Birkat Haderekh – Blessing for the Road

Shulamit Ran

2015

Clarinet, violin, cello, piano

Birkat Haderekh – Hebrew for "Blessing for the Road" – begins its journey as a spacious, gently inflected solo clarinet melody, slowly unfolding as it gathers the other members of this clarinet quartet around itself, carving out a distinctive musical "space." Looking at this piece in its totality, the opening phrase is, at some level, emblematic of the entire piece, as this single-movement composition of approximately 8 minutes can be heard as one extended, gradually evolving melody. At around midpoint of the piece, though, where the clarinet assumes the solo line again, this melody takes something of a turn. With just a small melodic twist, the music takes on an imploring quality, almost in the spirit of an invocation, gradually increasing in urgency, thus becoming a form of prayer—its potential perhaps hinted at, but not necessarily self-evident, in the opening statement. In my own mind while composing the piece, and no longer just thinking in the strictly musical terms of the formation and development of sound shaped in time, the piece became, for all of its modest proportions, a parable of one of life's journeys. I found myself thinking of the array of conflicting emotions associated with preparing for a voyage, destination uncertain, of someone precious. Anticipation, anxiousness, longing, hope—all mingle together. Perhaps it is a mother praying for her child's well-being; a small, private ritual that cuts across time and place, speaking to our common humanity.

—Shulamit Ran