Joel Philip Friedman--composer/currator/colaborator

Not only does Joel have a vast selction of works, but many of them have been written about. You can learn more about these articles in the "reviews & gallery" section of the website. To visit this section, use the top navigation bar, or just click here>

There are PDF scores for perusal and MP3 files for listings for many of the works listed on this page. Either click on the specific work's link (below the listing), or to goto the "scores & sounds" section, click here>

To learn more about Joel, including his in depth interview with new music writer, Frank J. Oteri, visit the "more about Joel" section. Use the top navigation bar, or just click here>

Incontrovertible Counterpoint (work-in-progress)

Instrumentation: Symphonic Band
See Band

Stew!
(1991-2) ca. 20 minutes
Educational music theater work that blends world cultures, food, and music. For wind quintet, children, and teachers.

Commission: Meet The Composer (Education Residency Program) for the Manhattan Wind Quintet's educational residency at P.S. 25 in Yonkers (in cooperation with the National Orchestral Association and the Hudson River Museum).

Book and lyrics: Joel Phillip Friedman

First Performance: April 1991. P.S. 25 (5th Grade), Yonkers, New York

Instrumentation: wind quintet, children's and teachers voices, and percussion/home-made instruments.

Using the metaphor of creating a wonderful meal by blending and cooking different ingredients from around the world, Stew! celebrates cultural differences and reinforces the point that working together results in good things. Originally written for a class of 5th graders, the work is perfect for a professional ensemble's educational residency program with younger students. Stew! invites the musical and theatrical participation of the students and their teachers - depending upon their skill and comfort level with performance - along with the professional ensemble. It was also designed to enhance the class curriculum with units on art (the nature of collaboration and composition, music, dance, theater, and set design), different cultures and their foods, as well as nutrition. If you would like to learn more about adapting Stew!
For your educational residency program ask Joel by clicking here

Five Songs of Edward Macdowell
(1988-89) ca. 12 minutes A set of MacDowell songs arranged for mixed chorus (some a capella, some with piano accompaniment)

1. The Brook (a cappella) 2. Slumber Song (a cappella) 3. Menie (with piano accompaniment) 4. Midsummer Lullaby (a cappella) 5. A Fantasy on "A Maid Sings Light and a Maid Sings Low" (with original piano accompaniment and additional lyrics by Joel Phillip Friedman)

Commission: BirchTree Music Group, Ltd.
Texts: The Brook and Slumber Song (from Two Northern Songs, Op. 43) E. A. MacDowell; Menie, Robert Burns; Midsummer Lullaby (from Op. 47, no. 2) text after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; A Maid Sings Light and a Maid Sings Low (from Op. 56 Four Songs, no. 3), E. A. MacDowell.

NB: May be performed as a complete cycle or as individual songs

Boyar's Polonaise
(1984) 4 minutes For Brass Quintet

First Performance: March 16, 1984, Back Bay Brass Quintet.
From the incidental music to Play Strindberg

RECORDINGS

Americus

Crystal Records

Jay/Ter