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Dear Paul, " . . . your Violin Sonata. I loved it. The programmatic note you sent was very helpful, and touching, and I was blown away by the sincerity and the closing serenity."

It was a real honor for me, as a young musician, to work and learn from Paul over the years. His musicality was an inspiration to all of us in the back row and under his leadership we all had too many wonderful musical experiences to count. I've also been honored to have played several of his compositions over the years, both for brass quintet and orchestral works. His musical language is powerful and uniquely expressive. It's always a joy to have a chance to experience his musical voice either as a performer or audience member.

That's a fun fantastical piece! (on "Bourée Fantasy" based on J.S. Bach's Bourée in C Major from the 3rd Suite

American composer Paul Gay has just finished a piece for orchestra: "Je Suis Charlie", as a memorial and a testimony to free expression as well as to the attitude of survival displayed by Parisians after the terrorist massacres. ... The work is in one movement, slow but steady, quietly intense, built around evocative harmonies made up of well-balanced consonances and dissonances. It is a complex work in sonorities mixing ethereal floating melancholic aspects. His character is neither in the mind of Satie, nor in the harmonies of Ravel far removed from the surface. Technically relatively easy, it would take little rehearsal time.

The concert starts with the world premiere of an attractive modern piece, the “Finale from Due Sorelle” by Paul Gay, who was in attendance and took a bow at the end. “Due Sorelle” is a ballet inspired by photos of mysterious Brahmin sisters Gay glimpsed in a historic house in Boston, Mass. You really don’t have to worry too much about the context. Just enjoy the music, which has a serene feel calling to mind the turn of the last century. The Philharmonic performed it with loving precision, and the colors sparkled. It does make you curious to hear, and see, the entire ballet. Whatever the rest of the piece is like, I admire the composer for writing music this lovely.