Performance Time: 4’30”
View performance video at: YouTube – My Resting Place

Premiered and performed by the Mile High Freedom Band in Denver, with Michael Drapkin performing the clarinet solos.

My Resting Place is a great piece for an intermediate band with an emerging solo clarinetist with whom you would like to feature.

Drapkin uses the Yiddish folk song My Resting Place, written by a European émigré who came to the “Golden Land” only to settle into the sweatshops of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Drapkin says, “This haunting melody, introduced by the solo clarinet, transforms until finally reaching a climax, only to be quietly restated at the conclusion by the solo clarinet al niente.”

Performance time: 2’30
View performance video at: YouTube – By the Fireside

Premiered and performed in Denver by the Colorado Wind Ensemble, David Kish, Artistic Director.

By the Fireside is a great addition to a December holiday concert or any program wanting to add a Jewish flavor to it. It is relatively short – a little over two minutes long, but a lovely arrangement that starts out with solo flute.

Drapkin based this short band work on the classic Yiddish song Oyfn Pripetchik, which creates a distinct soundscape. Drapkin points out, “As is not unusual in songs from this area and culture, it has elements of sadness in it.” The opening statement is performed in the upper winds only, with the other instruments introduced in the second theme.