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" ...highly personal and frankly emotional...it explores traditional formal structures and the timbre possibilities of this unique combination of instruments on the highest artistic level."
Fort Worth Star Telegram/1995
" [A] dramatic testament...compelling...Set in four brief movements, the largely tonal, 20-minute score is built on echoing melodic fragments, frenetic episodes or introspective passages that are interrupted in various ways...These emotional conflicts were resolved masterfully in the finale..."
San Antonio Express-News/January 2000
"Titles such as 'Calm,' 'Irascible,' and 'Wistful' reflected the varied moods created by a composer with a strong penchant for tonality...[A]n impressive collection, stronger, really, than some of the commissioned pieces for the Cliburn Competition through the years."
Dallas Morning News/ March 1998
"'9/11' rises from the depths, but at first with contrapuntal elaboration. With little shudders along the way, there's again a pair of impassioned climaxes. The end is harmonically surprising, leaving us-- tellingly-- with something less than full resolution. This is bittersweet music ... beautifully crafted."
Dallas Morning News/September 2002
" ... the horn writing is idiomatic, and the orchestration is skillful...[T]he concerto is impressive, imaginative...and quite accessible for the orchestra and audience. It is a very fine new work and we hope that the composer continues to keep us in mind when he lifts his talented compositional pen!"
The Horn Call/October 1991
" ...full of musical substance, creative material, and well-crafted melodic material that exhibits a wide emotional range. The music is forthright and honest without pretense...worth hearing and learning!"
The Horn Call/February 2006
"One of the high points of the evening was Mr. Sargon's 'Questings'...the result was impressive, with some lovely music in the middle movement (of three) that was among the most immediately appealing Mr. Sargon has put before a Dallas audience."
Dallas Morning News/November 2002
" ... lovely stuff where the fiddle and piano spin out interludes of reverie, passionate prayer, and joyous celebration. The concluding 'Freilach' (Wedding Dance) would have fit perfectly into the wedding scene in 'Fiddler on the Roof.' It's got the touch."
American Record Guide/ May-June 2001
"Klezmer music in full flower..."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/ June 2009
"A simple but beautiful setting of this traditional Hebrew prayer...The text, a prayer for peace for the people of Israel, is appropriate as an occasional anthem or concert piece. Those conductors looking for a short introductory piece in Hebrew or a well-crafted anthem that is immediately accessible should consider this work."
Choral Journal/Vol. 45 Issue 5
"Sargon lets dissonance express the anger and bitterness of the theme, and it is powerful, but not the prevailing mode of the songs."
Dallas Downtown News/October 1988
"Composed for soprano, flute, clarinet, cello, and piano, it is nevertheless a work which feels larger...the work makes its artistic point in the contrast between an Italianate vocal line and the distinctly modern instrumental setting. By casting the poet's words in an older, familiar musical style, Sargon reminds the listener that those who were victims of the Holocaust were normal folks like us ... [It is] the accompaniment that raises images of violence and pain ... eerie...heartbreaking..."
The Star Ledger (NJ)/November 1994
"Sargon has achieved an unqualified success in his settings of this powerful literary material... Shema is a work that deserves broad attention. If there is justice in the musical establishment, it will win him the larger audience he deserves."
Fort Worth Star Telegram/October 1988
" ...a haunting and sometimes heart-wrenching musical tableau..."
Dallas Morning News/September 1996
" ...ranks as one of the most impressive works in Dallas-based composer Simon Sargon's impressive canon...beautifully capturing Levi's sense of sorrow and incurable wounding."
Star Time/Aug.-Sept. 1996
" ...vividly dramatic..."
Richmond Times-Dispatch/April 1998
"One of the most striking pieces of new music to be played in Dallas in the last ten years...It premiered in 1988 and for eight years remained, vaguely but powerfully, in the memory... It makes a stronger impression upon repeated hearings..."
Dallas Morning News/June 1996
" ...beautiful...It begins with a clarion call to remember, and goes from sadness and yearning to circus music to forget by, with a memorable 'Song of the Crow' bringing bad news in squawks..."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer/May 2007
" ...sensitive...compelling..."
San Francisco Classical Voice/April 2009
" A moving work by a superb composer."
Dallas Times Herald/January 1989
"Generating the greatest impact was Sargon's 'Shema,' a gut-wrenching suite..."
North Shore Magazine (MA)/June 1990
" ... a haunting work of dark beauty and tense atmosphere. It stayed in the mind long after the program was over...Like any excellent writer of vocal music, Sargon mirrors the atmosphere of his texts. The vocal part is dramatic...It is also ingratiating music, often quite lyrical. The instrumental backing is original and often eerily atmospheric...'Shema' is another striking piece from one of Dallas's most impressive musical creators."
Dallas Times Herald/October 1988
" ...a touch that was melodiously conditioned. Faultless execution of technical and musical demands."
Jerusalem Post/ April 1972
"A debonair sonata for flute and piano whose spirited outer movements and lyrically pastoral centerpiece were reminiscent of the wittily sophisticated Parisian music of Poulenc."
Dallas Morning News/ March 1998
" ... a dramatic and effective work that used a broad orchestral palette- including a number of unusual instruments- and stark contrasts between reflective passages and moments of angry dissonance. Included among the former was some very attractive melodic material. The first movement is a kind of lamentation, lyrical but sad, with ominous overtones. There are brutish interjections in the anguished middle movement, and the final one- a setting of the 'Kaddish,' or Jewish prayer for the dead- is more contemplative but with restless reminiscences of what went before...[Sargon] has added something important and rare to music..."
Dallas Times Herald/ April 1991
"Form is not the thing in this piece, although it certainly is not shapeless. Feelings, impressions and even theater in the best sense of the word are its major components...It employs an enormous orchestra that ranges beyond the norm...'Holocaust' is cast in three sections, but the impression is of a single movement. Its lyricism is deeply felt, often very gripping and at time Mahlerian in its thematic material. The effect is decidedly emotional..."
Dallas Morning News/ March 1991
"Sargon approaches history's most horrible slaughter with a succinct, subtle artistry... Despite Sargon's obvious extramusical intent, this 'Holocaust Symphony' speaks in purely musical, almost classical terms. At its heart, a simple melody is repeatedly opposed and overwhelmed by relentless orchestral forces; at its conclusion, a lyrical setting of the Kaddish for baritone solo and male chorus triumphs- ever so quietly- through persistence. And, given a chance, this work will persist in the orchestral repertoire by virtue of its intellectual strength. "
Star-Telegram/ March 1991
"'Tapestries,' a four-movement work based on music from Mr. Sargon's opera 'Saul, King of Israel.' But even if one didn't know its origins, it would have been abundantly clear that 'Tapestries' was music of and for the theater, its dramatic pulse perceptible even in its highly lyrical sections. It is also a piece of fascinating musical textures."
Dallas Morning News/ December 1998
"The full range of color of the modern orchestra serves magnificently to evoke ancient times in 'Tapestries'... operatically straightforward, largely tonal and unfailingly energetic music. Most impressive of all, Sargon provides lavish, abundant melody while at the same time capturing the energies and aura of a time barely removed from primitivism."
Star-Telegram/ December 1998
"Sargon's 'Tapestries' is very much in recognizable biblical-epic manner. The outer movements, 'Saul Among the Prophets' and 'The Supreme Command,' work up dramatic clashes and turbulent rhythms. The central movements, 'Sanctuary' and 'The Oath,' weave haunting melodies, with a touch of cantorial exoticism, through soft-focus textures. (Presumably many of the suite's melodies have been orchestrated from vocal lines.) The performance left one curious to hear the opera, which has yet to be performed in its entirety. There were numerous eloquent wind solos..."
Dallas Morning News/ September 2011
"Where the production ['Showboat'] deserves its greatest single credit is in restoring the songs to prime luster. The musical director [Sargon] kept the numbers moving at a brisk pace that put new life into them and allowed us to see their virtues in a fresh light."
Atlanta Journal/ August 1969
" ...truly inspired...One of the many musical delights of this work is Leila's beautiful aria 'Singing of Love,'...This aria enchanted the convention listeners with the stunning counterpoint between the soprano and flute. 'The Singing Violin' was one of the 'great finds' at this convention. This music is basically tonal and the vocal lines are beautifully shaped for the singers. Sally Gall's colorful libretto used contemporary language and idioms to move this folk tale forward into the 20th Century. This work should enjoy many successful performances in the future and is to be praised for expert craftsmanship, charming and clever style, and genuine beauty."
Opera for Youth Journal/ Spring 1997
" ...excellent...creates a powerful impression on the listener. This is by far [Sargon's] most dissonant work, portraying deep-seated anger in the low, dark sonorities of the piano and anguished cries of the horn. At times, the horn weeps with hand glissandi and at others, calls out in wider, dissonant intervals...This is not a piece to be taken lightly... The composition conveys such a powerful message that the listeners should be granted at least a few minutes afterward to recover."
The Horn Call/ August 1999
" 'The Weeping Shofar,' an eerie evocation of a desecrated synagogue in Prague, puts the horn and piano to work in a sad, often angry single-movement work full of bending pitches and hand-stopped effects."
American Record Guide/ May-June 2001
" ...engaging...The multiple associations of the ram's horn in Jewish lore and ceremony are evoked in celebratory fanfares, drooping chromatic laments, woozy oozes and low growls. The piano lends turbulence, but also something like balm in the hushed epilogue. Greg Hustis did well by the horn part, and Mr. Sargon proved himself a superb pianist. "
Dallas Morning News/ November 2002
" A brief, intense musical drama... an absorbing work... Sargon's spare setting created a musical atmosphere that was consistently in harmony with O'Neill's drama."
Dallas Times Herald/ November 1984
" ...important... In 'Thirst,' Sargon draws on the Italian verismo tradition of lush lyricism and identifiable character and mood motifs, successfully distilling these techniques to an intimate scale. The small instrumental ensemble was used to maximum effect, and the three members of the vocal ensemble each owned a rewarding role, both vocally and dramatically. Drawn almost word for word from Eugene O'Neill's sea play of the same name, the opera 'Thirst' effectively enhances the text and creates a captivating emotional effect. It deserves repeated and widespread performance."
Dallas Observer/ Nov.-Dec. 1984
"Sargon's 'Toward the Light' offers neo-romantic charms... Mr. Sargon's 15-minute, four-movement suite for clarinet and piano is a charmer. In the first two movements the instruments often wreathe ideas around one another, first dreamily, then dancingly. The clarinet floats serenely above added-note chords in the third movement, working up an ardent climax. The finale is a jazzy dance."
Dallas Morning News/ April 2006
"Wonderful... a supercharged score that was as graphic, caressing, charming and lilting as the poetry it enveloped and framed."
Dallas Morning News/ April 1992