Category Archives: Chamber Works

Instrumental or concert works (non-musical) I have composed

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ED

Posted on July 12, 2020 by dannyashkenasi

My husband turns 61 today. Happy birthday, Ed! And just like every year for the past 27, I composed a viola piano duet for us to play. Each one is called an Evocation. This year’s birthday duet, Evocation XXVII, takes … Continue reading →

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TELL-TALE SOUNDS

Posted on November 9, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

The final ghastly Tell-Tale hint before I reveal all!   What is this about?  Click to watch the short video; now can you guess? Yes, we appear to be in a recording studio. What, is that three cellists on the … Continue reading →

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MOONLIGHT EVOCATION

Posted on July 12, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

    Moonlight Serenade – Glenn Miller and His Orchestra It’s my husband Ed’s birthday today.  And among his wrapped birthday presents he will find another viola piano duet, another Evocation.  We’ve been together 25 years, so this year it’s … Continue reading →

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ELEGANT PRIMITIVISM or ELEGIAC ENERGY – On the Conclusion of the Public Vote in the Carl Orff Competition

Posted on May 1, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

The public voting phase of the Carl Orff Competition concluded yesterday.  Now I guess the public ratings of the 115 entries are being weighted and tabulated to determine five finalists.  Five more finalists will be chosen by a select jury.  … Continue reading →

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STILLES ENTSETZEN – AWESTRUCK, AWFUL REGRET – One More Week of the Carl Orff Competition’s Public Voting

Posted on April 22, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

  “Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes” evokes the lead-up to Orpheus’ fateful turn to glance at Eurydice, the awestruck, awful regret at that moment and its terrible aftermath. “Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes” beginnt kurz vor den fatalen Rückblick Orpheus zur Eurydike, welches stilles … Continue reading →

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CARL ORFF COMPETITION – Let’s Hear it for the Underdogs

Posted on April 15, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

  Dear Danny, Your Orpheus,  Eurydike,  Hermes​ is a brilliant,  powerful piece,  spellbinding from its first note to the final silence,  tense,  tumultuous between,  each step possessed,  pauses as loud as the notes,  the whole astounding,  overwhelming.   Orpheus. Eurydike. … Continue reading →

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ORPHEUS. EURYDIKE. HERMES

Posted on March 15, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

My Entry in the Carl Orff Competition I composed a chamber work, a song in the tradition of the “Lieder” of the salon, called “Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes”. It describes the moment in Greek mythology when Orpheus, leading his wife Eurydice … Continue reading →

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HAIKU NEW YORK

Posted on January 31, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

    The sky is paper Bleeding upward from the edge There are ink towers   My brother will be There to meet me at the dock Has it been five years?   Now there are seagulls Wheeling and diving … Continue reading →

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Composing “Divertissement in the Snow”

Posted on December 10, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

“You should compose a piece for the family to play at Christmas”, my husband Ed said to me a few weeks ago (actually it was November 10, I have documented evidence, I’ll get to that later, not that it really … Continue reading →

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THE COW BELL CANTATA – and a Splatterrific Intermezzo

Posted on September 13, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

Wild Emperors, Coxcombs and Horny Mountains in Tirol Plus Heidi-centric Encores!   COW BELL CANTATA – CANTATA DA CAMPANA MUCCA registrato da maestro Daniello Ashkenasi 1. Movimento – Allegro con Forte Subito   Encountered some musical cows on the slopes … Continue reading →

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The Birthday Evocation Born in a Memorial Service

Posted on July 12, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

    It’s Ed’s birthday today.  Happy Birthday, Love.  And as is tradition now in our relationship, I will gift Ed another viola/piano duet I compose for the occasion, each one called “Evocation”.  This year my husband will receive Evocation … Continue reading →

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Oh Good Grief

Posted on April 2, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

My father is getting company. My mother told me today that my parents’ neighbor and friend Conrad has succumbed to the cancer he’d been battling for several years.  Last year he and his wife Ulrike were so taken by my father’s tree … Continue reading →

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MANHATTAN BRIDGE and Associates

Posted on February 25, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

A Grab Bag of Bridge Photos, Bridge Songs and Bridge Memories. Art Garfunkel lays himself down like a bridge: Bridge Memory #1 (Spies and Walls) Adele’s love ain’t water under the bridge:

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN with Notes from a Composer

Posted on October 29, 2016 by dannyashkenasi

As Halloween falls on a Monday this year, I think it makes sense to call this a long Halloween Weekend.  Much costumed celebrating and ghoulish goings-on will have already begun yesterday and continue through today and Sunday into the official … Continue reading →

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Take a Cool Musical Journey through the Spree Forest Canals during these Dog Days of Summer

Posted on July 21, 2016 by dannyashkenasi

Last July I posted a four part series on the Spreewald, or Spree Forest (one, two, three, four), the fabulous “rural Venice” an hour south of Berlin, Germany.  The series included an elaborate photo tour of the region, and music … Continue reading →

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The 23rd Evocation for Viola and Piano on the Occasion of Edward’s 57th Birthday.

Posted on July 12, 2016 by dannyashkenasi

  Today that handsome fellow pictured above, who also just happens to be my sainted husband, Edward Elder, turns 57.  And, as has become tradition in our 23 years plus together, one of the birthday presents he receives from me … Continue reading →

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