanfare
“[Ignoto Numine]…The direction is from simplicity to complexity, clarity to mysticism . Tension builds to a final coda where instruments can no longer contain it, and the players are forced to join in vocally. This is another intriguing piece, in another very personal idiom.” – Fanfare
Ockeghem Variations:
“After the intermission, Ockeghem Variations received yet another excellent performance….The ensemble playing was both rock solid and quite beautiful. The variations – Lustrous, Ringing, Electric, Floating, and Resounding – were full of charm, jazzy exuberance, and moodiness….” – Artsfuse.org
“[Shatin’s] writing is accessible and sustains interest throughout. Her Ockeghem Variations is not really in variation form at all, but includes five self-contained movements titled “Lustrous,” “Ringing,” “Electric,” “Floating,” and “Resounding.” The work is based on the Kyrie from Ockeghem’s Missa prolationum, but I suspect that few purchasers of this disc will have that tune firmly implanted in their minds. This is the most distinctive work on the CD, and is an excellent choice to close the recital, as Shatin’s imaginative music will resonate in my mind for some time. I have no doubt that I will be coming back to it and the other works on this CD repeatedly, not only for the quality of the music, but for the outstanding performances that these pieces receive at the hands of the Hexagon Ensemble. Highly recommended for any lovers of adventurous tonal music.” – Fanfare
Study in Black:
“Study in Black is a well written composition for flute and percussion and would require two mature and musical players to perform it. It would be appropriate for either a college flute recital or a percussion recital. The publisher is to be commended on the printing of the work.” – Percussive Notes
Secret Ground:
“…Judith Shatin takes an evident delight in the textural possibilities of sound, and her Secret Ground played freely with techniques for flute, clarinet, cello and violin. But Shatin never used effects for their own sake. This was highly inventive music on every level: hugely enjoyable and deeply involving, with a constant sense of surprise.” – The Washington Post
Spring Tides:
“ The ensemble [Da Capo Chamber Players] closed the program with Judith Shatin’s Spring Tides (2009), a rich evocation of the power of nature, with technical effects (creating wind sounds by blowing almost tonelessly into a flute and clarinet) giving way to lush textures that blended instruments with their distant-sounding electronic echoes.” – The New York Times
Spin:
“Judith Shatin’s Spin is a slightly jazzy piece that is light on its feet…” – All Music
Teruah:
“…performer Ronald Schneider played the visually more spectacular impala hord, which only lent to the grandeur of Judith Shatin’s Teurah, a premiere commissioned by the festival and the Jewish Music Commission of Los Angeles. Similar to her fascinating chamber work, Elijah’s Chariot, … Shatin wonderfully used the other instruments in Teruah to extend the essence of the shofar.
…After an opening round of stout tekiah blasts…the brass played a dark, dissonant and gritty chord, infused with flutter tonguing, creating a musical metaphor for how the shofar has inspired worshippers during the High Holidays for centuries. A gorgeous Rosh Hashanah melody that emerged in the horns only drove that further, serving as the emotional response to the sound….Shatin…is a thoughtful and inventive composer who doesn’t write in an academic, rebarbative style. Her music pulls one in with artistic embrace. ” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Time to Burn:
“…nervous, bright and sharp…” – HaAretz
“…Written in 2006, Time to Burn speaks of holocausts, not just the one in Germany, but more recent ones that no one has succeeded in stopping. Shatin likens the ethnic and religious hatred of our own time to the Inquisition and the burning of witches. Her piece for oboe and percussion gives a moving description of 21st-century religious persecutions.” –Fanfare (Maria Nokin)
“The piece from which the disc takes its name, Time to Burn (2006), is far more overtly modernist. Scored for oboe and two percussionists, it is a visceral reaction to world events, including gholocausts and racism. The title refers back to the burnings of witches. The oboe part presents huge challenges (including multiphonics), magnificently overcome here by Aaron Hill, while the percussion element provides a terrifically exciting sense of momentum….” Fanfare (Colin Clarke)
Tower of the Eight Winds
“…Of Thursday’s two world premieres and Friday’s two D.C. ones, Judith Shatin’s Tower of the Eight Winds, in four movements for violin and piano, stood out for it’s acuity and engaging vivacity as music one would like to hear again…” – The Washington Post
Trace Elements
“… It’s a very fun 10 minutes, and the ensemble – especially percussionists Buchheim and Weisman – do an excellent job of making the concentrated energy of the piece heard and felt on the recording….” – Tempo
View from Mt. Nebo:
“…View from Mt. Nebo, whose fervor recalls Shostakovich with a carefully wrought tension that raised more than bow hairs.” – The Washington Post