Note: All are currently available for sale, with the exception of music for "The Garden" and cadenzas to the "Hayden D Major Concerto." Click here for order information for Matthew's compositions.

THE GARDEN
A music-play for a large cast with piano and string quartet. It is a comedy set in the Garden of Eden, ending with the Apocalypse. Premiered: Berkeley, 1987.
See excerpts from libretto

ELEGY for violin, 'cello and piano
Written during the 1991 Gulf War this work is an outcry against all such tragic choices and the consequent contradictions imposed upon all sides who must live amidst violence and absurdity. Premiered: Oakland, CA, 1991; approx. 10 min.

THE POPE OF FOOLS for baritone voice, violin, 'cello and piano
A chamber-opera based on Hugo's, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in which the baritone takes the part of Quazimodo, telling his own story of one, unlovable, redeemed by loving. Premiered: San Francisco, 1995; approx. 50 min.
See synopsis and excerpts

THE ROWELL SONATA for solo 'cello (1996)
A three movement work dedicated to the late great 'cello pedagogue, Margaret Rowell, expressing the struggles and triumphs of her extraordinary life. Premiered: Moscow, 1996; 25 min.

Mr. Owens had the extraordinary opportunity to perform his 'cello sonata, before her passing, for its dedicatee, Margaret Rowell, who exclaimed, "It's an absolutely magnificent work, so beautifully carved out for the 'cello!"

KOL NIDREI for solo 'cello.
"My own arrangement of Kol Nidrei in which I have sought to express, through the voice of the solo 'cello, the human and mystic spirit of the cantor in his improvisatory outcries, and to evoke echoes of the Patriarchs in their lone desert communion." Premiered: Oakland, CA 1998: 10 min.
See remarks on Kol Nidrei below

REMARKS ON KOL NIDREI by Matthew Owens

Recently, I was invited to perform Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei for 'cello and orchestra (piano). No longer satisfied with Bruch's florid and highly romantic rendition, I succeeded in convincing the impresario to allow me to compose my own version. I was already familiar with the use, by a wide variety of composers (Beethoven included), of the essential Kol Nidrei theme. However, research led me to examples of medieval plainsong adapted and developed by cantors for hundreds of years.

A conversation with a local rabbi led me to sources which outlined both the long, complex history of the legal Kol Nidrei-a device that originated in the Babylonian Captivity period and was employed to release the supplicant from the onus of ill-advised oaths-and that of its moral and legal importance, especially in times of oppression, such as that of the Inquisition. But the historical/legal story does not contain the essence of the evolving atonement theme as powerfully as it is captured in the musical fragments, lovingly elaborated by generations of cantors, right through to our times. Indeed, the message of the melodies is so mighty in a mystical and emotional way that in spite of sporadic debates on this subject, the music itself remains at the heart and soul of the Yom Kippur experience.

In my composition, based on the "Naumberg" fragments, I have sought to express, through the voice of the solo 'cello, the human and mystic spirit of the cantor in his improvisatory outreach, and to evoke echoes of the Patriarchs in their lone desert communion with the most exalted concept of deity yet known in human history.

This work is dedicated to my mother, in memory of my grandfather, for whom I played Kol Nidrei at our last meeting before his passing.

DIALOGUES FOR VIOLIN AND CELLO (2005)

© Matthew Owens, 2004