Maarten Engeltjes and Israel Golani with the Barrocade Ensemble at the May 2013 Abu Gosh Festival

Maarten Engeltjes and Israel Golani (photo:Martin Nota)

Concert no.2 of the 43^rd Abu Gosh Vocal Festival featured two artists from the Netherlands –

countertenor Maarten Engeltjes and Israeli-born theorbo-, Baroque guitar and lute player Israel Golani, together with harpsichordist and organist Yizhar Karshon and members of the Barrocade Ensemble.  The concert took place on May 14^th 2013 in the Kiryat Yearim Church of the Ark of the Covenant, 10 kilometers west of Jerusalem, in the Jerusalem Hills.

Born in 1984, Maarten Engeltjes began singing as a boy soprano at age four. His countertenor debut was at age 16 with performances in works of Bach and Händel. In 2003, he was selected to participate in a master class run by Michael Chance; this led to a joint concert. A graduate of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (2007), Engeltjes has been coached by Andreas Scholl and his former teacher Richard Levitt and is the recipient of prestigious prizes. Today he runs a busy international performing schedule, records and premieres new works. This Abu Gosh concert was the singer’s Israeli concert debut.

Having graduated with honors in Musicology from Tel Aviv University, Israel Golani studied performance on historical plucked instruments with Fred Jacobs at the Sweelinck Conservatory (Amsterdam) and Elizabeth Kenny at the London Royal Conservatory of Music. He has been involved in projects with the Flanders Opera, the Holland Opera and Opera Studio Nederland. In 2005, he directed “Ballo Cantabile” – a production of modern dance and Baroque music. Together with Maarten Engeltjes, he performed in the Junge Elite concert series at the 2009 Mecklenberg-Vorpommern Festival in northern Germany.

Maarten Engeltjes and Israel Golani’s performance of a number of John Dowland’s (1563-1625) lute songs formed a major part of the concert. Elgeltjes and Golani, seated together, presented the individual character and message of each of these small jewels, most of which tell of love affairs gone wrong or going wrong. In Engeltjes and Golani’s reading of Dowland’s hallmark pavan-ayre “Flow My Tears” the text was treated with ongoing interest and subtlety; tinged with sadness and dynamic changes, including finely controlled pianissimi, they presented different aspects of the text, the word “happy” proving to be merely another shade of Dowland’s melancholy!  With “Sorrow Stay” and “In Darkness Let Me Dwell” we move with them into the most lachrymose of Dowland’s songs; together the artists color the songs with heartbreak, pausing on such key words as “pity” in the former, in the latter, allowing for Dowland’s dissonances to emerge, camouflaging the meter to affect the listener afresh. Dowland places all in proportion when writing that “though the title doth promise tears…no doubt pleasant are the tears which music weeps, neither are tears shed always in sorrow but sometimes in joy and gladness.”

With some interesting ornaments and flutters, small pauses and hesitations, Dowland’s “Now, O Now” was presented less as the “Frog Galliard”, however, rather more as a thoughtful, reticent utterance. (Both titles are thought to have referred to Queen Elizabeth I’s final suitor for marriage -refused by her- the French Duc d’Alençon, in England from 1579 to 1581, a small, ugly man but a fine dancer. She referred to him as “The Frog”.) Another galliard “Can She Excuse” probably refers to Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, who became the Queen’s court favorite after the Duc d’Alençon had parted. In their compelling performance of the song, wordy in its urgency, Engeltjes and Golani use its rhythmic quirkiness to dramatize the dilemma of the Queen’s displeasure of Devereux. In “Dear, If You Change”, a desperate attempt to prove love’s sincerity, Engeltjes and Golani move together, the singer delighting the audience with his bell-like upper register notes and fine British diction. The artists float the contemplation of feminine beauty in “Time Stands Still”, gracing its frozen, rapt wonder with superbly shaped phrase endings. Theirs is a close integration of vocal- and lute parts; Engeltjes’ gestures are compelling, his sound forthright and fresh, with Golani’s response mirroring verbal texts and moods and in constant musical dialogue with the singer.

Israel Golani’s poetic performance of Dowland’s “A Dream” displayed stylish eloquence and good taste. Playing an Allemande for lute solo by the Dutch composer and instrumentalist Nicolas Vallet (1583-1642) the artist’s delicate reading of the work used slight flexing of tempo, giving the melody natural pliancy and a sense of process.

We then heard Engeltjes, Golani (theorbo) and members of Ensemble Barrocade in Antonio Vivaldi’s (1678-1741) “Stabat Mater” RV 621. Commissioned by the Chiesa Santa Maria della Pace (Brescia, Lombardy) and first performed there in Holy Week of 1712, it was scored for the church’s in-house ensemble of two violins, viola and continuo. The soloist may well have been the prestigious male alto Filippo Sandri or, in his absence, another male alto. In any case, the Vivaldi “Stabat Mater” is countertenor repertoire. Barrocade and Engeltjes’ reading of the work expressed its pathos and tragedy, but it was fired by emotion, energy and dynamic changes, making for a sense of urgency and drama and avoiding the bleak dourness often present in many interpretations we hear of it. The singer’s buoyant and easeful handling of melismas, his tasteful and economical use of vibrato and his open, expansive and spontaneous vocal sound complemented the ensemble’s animated and articulate punctuation of the instrumental score. The one-to-a-part instrumental situation made for transparency and there was constant communication between instrumentalists and singer.

Maarten Engeltjes and the instrumentalists concluded the concert with the first aria of J.S.Bach’s (1680-1750) cantata “Widerstehe doch der Sünde” (Just Resist Sin) BWV 54 (1714), the first of four cantatas written for the alto soloist and possibly the first solo cantata. Although a strict da capo aria, its dissonant opening chord and tensely throbbing rhythm are unconventional, clearly inspired by the ominous text of Georg Christian Lehms that focuses on the stealthy poisoning of the soul from pervading sin.
‘Just resist sin.
Lest its poison seize you.
Don’t let Satan blind you;
For those who defile God’s honor
Will incur a curse that is deadly.’
An interesting work indeed, with the players’ incisive playing reflecting its vitriolic message, it seemed to be placed somewhat too low for Engeltjes’ voice, with his lower register not penetrating the instrumental texture with the ease he does in his higher range. 

Barrocade and friends open the May 2013 Abu Gosh Vocal Music Festival

Diego Ortiz - Ricercada Primera

Under the musical direction of Chana Zur, the 43^rd Abu Gosh Vocal Music Festival opened on May 14^th 2013 with a concert in the Kiryat Yearim Church involving the Barrocade Ensemble, Barrocade Vocale and other Israeli artists. The probability of inclement weather for the start of the festival did not deter people from attending festival events and spending time out in the tranquil surroundings of the Judean Hills. The opening concert, titled “Dvořák, de Falla and the Sweeping Spanish Renaissance”, included music from the 15^th century to today, opened with Juan del Encina’s (1468-1529) villancico “Fata la parte” (Close the Door) was performed by four members of Barrocade Vocale - soprano Yeela Avital, alto Ella Wilhelm, tenor Eliav Lavi and bass Joel Sivan – with Barrocade musical director Amit Tiefenbrunn playing viola da gamba, Eyal Lever guitar, Yizhar Karshon organ and Roni Iwryn percussion. The text – a parody of gossip of a medieval town market - alternated between slow, languishing sections and frenetic moments, with one verse played by the instrumentalists in true Barrocade style. In the dignified, melancholy “Triste España”, with its haunting drum beat, Tiefenbrunn’s viol solo was gregariously ornamented, with a mellow alto solo sung by Wilhelm. In uniting popular and artistic elements, Juan del Encina had established a new style of Spanish secular drama.  Possibly of Jewish converse descent, he travelled to Jerusalem in 1519, later publishing a detailed description of his pilgrimage. The anonymous, carefree 16^th century “Pase el agoa” (Come Across the Water to Me, My Lady) provided Barrocade Vocale singers  (bass Joel Sivan, in particular) with some jaunty solos, with Iwryn pulling out all the plugs. This was followed by an effective rendition of the strophic 16^th century Christmas carol “Yo me soy la morenica” (I Am the Dark Little Girl), with Wilhelm and Tiefenbrunn soloing.

Of Antonio de Cabezón’s (1510-1566) Tientos (a polyphonic instrumental form originating in the Iberian Peninsula) 29 have survived. Yizhar Karshon’s performance of one was the result of strategic planning; he navigated the work’s heavy polyphonic texture and melodic aspects caringly, ornamenting lavishly.

Moving into the Baroque, we heard the great Baroque guitar master Gaspar Sanz’ signature work “Canarios” played by Eyal Lever on guitar and Amit Tiefenbrunn on a colascione (an Italian, long-necked, low-pitched lute of the 16^th and 17^th centuries) built by Tiefenbrunn himself. The piece depicts a syncopated dance of the Canary Islands. The artists’ vital playing of the work, both in plucked- and strummed style, expressed the dance’s energy with its leaps and stomping of feet, the colascione’s sound solid, flexible and well anchored. In his 1553 treatise, Diego Ortiz (1510-1570) describes three ways for instruments to play together: free invention, variations over an ostinato bass and embellished versions of well-known madrigals. In his performance of “Three Ricercadas for viola da gamba”, Tiefenbrunn clothed melodies in complex and delightfully agile ornamentation, with Lever, Iwryn and Karshon (harpsichord) providing harmonic- and rhythmic support.

Soprano Yeela Avital and Eyal Lever, with some percussion, performed two songs of José Marin (1618-1699), a composer writing in the monadic “tono humano” form using basso continuo - the dominant Spanish and Portuguese secular genre of 17^th century Spain. A guitarist, prolific composer and ordained priest, Marin, who worked in the cultural environment of the Habsburg court, juggled a life of music, religion and crime quite skillfully and to his own good. He is one of the few composers to have left works in guitar tablature. “Ojos, pues me desdeñais” (Eyes who do disdain), performed by Yeela Avital and Lever, is an erotically charged text speaking in dance rhythms of the pain of unrequited love, of lust and jealousy; in “Non piense Menguilla” (Do not think of her any more), Avital addresses the audience with a few home truths on love’s desertions and disappointments. Lever follows her and the text closely and sensitively; Avital is well suited to this style, addressing its fragrance and heady rollercoaster of emotions and taking the audience with her.

A very different item on the program was Pablo Casals’ (1876-1973) “Nigra sum”, a calm, meditative piece performed to a text from the “Song of Songs”. A popular work, often performed by women’s choirs, its delicately, exotic layers of meaning came across pleasingly with Avital and Wilhelm keeping the treble lines afloat:
‘I am black,
I am black, but comely,
Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem…
Rise up, my fair one, arise, my love.
Lo, for the winter is past and gone…
Flowers appear on the earth…
And the time of renewal is come…’

Moving into the 19^th century, we heard mezzo-soprano Ayelet Amotz-Abramson and pianist Jonathan Zak performing Antonin Dvořák’s “Gypsy Melodies” op. 55.  Written at the request of the opera tenor Gustav Walter and published in 1880, the songs are settings of poems by the Czech poet Adolf Heyduk (translated into German by the poet himself) that create a romanticized view of the freedom and spontaneity of gypsy life and their love of music and dance. Amotz-Abramson and Zak presented the song cycle’s melodic charm and rhythmic grace in a performance that was clear and well balanced, expressive and bristling with good humor. Amotz-Abramson is convincing; her strong, resonant, reedy voice has presence and reliability. She and Zak create the scene for each vignette – the tranquility of “All Around  About the Woods”, the carefree atmosphere of “Come and Join the Dance”, the Slavic, modal image of “The Gypsy Song Man” and the tough attitude of the gypsy in their superbly crafted reading of “Give a Hawk a Fine Cage”.
‘Given a cage to live in
Made of gold,
The gypsy would exchange it
For the freedom of a nest of thorns…’

The artists steer clear of sentimentality, reminding us that this music makes no attempt to imitate specific aspects of gypsy folklore. Professor Jonathan Zak (remembered by many of us as pianist of the prestigious Yuval Trio) is a master accompanist, his lightness of touch creating magical, glittery textures, his shaping and finely chiseled phrase endings delighting the senses. Returning to the realm of Spanish music, the two artists performed Manuel de Falla’s (1876-1946) “Seven Spanish Folksongs” (1914), a cycle using pre-existing Spanish melodies and reflecting the composer’s nostalgia for the folk music of his homeland at the time he was living in Paris. Collaborating closely, Amotz-Abramson and Zak conjure up the Spanish nature of the work – its rhythms and temperament, its emotion and fragility – holding onto its tension right to the end. Zak’s playing of guitar figurations, its melodic course full of flattened intervals and Flamenco-style embellishments. sets the scene for the compelling vehemence of Amotz-Abramson’s performance of “Polo”; together they weave the sultry, mysterious strands of “Asturiana” and the bewitching and alluring “Nana” lullaby.

Eyal Lever (b.1972) gave a virtuosic performance of his composition “Solea” for flamenco guitar – a work fired- and informed with the spirit of Spanish dance, filigree melodies and dazzling technical playing. He was eventually joined by Roni Iwryn, whose masterful, understated percussion playing had permeated the entire concert. The event concluded with the Barrocade singers and instrumentalists’ performance of Paul Ben Haim’s setting of the Judeo-Espagnol folk song “I Fell in Love with a Breeze”, its bittersweet flavor adding an extra dimension to a comprehensive and high quality concert of Spanish music. The opening concert of the May 2013 Abu Gosh Festival signed out with all singers and players performing Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez’ 1940 hit “Bésame Mucho” (Kiss Me a Lot), its lilting bolero rhythm inviting spontaneity.

 

 

Myrna Herzog and David Shemer in Bach recital

David Shemer and Myrna Herzog

The fourth concert of Ensemble PHOENIX’ Bach Project consisted of all three of J.S.Bach’s Sonatas for harpsichord and viola da gamba as well as Partita no.3 for harpsichord. Performing them were viol player and founder of the PHOENIX Ensemble Myrna Herzog and harpsichordist David Shemer. The concert, at St. Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church Jerusalem on May 7^th 2013, was dedicated to the memory of musicologist  and teacher Professor Dalia Cohen.

Scholars are not sure when Bach composed his three sonatas for harpsichord and viola da gamba BWV 1027-1029; the sonatas may have been written in Cöthen, where, as Kapellmeister,Bach was in charge of all instrumental music having at his disposal a small but highly specialized ensemble, or later in Leipzig in the 1740s, where  Bach took responsibility for  the Collegium Musicum.  As to the viol, it had made its way from Spain to Italy, with many of the fretted, six-stringed instruments later being built by master luthiers in Europe and England. Bach became acquainted with the North German instruments owned by Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar; at the time of Bach’s death, an inventory of the composer’s instruments included a 100-year-old English viol. In Diego Ortiz’ groundbreaking instruction book on the playing of stringed instruments “Trattado di glosas” (Principles of Ornamentation for the Viol, 1553), the harpsichord’s role is to introduce themes to the viol for further elaboration. In his viol sonatas, Bach provides an extra dimension by having the left hand of the harpsichord play basso continuo and the right hand function as a melody instrument.

The PHOENIX concert opened with Sonata in G major BWV 1027, a reworking of the Sonata for two flutes and continuo (BWV 1039), somewhat galant in style, with all three voices engaging in intense contrapuntal interaction. In Sonata in D major BWV 1028, the viol part is decidedly virtuosic, with the keyboard not by any means taking a back seat! The Sonata in g minor (BWV 1029) differs from the previous two in that it is a 3-movement form, with the harpsichord scored in a decidedly orchestral style.  The artists’ reading of these three sonatas was clearly the result of much deep enquiry into the repertoire and of good communication. Their choice of moderate tempi allowed for the works’ detail, their poetry, beauty and gestures to emerge. In this way, the wealth of Bach’s ideas found clear expression. Refreshingly different to the endless bedazzling ‘cello performances of them we have been hearing for many years, Herzog and Shemer moved the audience by presenting the music in the soundscape that Bach himself would have heard it. With much tender, cantabile, mellifluous playing, Dr. Herzog, playing on an instrument built in the Tyrol in 1730, reminds us that the viola da gamba is a reticent instrument, its mellow timbre inviting the harpsichord’s myriad of details and crystalline timbres to exist in their own right and in conjunction with the viol. Gentle flexing and minimal inégal playing graced melodies and countermelodies; harmonic developments provided interest and suspense. Faster movements carried no sense of dizzying breathlessness, their energy and brilliant moments, rather, taking reference from the most precise basic beat. With Herzog’s economical use of vibrato and the occasional breathtaking spread on either instrument, we were presented with the broad, rich and poignantly emotional canvas of the viola da gamba sonatas.

Composed in Leipzig between 1726 and 1730, J.S.Bach’s six keyboard Partitas were published by Bach himself as Opus 1 in 1731.  Performing on a Martin Skowroneck harpsichord (2001) founder and musical director of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra Dr. David Shemer played J.S.Bach’s Partita no.3 in a minor BWV 827, a work the composer had dedicated to his second wife Anna Magdalena. Opening not with an Overture but with a fiery, challenging two-part Fantasia, this first movement was followed by an Allemande alive with ornaments and interjections and pleasingly conversational, with Shemer’s playing of the Italian Corrente  sparkling and gripping and drawing attention to the movement’s chromatic interest. The appealingly melodic and dignified Sarabande gave way to two non-dances – a solid Burlesca followed by a Scherzo (Bach’s only Scherzo) whose humor might be its labyrinth of enigmatic rhythmic displacements. Remaining in high energy mode, Shemer confronted the powerful, contrapuntally complex Gigue with a sense of immediacy carried through by fine passagework.  Leading the listener far away from Bach’s Lutheran piety, Shemer’s intelligent, witty and joyful take on the work  were exhilarating, making for fine entertainment.

Myrna Herzog and David Shemer are both key figures and pioneers in Israel’s musical life, in particular on the early music scene. In this prestigious Bach recital, they struck a fine balance between personal- and joint expressiveness. The concert was, indeed, one of the highlights of the 2012-2013 concert season.

Piazzolla and "Maria de Buenos Aires" at the 2013 Blumental Festival

Singer Amparo Gonzalez

The 2013 Felicja Blumental International Music Festival took place from April 29^th to May 4^th at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. In its 15^th year, the festival is directed by singer Annette Celine (Felicja Blumental’s daughter) with Yehuda Shryer as guitar week editor and Avigail Arnheim executive director. The event closing the festival on May 4^th was “Maria de Buenos Aires” – excerpts from opera and other works of Ástor Piazzolla. Directed and choreographed by Chiche Núñez, Schachar Ziv directed and arranged the music. Dr. Rachel Uziel wrote and edited texts that were read by actor Uri Gottlieb. Instrumentalists were Argentinean guitarist Omar Cyrulnik and the Pitango Quartet (Hadar Cohen-violin, Amijai Shalev-bandoneón, Shachar Ziv-piano and Rinat Avisar-double bass.) The Argentinean singer and actress Ampero Gonzalez played the role of Maria.

The event was a tribute to Ástor Piazzolla (1921-1992) and his tango-ballet-operita (operetta) “Maria de Buenos Aires” to an evocative libretto by Horacio Ferrer; the plot revolves around the character of Maria - a mythical girl from the slums who falls into the clutches of the city’s underworld. Seduced and corrupted, her demise is watched over by thieves and brothel keepers. The character of Maria herself features in the first half of the performance, with the Shadow of Maria appearing in the second half as it is reborn to wander the streets of Buenos Aires. “Maria de Buenos Aires” is considered to be Piazzolla’s magnam opus,

Piazzolla wrote the part of Maria for a folk singer. Ampero Gonzalez’ low-placed, smoky voice, her earthy intensity and passion are, in which case, well suited to the role of Maria. Fervent and passionate, the petite singer radiates strength, her stage presence and movements and her message (even to non-Spanish speakers) keeping all audience eyes and ears on her.

Working on the operita together with Ferrer at his holiday home in Uruguay, Piazzolla composed the music on the bandoneón (a type of concertina popular in Argentina and Uruguay, essential in most tango ensembles.) Amijai Shalev’s playing of it at the Blumental Festival performance took on more significance than that of an accompanying instrument: it infused the work with emotional color, nostalgia, mourning and intimacy. The Pitango Quartet, founded in 2003, comprises four classically-trained virtuoso musicians. Having made a deep enquiry into the style of Argentinean music, they have performed in Israel, Spain and Argentina. Each has much to contribute to this music, offering the listener the opportunity to hear the distinctive style of each player. Their playing, displaying involvement in the singing, dancing and narration, was gregarious, intense, polished and invigorating. Pianist Shachar Ziv’s solo jazzy numbers struck a personal note. Adding much life, beauty and authenticity to the performance was the distinguished Buenos Aires-born guitarist Omar Cyrulnik.

Setting  scene and mood, and filling in details for those of us who were not Spanish speakers, actor Uri Gottlieb’s eloquence in the readings added much to the quality of the event.

The poet Horacio Ferrer wrote ‘Before being an artistic expression…tango was a certain attitude, a way of life.’ Piazzolla breathed new life into the tango form with the “nueve” tango. Dressed “to kill”, Núñez and his five Israeli dancers performed the provocative, intoxicating tango in all its suave, seductive beauty with the utmost of artistry throughout the performance. The event was convincing and sophisticated, constituting fine collaboration between Argentinean- and Israeli artists.

The Israel Camerata Jerusalem in "Moon of Alabama"

Soprano Keren Hadar

The Israel Camerata Jerusalem’s concert “Moon of Alabama” promised a very different concert

experience. This writer attended the event in the Henry Crown Hall of the Jerusalem Theatre on April 29^th 2013. Conducting a program of works by Stravinsky, Hanns Eisler and Kurt Weill was Israeli-born Yaniv Dinur; soloists were soprano Keren Hadar and violinist Matan Dagan.

Born in Jerusalem in 1981, Yaniv Dinur took piano lessons as a child, beginning conducting in his teens. He studied conducting with Dr. Evgeny Zirlin at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and later with Maestro Mendi Rodin, beginning his conducting career at age 19 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. He has since conducted in Europe, Canada and the USA. He graduated with a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance, where he studied under Kenneth Kiesler. Dinur is a passionate lecturer and music educator. He is currently serving as director of orchestral activities at the American University, Washington DC.

Born in Neve Ne’eman, Keren Hadar studied classical singing with Nili Harpaz, later attending the Beit Zvi Academy of Performing Arts (Ramat Gan), where she focused on musical theatre. She has also been a student in the Tel Aviv Department of Musicology. From 2006 to 2007, she took opera studies in Berlin at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik. Known for her interest in many genres, Hadar’s career has been varied – performing in Israeli theatre, with orchestras in Israel and further afield, collaborating with composers and playwrights and recording. She has performed with pianist and conductor Yoni Farhi, horn player Alon Reuven and guitarist Daniel Akiva in England, Europe and China.

The Camerata concert opened with Keren Hadar and just four woodwind instruments coming on stage to perform Igor Stravinsky’s (1882-1971) “Pastorale” (1907), a small work bearing no opus number, composed originally for vocal line and piano. The version we heard of this charming wordless “pièce de salon” – tasteful, melodic and understated in the artists’ performance - was the composer’s setting of the piece for soprano and four woodwinds of 1923. Although still influenced by neo-Classicism, Stravinsky became, however, more connected to the Second Viennese School’s thinking by the time he was composing his “Septet” (1952-1953). It was in this work that he experimented with a series for the first time, although not with the absolute strictness of the serialists. Scored for piano, violin, viola, ‘cello, horn, bassoon and clarinet, the Camerata ensemble’s playing of it displayed the work’s contrapuntal mastery, its timbral variety and sophistication, at the same time bringing out the composer’s familiar droll,  grave, bitter-sweet and elegant writing never devoid of surprises. Playing the clarinet in it was guest musician Ilan Schul.

Enter Yaniv Dinur and Keren Hadar to perform five songs of Kurt Weill (1099-1950). All the program’s Weill songs using Hebrew- or English lyrics had been orchestrated by Benny Nagari. (Born in Tel Aviv in 1950, flautist, conductor and arranger Nagari has returned to composing and orchestrating after a career in radio, television, film and recording. He has been living and working in London since 1990.)  Somewhat unexpected in a symphony concert series, Hadar was to perform these songs using a microphone! From “The Rise and Fall of Mahagonny” (Brecht) we heard “Moon of Alabama” (1927), with Hadar singing in German-tainted English, changing its moods through the use of different vocal timbres, the roughest of which depicting the prostitute leaving one town and heading for Mahagonny (a German Las Vegas), with the men of the Camerata Orchestra adding comments in the role of her gang! Bertolt Brecht songs from “The Threepenny Opera” were “Pirate Jenny”, in which Hadar uses fiery consonants to evoke Jenny fantasizing about killing all the townspeople, and “Tango Ballad” (or “Ballad of Immoral Earnings”) with Hadar moving from the role of Jenny to that of Mack – using higher and lower registers of the voice, wearing a hat when portraying Mack – a song in which they reminisce about the days when he was a procurer and she, a prostitute. Hadar portrays Jenny as angry and bitter, with Nitzan Ein Habar’s rich, cantabile saxophone sounding fruity, sleazy and, indeed, most pleasing. “Surabaya Johnny”, from “Happy End” (1929) tells of another dysfunctional relationship between criminal characters; Hadar presents all the emotional drama, the pathos and love in Lilian’s predicament, her smoky vocal timbre tender in the song’s refrains. “The Bilbao Song”, concluding “Happy End”, rings a happier note. In “The Ballad of the Soldier’s Wife” Hadar, sitting at a small round table covered with a dainty black lace cloth, opens a differently colored box for each of the gifts sent to the lady from her husband at the front. In his translation of the song into Hebrew, Dan Almagor has added his own verse referring to Auschwitz: a brilliant song powerfully weaving a woman’s liking of all the finery sent to her in with the horrors of war.

In Germany of 1930, Austrian composer Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) began his lifelong collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. The two wrote songs on the spur of the moment for workers’ rallies and political cabarets. They then worked together in Hollywood (a city they both found corrupt) and finally in East Germany in the 1950s. Pianist Yoni Farhi and Keren Hadar put Eisler’s work into historical context with “Song of the German Mother” sung in the original German, as it would have been delivered in German cabaret of the time. Farhi deals with the minimal accompaniment sensitively and with much artistry, with Hadar portraying a mother’s regret at having encouraged her son’s Nazi activities with much presence and seriousness.

The program included songs for which Brecht took lyrics from several sources: “Lost in the Stars” (1949) comes from a musical tragedy of the same name, its lyrics written by Maxwell Anderson. In the nostalgic “September Song” (Maxwell Anderson), Hadar’s velvety, tender rendering was supported sympathetically by the orchestra, with trumpets adding color to the mood. Brecht composed Ira Gershwin’s lyrics to “The Saga of Jenny” (Gershwin referred to it as a sort of “blues bordello”) for the 1941 musical “Lady in the Dark”; Hadar, riding on its chromatic, swinging rhythms, told the story of Jenny who could never make up her mind. Also in a humorous vein “I’m a Stranger Here Myself”, springing from Weill’s 1943 “One Touch of Venus” collaboration with Ogden Nash, is a lascivious enquiry into the nature of love. Yaniv Dinur once again reminds us that music is entertainment, timbral colors and smiles, and that such a sleazy-jazzy song goes down well with fine directing and a good dose of saxophone sound!
‘Tell me is love
Still a popular suggestion, Or merely an obsolete art?
Forgive me for asking
This simple question;
I’m unfamiliar with this part
I am a stranger here myself…’

Providing a glimpse into a very different aspect of Kurt Weill’s writing, we heard the 3^rd movement from his Concerto for violin and wind orchestra. Composed in 1924 (when he had just met Lotte Lenya) this early work was composed in his Berlin years and constitutes one of the composer’s more neglected instrumental works. Reflecting his personal musical language, it is written with careful articulacy yet, giving prominence to percussion instruments, it also creates an association with the feisty sound world of his theatre music. The middle movement is unusual in its three interlinked sections – a ghostly Nocturne, a violin cadenza and a rhythmic serenade. With the (mostly) wind ensemble and violin solo meeting as strange bedfellows in this uniquely scored violin concerto, violinist Matan Dagan gave a precise, finely crafted and competent performance. Witty, cerebral and nonchalantly ironic, here was Weill speaking in an almost atonal musical language, sophisticated and somewhat elusive. Having spent several years studying in Germany and performing in Europe, Matan Dagan has moved much of his performing career back to Israel as first violinist of the Tel Aviv Soloists, guest violinist of the “Israeli Chamber Project” and, as of 2013 and concertmaster of the Israel Camerata Jerusalem.

Hadar has immersed herself well in the style and mentality of the Kurt Weill song, an impressive feat.  Her short readings throughout the concert were pithy and interesting. Taking on their theatrical aspect with natural pizzazz, she was well versed (introducing songs in just a few words) and convincing in the characterization of the decadent, provocative and intensely human personalities voiced in the lyrics. As was Lotte Lenya (Weill’s wife) in the original performances of these songs, she was humorous and vulnerable; Keren Hadar also radiates poise and strength. Maestro Dinur drew all the threads together with confidence, unflagging energy and clarity, proving that singing with a microphone can work in the concert hall with careful balance. His close communication with singer and instrumentalists produced high quality performance. The evening concluded with Hadar and orchestra performing Weill/Brecht’s “Mack the Knife”, with the audience reveling in its popular melody and buoyant rhythm and…well…actually taking a liking Mack the upbeat thief, murderer, rapist and arsonist, especially the ladies!

  

Maestro Yaniv Dinur

The Early Music Project performs at the Austrian Hospice (Jerusalem)

Hildegard von Bingen: O virtus Sapientiae

On April 2^nd 2013, the Israeli Early Music Project performed a concert at the Austrian Hospice of the

 Holy Family, Jerusalem. The Austrian Hospice, located on the Via Dolorosa of Jerusalem’s Old City, was officially opened in 1863 and is viewed as Austria’s cultural emissary in the region. Built in the style of a palace on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, the Austrian Hospice hosts dialogue between cultures and religions, its cultural agenda including conferences, art exhibitions and musical events. Prior to entering the salon to hear the concert, I took time to wander along the corridor of the first floor to read much information posted along the walls about personages instrumental to the Hospice and its history. Opening the event, Rector of the Austrian Hospice Markus Stephan Bugnyar offered words of welcome, mentioning the fact that the concert we were about to hear was one of the many and varied festive events of the venue’s 150^th anniversary celebrations.

The Israel Early Music Project, established in 2006 by a group of students of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, aims to promote historically informed performance of music composed before 1850; the artists perform on period instruments. Mandolin-player, lutenist and conductor Alon Sariel (currently residing in Germany) is the group’s musical director. Taking part in this concert were Alon Harari-countertenor, Jonathan Keren-violin, Katharine van der Beek-‘cello and harp and Alon Sariel-archlute and direction. The Israeli Early Music Project performs in major venues and festivals in Israel, the UK and Europe.  Alon Harari introduced the evening’s works, drawing the audience’s attention to the program’s two themes: music by or about women and the battle between Rome and Venice.

The concert opened with German composer, poetess, theologian and mystic visionary Hildegard von Bingen’s (1098-1179) sacred chant “O virtus Sapientiae”, with Katharine van der Beek providing a basic ‘cello bourdon of unisons or fifths to Alon Harari’s performance of the antiphon. (It is not known whether Hildegard used instruments to accompany singing at the monastery; in her prolific writings she did, however, agree with the use of instruments, referring to stringed instruments as corresponding to the earthly condition of the soul and its struggle.) Harari’s large, mellifluous voice gave expression to the text’s rich imagery and conviction, his singing flexible and intense:
‘O strength of Wisdom
Who, circling, circled,
Enclosing all
In one life-giving path.
Three wings you have
One soars to the heights,
One distils its essence upon the earth
And the third is everywhere.
Praise to you, as is fitting.
O Wisdom’

Dario Castello (1590-1658) was wind master of St. Mark’s Cathedral Venice. Of his 29 sonatas, we heard Sonata Seconda, a single movement work made up of a number of small contrasting sections. Violinist Jonathan Keren, free of the constraints of reading the text, gave the work a spontaneous reading, allowing himself (and the audience) to fully indulge in its heady virtuosic passagework, expressive moments, its dignity, its dance rhythms, and with intelligent dialogue with Sariel and van der Beek, in some of the most daring and fantastic chamber music of the era.

Two laments on the program represented a woman’s emotions. Monteverdi’s opera “Arianna” was first performed in 1608, with the “Lamento di Arianna” (Ariadne’s Lament) constituting the centrepiece of the work. Of the opera score, only the lament has survived. In this, his most famous work, Monteverdi was recognized as having the ability to identify with Arianna’s humanity. The IEMP chose a very effective scoring for the aria, with Harari accompanied by archlute, harp (van der Beek) and violin. This sensitive, uncluttered and filigree-fine instrumentation allowed for expression of the work’s delicacy and intimate grief, its dissonances and harmonic surprises. Harari’s finely shaped phrasing and rising and falling intensity projected Arianna’s changing thoughts and emotions, culminating with her final desolation.  On January 30^th 1649, King Charles I, found guilty of treason, was beheaded by his own government. One of the many artistic responses to this historic event was an Italian poem by the Habsburg Archduke Leopold William (1614-1662), set to music by Antonio Bertali (1605-1669) – maestro di cappella of the imperial court chapel. In the lament of Charles’ Catholic-born queen, Henrietta Maria, one detects many of the sentiments heard in “Arianna’s Lament” (Monteverdi) –the desire to die, self-pity, anger, despair, with all of these combined with sudden changes of mood in a long farewell. With Harari presenting the tragedy and beauty of the text, the instrumentalists reflected its sentiments, Keren’s interludes heightening the work’s emotional climate.

Alon Sariel performed Toccata III by composer and lutenist at the court of Archduke Maximilian I of Munich - Michelangelo Galilei (1575-1631) - the younger brother of the astronomer Galileo and son of the music theorist Vincenzo. In his performance of the toccata on the archlute, Sariel creates a relaxed, reflective mood with some pleasing voice-play and expressive figures; but, as the piece progresses, the listener begins to hear some daring harmonies (for the time it was written) and unexpected chord changes. Sariel’s playing is, nevertheless, understated and subtle, allowing for the composer’s somewhat revolutionary ideas to emerge articulately.

Of Italian Baroque women composers, Francesca Caccini (1587-c.1641) remains one of the most outstanding, if not the most prolific. Often referred to as “La Cecchina” (The Songbird), Giulio Caccini’s daughter, a musician of the court of Duke Ferdinand of Florence, was trained in keyboard, lute, guitar and harp and composition; she wrote Italian and Latin poetry, became a professional singer and was the first woman composer to write a full-scale opera.  We heard two songs from her 1618 volume “Il primo libro delle musiche” (First Volume of Music) - secular and sacred melodies with figured bass accompaniment. Harari performed the canzonets “Che c’ho fatt’io” (What Have I Done to You) and the dancelike “O chiome Belle” (O Beautiful Hair). Collaborating hand-in-glove with Sariel and van der Beek, Harari wove Caccini’s characteristically lengthy, florid phrases and sonorous texts with a sense of freedom and spontaneity.  A high point of the program was Alon Harari’s performance of Venetian poet, composer, singer and unconventional personality Barbara Strozzi’s (1619-1677) dramatic monologue “L’Eraclito amoroso” (Amorous Heraclitus), probably originally sung by the composer herself. Lending a feminine touch to the instrumental score and its lamenting descending ground bass, Keren and Sariel were joined once again by van der Beek on the harp, supporting Harari in his evoking of the ancient Greek philosopher’s anger and despair over the unfaithfulness of an unnamed woman. In his thrilling and intense reading of the piece, Harari’s burnished, powerful vocal timbre and ease propelled him to the heights, then plummeting to the depths of this Baroque rhetoric; its vivid word-painting, long bleak notes and daring leaps fared well.

With Giles Durant de la Bergerie’s (1550-1605) strophic, lilting  love song “Ma belle si ton âme” the artists played and sang of love’s more positive but fleeting joys, flexing their tempi and punctuating the written text with imaginative interludes:
‘My beautiful one, if your soul
Now feels itself glowing
With this sweet flame
Which compels us to love,
Let us go happily,
Let us go to the meadows,
Let us go while
Our young springtime lasts.’

The program concluded with two songs in Ladino (a Spanish dialect, the language of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492), these songs both sung- and traditionally passed on by women.  “El Rey de Francia” (The King of France), interpreting a dream had by one of the king’s daughters, opened with the intimate timbre of harp alone; one sensed the artists were inspired by the text - images of a pillar of gold, the songbirds, the apple tree, the 12 stars and the nightingale; especially beautiful were Keren’s embellished imitations of the vocal line and Sariel’s poignant solo. In “Ya salio de la mar la galena” (The Young Lass Went into the Sea - the sea here being a symbol for the public baths) is a joyful,  wedding song telling of the bride’s taking of the ritual bath prior to her wedding and how she emerged “between the sea and the sand” where “an almond tree was sprouting”. With the joyousness of wedding music, the artists presented the Judeo-Spanish traditional combination of religious feeling, the functional, the emotional and the erotic in this specific genre. For an encore, Alon Harari gave a soulful rendering of “Night”, a Yemenite song, his fellow musicians choosing a clear, minimal soundscape for the setting.

The Austrian Hospice salon provides an especially fine venue for this kind of chamber music. Well programmed and performed by four outstanding and informed musicians, one of the most exciting aspects of this concert was heard in the accompaniments, which, in true Baroque spirit, were improvised on the basis of the score, providing authentic spontaneity all too rare in the concert hall. Countertenor Alon Harari’s gripping performance is not to be missed!

  

In Mixto Genere performs "Con amore" at the Eden-Tamir Music Center

“Con amore” – music of the 17^th and 18^th centuries on the subject of love - was one of the events of the Eden-Tamir Center’s 2013 Passover Festival in the idyllic village of Ein Kerem, Jerusalem on March 30^th.  The concert was performed by members of the In Mixto Genere Ensemble – Anna Ioffe-Baroque violin and viola d’amore, Alina Keitlin-Baroque violin and Natalie Rotenberg-harpsichord. The artists performed on period instruments, the least mainstream of them being the viola d’amore, an alto Baroque instrument similar to the viol but unfretted and held under the chin.  Mixto Genere was established in 2004. All three members are graduates of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance; all have specialized in the playing of early- and modern instruments, all are soloists and truly versatile artists.  Anna Ioffe is a soprano singer,  arranges works and plays Baroque and modern violin and viola d’amore; Natalie Rotenberg is a soprano, a composer, plays piano, positive (organ) and harpsichord; Alina Keitlin is a mezzo-soprano and composer, plays Baroque violin, modern violin and viola.  In a repertoire ranging from early- to contemporary music, the ensemble performs in concerts, opera productions and in major festivals in Israel and abroad and has had works written for it.

Anna Ioffe explained that the viola d’amore she plays has seven playing strings and seven sympathetic strings. The beautifully carved figure on the head of her viola d’amore is Amor (god of love) blindfolded, representing love, which is blind. With flexible tuning, this instrument was tuned to a D major chord for the purpose of the music played. This  instrument was built by the Czech violin-maker Vaclav Svoboda in 2001. Ioffe received her first lessons from the renowned Czech viola d’amore player Jaroslav Horak, later receiving a master’s degree in Baroque violin and viola d’amore under the guidance of Daniel Fradkin.

Of the several works scored for the viola d’amore, the program included two pieces by Attilio Ariosti (1666-1740) (Ariosti himself was a virtuoso player of the viola d’amore) opening with the aria “Pur alfin gentil viola” (So at last, gentle Viola), from a cantata of around 1690 of the same title for solo voice, viola d’amore and basso continuo, possibly one of the first works written for the viola d’amore. In the text, the constant violet prevails over the proud and haughty rose, the violet being an association (and play-on-words) with the viola d’amore. In the present setting, with the violin (Keitlin) taking on the role of the singer, the aria was presented in richly crafted, mellifluous and unmannered playing. In Ariosti’s Sonata in G from volume 3 of his Stockholm Sonatas, the artists brought out the music’s characteristic contrasts, energy and humor.  Louis de Caix d’Hervelois’ (c.1670-1759) typically French character pieces “La gracieuse” and “L’inconstant” (arranged for viola d’amore and b.c.) from his “Pièces de voile”(Pieces for Viol) were given a sympathetic reading, vibrato used sparingly and only in the name of embellishment, the viola d’amore’s true, beguiling  and sweet-sounding appeal saying all. 

Remaining in France, we heard François Couperin’s (1668-1733) “Ritratto dell’Amore” (Portrait of Love) from the “Concerts royaux” (Paris, 1722) performed by Alina Keitlin and Natalie Rotenberg. As would have been the practice at Louis XIV’s Sunday chamber music concerts, Keitlin announced each movement in turn; several of the work’s movements bear names that are whimsical, for court music is to be both entertaining and witty. In playing that was carefully nuanced, at times majestic, at times coquettish, the artists presented the music with the wink of an eye, their tempi never overstepping the boundaries of good taste. From Couperin’s “L’art de toucher le Clavecin” (The Art of Playing the Harpsichord) Rotenberg performed “La Favorite” (The Favored One), a rondeau-chaconne (however, not in triple time), the title referring to Madame de Maintenon, who had secretly married the king. Rotenberg’s playing of the piece is energetic, directional and engaging, yet addressing its noble, grand and solemn aspects. On hearing Michel Corrette’s (1707-1795) Sonata no.2 “Dans le goût italien” (In Italian taste) one is reminded of the fact that the composer had compiled two important books on violin playing – “The Art of Playing the Violin Perfectly” and “The School of Orpheus” (a violin treatise focusing on French and Italian styles.) Keitlin and Ioffe gave a well coordinated performance of this fine piece of writing, concluding the section of French works on the program.

Love in the professional life of German composer and trombonist Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684) led to his scandalous arrest and imprisonment in 1655; managing to escape, however, he made his way to Venice, where he realized the synthesis of German and Italian instrumental styles. Hearing his Sonata prima in g minor for two violins and basso continuo brought home the importance of this towering figure of the German Baroque, a composer not heard frequently enough in our concert halls.   

If love is folly, that would more than justify the artists’ playing of  Antonio Vivaldi’s (1678-1741) Trio Sonata in d minor “La Follia” opus 1 no.12 (1705), the sonata consisting of a theme and 19 variations. Following the composer’s strategic building up of speed and virtuosity, retreating into calmer moods, a Siciliano rhythm and Vivaldi-concerto-type moments, the performance abounded in interest, contrasts, vivacity and delicate passagework, its florid, brilliant moments never a substitute for expressiveness. Two other works performed, also composed to ostinato (ground) basses, were a Passacaglia by the famed Italian lutenist and chitarrone player Antonio Falconieri (1585/6-1656) and “Aria sopra la Bergamesca” by Marco Uccellini 1603-1680) maestro di capella to the royal courts of Modena and Parma. In the Bergamesca (suggesting a connection with Bergamo) with its simple I-IV-V-I harmonic scheme but technically sparkling melodies - probably based on folk music - the players colored their playing with dancelike exuberance…spiced with a fleeting jazzy phrase!

Offering a morning of delightful music with interesting snippets of information and a glimpse into secular love through the eyes of Baroque composers, In Mixto Genere’s historically informed performance was highly polished.