THE MUSIC OF SEYMOUR BARAB
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INSTRUMENTAL


ORCHESTRAL
SUITE ON ARMENIAN THEMES FOR STRING ORCHESTRA 
Seesaw Music Corp.
"...rich and melodic score..." — THE NEW YORK TIMES
CONCERTO GROSSO FOR STRING ORCHESTRA G. Schirmer
"...a graceful work that has older tendencies despite its newness. Mr. Barab's late Romantic harmonies, however, were not quite as reactionary as they appeared on the surface. They were, indeed, treated in some very 20th century ways—especially in the constant shiftings of meter and the complex crossing rhythms." 
— THE NEW YORK TIMES

CONCERTOS
CONCERTINO FOR ALTO SAXOPHONE AND STRINGS Seesaw

CONCERTINO FOR SAXOPHONE QUARTET AND STRINGS Seesaw

CONCERTINO FOR VIOLA AND STRINGS Seesaw

CONCERTO FOR ALTO SAXOPHONE AND WIND ENSEMBLE Seesaw 

CONCERTO FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA Seesaw

CONCERTO FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA IN A CLASSICAL MODE Seesaw 

CONCERTO GROSSO FOR STRING ORCHESTRA G. Schirmer
"...a graceful work that has older tendencies despite its newness. Mr. Barab's late Romantic harmonies, however, were not quite as reactionary as they appeared on the surface. They were, indeed, treated in some very 20th century ways—especially in the constant shiftings of meter and the complex crossing rhythms."— THE NEW YORK TIMES
DUO CONCERTANTE FOR TWO VIOLAS AND WOODWINDS Seesaw

CONCERTINO AND RIPIENO FOR TROMBONE ENSEMBLE Seesaw

DANCES FOR OBOE AND STRINGS Seesaw

MORE VARIATIONS ON TCHAIKOWSKY'S ROCOCO THEME FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA Seesaw

SMALL ENSEMBLES
ALLEGRI FOR CELLO AND PIANO ECS Music

DIVERTIMENTO FOR THREE RECORDERS AND STRINGED INSTRUMENT ECS Music

DUO FOR CELLO AND PIANO Seesaw 
"A Sprightly addition to the cello and piano repertory was given its premiere in Goodman Concert Hall on Wednesday night by the Clark-Schuldman Duo. Composed last year by Seymour Barab (a cellist himself), the piece is blandly labeled Duo for Cello and Piano but the music has a quirky individuality about it that sticks in the memory.
What impresses about Mr. Barab as a composer is that he seems to achieve his effects effortlessly. His idiom is essentially very conservative melodically and harmonically, but through little shifts of accent and emphasis he creates music that frequently gives the impression of being—engagingly—off balance or out of synch. This is music of high spirits and good will (with just a hint of devilishness thrown in).
" — Allen Hughes, THE NEW YORK  TIMES 1/26/81

DUO FOR FLUTE AND MARIMBA Seesaw 

DUO FOR FLUTE AND PIANO Seesaw

DUO FOR STRING QUARTETS Seesaw

DUO FOR VIOLA AND CELLO Seesaw

DUO FOR VIOLA AND HARP Seesaw

DUO FOR VIOLA AND PIANO Seesaw
Recorded by Zoe Records

DUO FOR VIOLA AND PIANO II Seesaw

DUO FOR VIOLA AND PIANO III Seesaw

DUO FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO Seesaw
"Seymour Barab's new "Duo" referred constantly to old ways of hearing harmony, but its playful shifts in phrase length, its militant repetitive quality in the first movement and the more conciliatory Andante that followed made music that always grasped our interest." — THE NEW YORK TIMES
DUO FOR VIOLIN AND VIOLA Seesaw 

EIGHT VARIATIONS FOR CELLO AND PIANO Seesaw

LITTLE SUITE FOR THREE FLUTES Boosey and Hawkes

MOTO PERPETUI FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO Seesaw
Perpetual motions in sonata form


MINUTE WALZES FOR CELLO AND PIANO Seesaw

PARTITA FOR VIOLIN AND CELLO Seesaw 

"This well-made piece in five movements seemed an excellent example of his work."
— THE NEW YORK TIMES
PIANO TRIO Seesaw


PIANO TRIO II Seesaw

PIANO TRIO III Seesaw
"The piece was marvelous...spirited, captivating and refreshing. The composition is ambitious and it remains exciting from beginning to end."
—ROCKLAND COUNTY NEWS
QUARTET FOR Bb CLARINETS Boosey and Hawkes

QUINTET FOR FLUTE AND STRING QUARTET Seesaw

QUINTET FOR SOPRANO, SAXOPHONE AND STRING QUARTET Seesaw

QUINTET FOR WINDS AND PIANO Seesaw

SAXOPHONE QUARTET G. Schirmer.

SAXOPHONE QUARTET II Seesaw
"Barab employs rather nostalgic melodies and keeps everything comfortably tonal but below each melody the ensemble's other three voices weave around each other in exceptionally intricate patterns, with rhythmic complexities to match..." 
—ARIZONA DAILY STAR
SAXOPHONE QUARTET III Seesaw

SCHERZI FOR OBOE AND PIANO Seesaw

SEVEN DEADLY SINS FOR BRASS QUINTET Seesaw

SEXTET FOR PIANO AND WIND QUINTET Seesaw

SONATA FOR FLUTE AND HARP IN A CLASSICAL MODE Lyra Music Co.

SONATA FOR BASSOON AND PIANO Seesaw

SONATA FOR TWO CELLOS AND PIANO Seesaw

SONATINA FOR THREE FLUTES Boosey and Hawkes

STRING QUARTET Seesaw
"The second piece on the program was Barab's "String Quartet." The piece is playful, with a bouncing melody underlying slight dissonance. At times, the instruments appear to be competing for domination, sounding as one member of the audience commented, like a party where everybody is talking at once. The lovely melodies throughout created a light-hearted mood. The individual "voices" of the instruments blended into the whole and then moved out, to be heard as individual songs in a mild, though never unpleasant, cacophony. During the performance, the audience listened attentively, and responded at its end with thunderous applause, directed both to the performers and to Barab, standing at the rear of the auditorium.

During the intermission, Barab was warmly greeted by former neighbors. He lived in Yorktown until 1973, and his children attended Yorktown High School, where the concert was held. Since 1973, he has lived in New York City, in order to be closer to where he works.
 

The "String Quartet" was written three years ago and since then has been performed all over the world, particularly by the Composers String Quartet on their concert tours. Barab was very pleased at how the Quartet had played his composition, saying they had performed it exactly right.
 

Barab was the original cellist with the group, having founded it with Quartet members Matthew Raimondi and Anahid Ajemian. He commented that he left the group 10 years ago "just before they hit it big."
  

Barab commented that a musician can tell how interested people are in the performance by how much coughing he hears from the audience, and noted proudly that he had heard very little while his "String Quartet" was being played."
--NORTH COUNTRY NEWS, Westchester NY
STRING QUARTET II Seesaw

STRING TRIO Seesaw

SUITE FOR BASSOON AND STRING QUARTET Seesaw

SUITE FOR BASSOON AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR CELLO AND BASSOON Seesaw

SUITE FOR CELLO AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR CELLO QUARTET (FOUR CELLOS) Seesaw

SUITE FOR CLARINET, VIOLA AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR CLARINET, VIOLIN, CELLO AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR CLARINET, BASSOON AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR CLARINET AND CELLO Seesaw
"My own favorite was Seymour Barab's Suite, a perky, witty creation that brought out the best in each of the duettists. It was perfect music to liven up a summer evening."
           —PITTSBURGH-POST GAZETTE
SUITE FOR CLARINET AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR FLUTE AND BASSOON Seesaw

SUITE FOR FLUTE, VIOLA AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR FLUTE, VIOLIN, VIOLA, CELLO and BASS Seesaw

SUITE FOR HARPSICHORD AND STRING QUARTET Seesaw

SUITE FOR HORN, VIOLIN, VIOLA AND CELLO Seesaw
"Much interest centered on the world premiere of Seymour Barab's 1992 Suite for Horn, Violin, Viola and Cello. It proved a light hearted piece, far less taxing to the listener than to the performers, who continually had to keep tricky, syncopated rhythms, off-beat accents, and other subtle stumbling blocks sorted out."
                            — BUFFALO

"This is a work sure to travel well and far, a vigorous, tuneful work in a neo-classical idiom. The work goes over familiar territory with such zest that it never seems stale."
                          --CALGARY HERALD

"The Suite was light and cheery, yet conveyed a subtle intimacy."
                        — GLENSIDE NEWS
SUITE FOR OBOE, CLARINET, CELLO AND PIANO Seesaw 

SUITE FOR TRUMPET, ALTO SAXOPHONE AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR TWO CELLOS Seesaw

SUITE FOR VIOLA AND CELLO Seesaw

SUITE FOR VIOLIN, HARP AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR VIOLA, HORN AND PIANO Seesaw
"...a deliciously tuneful miscellany, Barab's music is so listenable, one almost doesn't notice its complex rhythms, its just slightly off-kilter harmonic twists."
—TULSA WORLD

SUITE FOR HORN, CELLO AND PIANO Seesaw

SUITE FOR VIOLIN AND CELLO Seesaw

TRIO FOR VIOLA, CELLO AND PIANO Seesaw

"Any concert-goer who may still be put off by 'modern' music would have been reassured by that of Barab, which is brief and news to a modified post-Stravinsky idiom"
—NEWS-TIMES, HARTFORD

"The Barab-trio is exciting music that demands attention."
—LITCHFIELD COUNTRY TIMES
TRIO-SONATA FOR VIOLIN, OBOE AND BASSOON Seesaw 

TRIOLET FOR THREE BASSOONS Seesaw

WIND QUINTET Seesaw
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