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November, 2010:
New piece! Ancient Dreams had its world premiere on November 12, 2010 at the Ebell Theater of Los Angeles. This work was commissioned by the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony.
I was inspired by an article I read from The British Museum about an ancient Egyptian papyrus called The Dream Book. This papyrus dated from the 13th Dynasty (1279-1213 BC) and attempted to suggest interpretations of dreams from those ancient times. Long ago, dreams were considered to be divine predictions - messages from the gods that could foretell of good fortunes or impending disasters.
It is my hope that this music connects with our audience in a way that is both relevant and contemporary. Having played with the LADSO for several years, I have found our conductor, Ivan, and the orchestra to be wonderfully suited to my musical voice and I was honored to have this group premiere my work and play it so beautifully.
Several recurring themes from The Dream Book resonated with me – universal themes of hopes, fears, determination, and ultimate triumph. In composing Ancient Dreams, I selected three concepts from this papyrus and symbolically set them to music with a unifying theme that develops from mystery to a sense of determined heroism.
The three sections are:
1.) Windows - a mysterious build up reflecting how people in ancient times believed the messages and symbols within dreams were often fearful images.
2.) Moon - a yearning yet hopeful lyrical section that builds to grand climax reflecting the desire to be forgiven for past misdeeds if one sees the moon in their dreams.
3.) Sphinx - a bombastic and climactic section focusing on a dream of uncovering the sphinx. The sphinx was a symbol of power, strength, and a foreboding guardian to malevolent spirits in the afterlife.
The work is for large orchestra and is of approximately 20 minutes duration. An excerpt showcasing various sections from the premiere performance can be heard on the AUDIO section of this website.
REVIEWS
"This dedicated group attempts daring musical journeys, like their opening concert of the season when they introduced the world premiere of Karim Elmahmoudi's Ancient Dreams, an original composition commissioned by the orchestra...His composition has tremendous range, from mellow evocative passages to powerful heroic strains...the music transforms the listener to another era".
Review Plays
"The orchestra includes many talented musicians, not least trombonist Karim Elmahmoudi, who composed the opening piece of the concert, entitled simply Ancient Dreams. LADSO commissioned this piece from Elmahmoudi following upon the success of a Rachmaninov prelude that he orchestrated for the ensemble...The result is a moody and mysterious piece that alternates between darker passages dominated by strings and embellished by harp and woodwinds and brighter passages full of brass and percussion. Ancient Dreams is well-orchestrated, with some beautiful writing...Its overall sound, not least because of its similar geographic inspiration, bears some resemblance to Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade."
LA Doctors Symphony Orchestra Makes Ebell Debut
"It was an effective showpiece for the LADSO and was greeted with warm applause."
crescenta valley Weekly
"Trombone player Karim Elmahmoudi is a composer, and the orchestra commissioned a piece from him, which he calls Ancient Dreams, for its first performance of the season...I've always been drawn to these grand stories, these epic stories, and wanted to write something that used mythology, and this story just connected with me because it immediately sounded musical,' he said."
Voice of America interview.
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