tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63185579027336693952024-03-13T03:06:29.349-07:00Pamela Hickman's Concert Critique BlogPamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.comBlogger872125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-63491545981703779992024-03-02T04:45:00.000-08:002024-03-03T06:53:28.019-08:00"Mendelsson's Birthday" - the Israel Chamber Orchestra in an all-Mendelssohn program in Tel Aviv. Conductor: Roberto Forés Veses. Guest pianists: Sivan Silver, Gil Garburg<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLpyYaeVPp8pqqotKaSXPYz0Sd1ZIbhLwjX_lS86QoVX6u1zAxqoD5n_bWg9rp1h2lziaEDn2m0tKgPXU7mh6afAdDkSGk5TeHCJGubY8VKfpQ955XkZeGuwZxYrjhInvrhXaAEaN27oQ2mUl1G1tXZYrSHELCdKe8bhUKDS8coCvIQzz-3ofNjtiUrnU/s225/Roberto%20English%20Chamber%20Orchestra.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLpyYaeVPp8pqqotKaSXPYz0Sd1ZIbhLwjX_lS86QoVX6u1zAxqoD5n_bWg9rp1h2lziaEDn2m0tKgPXU7mh6afAdDkSGk5TeHCJGubY8VKfpQ955XkZeGuwZxYrjhInvrhXaAEaN27oQ2mUl1G1tXZYrSHELCdKe8bhUKDS8coCvIQzz-3ofNjtiUrnU/w200-h200/Roberto%20English%20Chamber%20Orchestra.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roberto Forés Veses (Courtesy ECO)</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKC1IBXhd-_iswZB6QLx3yHAymfb8nZPNVLNHM9RyxaWL6smHxBVx7_WFqia4BSutYfZ_p-3C1w1IerydHSSc0inPCvdt5Pfm91-uilT77lfZ6VnCdH1EP3yYmmbDQU1aqAaKV8qlU6Xwz27-cekABVaqQ1zTylTkXHWvPqUFXb-4sY464ENbHA3xn_0/s1024/Silver-Garburg%20Duo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1024" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKC1IBXhd-_iswZB6QLx3yHAymfb8nZPNVLNHM9RyxaWL6smHxBVx7_WFqia4BSutYfZ_p-3C1w1IerydHSSc0inPCvdt5Pfm91-uilT77lfZ6VnCdH1EP3yYmmbDQU1aqAaKV8qlU6Xwz27-cekABVaqQ1zTylTkXHWvPqUFXb-4sY464ENbHA3xn_0/w320-h214/Silver-Garburg%20Duo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gil Garburg, Sivan Silver (silvergarburg.com)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Seeing
the Recanati Auditorium of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art packed to capacity on
February 22nd 2024 was proof that the Israel Chamber Orchestra's
all-Mendelssohn concert was of great appeal to the concert-going public and
that "Mendelssohn's Birthday" (February 4th) was a celebration not to
be missed. Conducting the ICO was <span style="background: white;">Roberto Forés
Veses (Spain-France). Guest artists were </span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Sivan Silver and Gil
Garburg (Israel-Germany, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Silver-Garburg Piano Duo</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">).</span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Felix Mendelssohn's one-act Singspiel "</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: #202020; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Heimkehr aus der Fremde" (1829) ("Son and
Stranger" or "Return of the Roamer") </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">might be considered "musica rara" by most
audiences. The composer wrote the light opera (a comedy of mistaken identities)
to be played at </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">his</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> parents'
silver wedding anniversary celebration. The Tel Aviv concert opened with its Overture Op.89, the ICO's playing underscoring the piece's charm and wit
with lush and expressive playing. Then, to more familiar repertoire. In
1842, Mendelssohn was commissioned by the King of Prussia to provide incidental
music for a production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Mendelssohn
seems to have had no trouble in creating music depicting the world of
fairies and human lovers. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In a
letter, his sister Fanny had written: “We have really grown up together </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">with the 'Midsummer Night’s Dream' and Felix, in
particular, has made it his own." Forés Veses and the ICO players
performed two of the eleven pieces: the Intermezzo </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">(</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">between Acts II and III</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">)</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> lively, featherweight and restless, depicting
Hermia's agitation as she searches for her lover Lysander lost in the wood.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Nocturne, describing Puck’s magical control
over the befuddled quartet of lovers as they sleep in the forest, features one
of Mendelssohn’s finest and most poignant horn solos (here, with a couple of
"clams"), the horn sound evoking the warm serenity of a summer night.
I always enjoy the fine, glowing quality of the ICO's wind players. With winds
cardinal in Mendelssohn's instrumental music, the players' rich timbres were
prominent throughout the concert. </span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Mendelssohn was thirteen when the family left
Germany to spend two years in Switzerland. There, Felix produced four string
symphonies, a violin sonata, a piano quintet, the early C Minor Symphony, a
double concerto for violin and piano and the two concertos for two pianos, the
latter probably written with his sister and himself in mind. The first private
performance of the E Major Concerto took place at one of the Sunday concerts </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">taking place </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">at the Mendelssohn house in Berlin. Written at age
14, it was regarded as immature by the budding composer. Hence, it was set
aside and not published. Remaining in manuscript until 1961, the <i>Leipziger
Ausgabe der Werke Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy</i> issued a version
substantially revised by Mendelssohn himself and edited by Karl-Heinz Köhler.
At the ICO concert, Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg's handling of the piano roles
- of the two pianos with each other and with the orchestra - highlighted Mendelssohn's
astonishing creativity and flair, reminding the listener that the adolescent
Mendelssohn was already the great melodist of the "Songs without
Words", au courant with the German virtuoso piano school and on the verge
of artistic maturity. In this sparkling, untroubled work</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">,</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> brimming with youthful vivacity, the composer
skilfully weaves darker colours into the music to create contrasts, as heard in
the delectable slow movement which was spelled out with warmth, elegance and
grace. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Altogether, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Silver and
Garburg engaged in spirited and imaginative interplay, the latter allowing for
their individual personalities to shine through. They thrilled the audience with
the dashing scales, arpeggios and fleet-footed figurations (albeit articulately
enounced) in the final movement. Add to these the ICO's sympathetic
strings and delightful wind playing. For their encore, Silver and Garburg
played the sprightly Scherzo from Mendelssohn’s own four-hand (one piano)
transcription of the incidental music to "A Midsummer Night's
Dream". </span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In October 1830, Felix Mendelssohn travelled to
Italy, remaining there for ten months. Impressions of the trip remain in a
series of watercolours and sketches he produced, but also in Symphony No.4 in A
major Op.90, "Italian". Apart from the final movement, the symphony
is not Italian music as such; rather, it puts into sounds the composer's
response to the congeniality of </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: #231f20; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Mediterranean sunshine (Mendelssohn referred to the symphony as a “blue
sky in A major”), to Italy's </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">religious
solemnity, monumental art and architecture and to the beauty of the Italian
countryside. Roberto Forés Veses led the ICO instrumentalists through the work
in all its </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">luxuriance, grace</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> and
flavours, his uniquely definitive and elegant conducting language addressing
the score's gestures and minutest details</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">,</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> summoning
up the forthright joy and immediacy of the opening Allegro vivace, the wistful
ambiance of the Andante con moto (recalling processions Mendelssohn had
witnessed in Rome) and presenting a finely-shaped and supple reading of the
Minuet (Con moto moderato). With the raucous Neapolitan saltarello as its
basis, the final movement was a scene of joyful abandon, hurtling to a close
with a minor-key reiteration of the first movement’s opening theme. </span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Felix Mendelssohn died before reaching the age of
40. One can only speculate what musical riches were denied the world by so
tragically early a demise. </span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-85401269567140958882024-02-25T21:47:00.000-08:002024-02-25T22:02:53.426-08:00Pianist Daniel Gortler's recent recording of Edvard Grieg's "Lyric Pieces"<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGtCtsGaOd9YBMeZcvLI3IgtN_UQ-s2kZXxslGOs2bra0Ouhcwhj8jMc8kz7ybSetpIF0HWO7CFkKhPV7P_sbw3DV4qMhAU0bNfdzY6l95wFRJKCY686hVZ2YCGlexIRzVIhgjo4YMr5gFt98EBfsbjy4V26LkcDGKxjwW3g7ftXySPD7GK9qePHkSF8M/s1000/Daniel%20Gortler%20Lyric%20Pieces.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGtCtsGaOd9YBMeZcvLI3IgtN_UQ-s2kZXxslGOs2bra0Ouhcwhj8jMc8kz7ybSetpIF0HWO7CFkKhPV7P_sbw3DV4qMhAU0bNfdzY6l95wFRJKCY686hVZ2YCGlexIRzVIhgjo4YMr5gFt98EBfsbjy4V26LkcDGKxjwW3g7ftXySPD7GK9qePHkSF8M/s320/Daniel%20Gortler%20Lyric%20Pieces.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Edvard Grieg's "Lyric Pieces" for piano
were written between 1867 and 1901, the sixty</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">-</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">six pieces published in ten books. Somewhat
suggestive of Robert Schumann's piano cycles (but without their feverish
intensity) they reflect Grieg's rich world of fantasy, of empathy and also the
folk music of his native Norway. Indeed, Grieg has imbued these Romantic
miniatures with an aura and pianistic approach that are uniquely his.
American-Israeli pianist Daniel Gortler recently recorded a selection of the pieces,
the line-up of which being of his own choosing and not conforming to the order
in which they were written.</span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Gortler addresses the melodic shaping, the ample
realm of changing harmonies and the essence of each musical vignette with
insight and conviction. Enlisting his signature sensitive pianistic touch and
whistle-clean finger dexterity, the artist probes the many mood pieces -
"Arietta" Op.12/3, "Berceuse" Op.38/1, for example; they
emerge lyrical, introspective, wistful and highly personal in character. In his
reading of "Vanished Days" Op.57/1, Gortler's playing is rich in
textural and emotional content, nostalgic and so very touching. Then there are
pieces evoking the world of nature - the vivid, effervescent, many-directional
movement of water in "Brooklet" Op. 62/4, the descriptive fluttering
of tiny wings in "Butterfly" Op.43/1 ending in the blink of any eye, little hops of the endearing "Little Bird" Op.43/4, the piece's
quirky </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: #202020; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">ornaments
produced with meticulous precision</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. In "To the Spring", Gortler conveys
Grieg's sense of wonder and joy inspired by the arrival of spring. As to
items describing the day's end, Notturno Op.54/4, with its chromatic moments,
reflects some waves of unrest, compared to the composer's sense of peace,
tranquillity and intimacy in "Summer's Eve" Op.71/2. We are reminded
of Grieg's folk heritage, here and there in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>glimpse</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">s</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, but more specifically in "Norwegian
Dance" Op.47/4, its drone and modal melody evoking the character of the
early fiddle, and in the appealing simplicity of the "Peasant's
Song". The whimsical "March of the Dwarfs" (Trolls),
conjures up the boisterous imaginary inhabitants of the Jotunheimen mountains.
Bristling with mischief, precise fingerwork and the effects of strategic
timing, Gortler's performance of "Puck" Op.71/3 reminds us that the
fairy world is not all goodness and generosity. (In Scandinavia, Puck is
portrayed as a Norse demon, indeed, sometimes associated with the devil.) Not
only did Schumann write a piano piece entitled "Gade", his third
piano trio was also dedicated to Niels Wilhelm Gade, a close family friend.
Grieg, in the "Lyric Pieces" pays tribute to the same Danish
composer/conductor, who had been a major influence on him in his early years.
"Gade" Op.57/2 is a light-hearted, spirited piece.</span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">A true master of the miniature, Daniel Gortler
captures the moods and characterization, the Nordic flavour, the fairytale
magic, the nature scenes and, above all, the refined emotions expressed in the
"Lyric Pieces" heard in th</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">is</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> recording. Offering rich and subtle expression to Grieg's </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">“</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">poetic diary</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">”</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, his playing is delicate, polished and
transparent, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">inviti</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">ng the
composer's character and personality to shine through the content of each
small, finely-formed musical sketch. </span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Grieg "Lyric Pieces" (Prospero Classical)
was recorded (2021, 2022) at the Jerusalem Music Centre on a Steinway grand
piano. Daniel Gortler is a Steinway artist.</span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsdjVPlkEMzXSmItXZ3zaZkrS3fzZURUNwwB0v0yJwepLvmHYijqCGZqk5Or6YvQuEF0pSeSNIW7hNHsjsipT3hio2bSIxPd3KUAiDDj5mlV40sHRQ69vLY9QS8ZN4RLSVlcybCU-Jc4w1fkrS3qLT2ERl8KNnawVmdT0J3v5LZptnRoTbw42TGPrvzf4/s224/Daniel%20Gortler%20schubertiade.co.il.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="224" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsdjVPlkEMzXSmItXZ3zaZkrS3fzZURUNwwB0v0yJwepLvmHYijqCGZqk5Or6YvQuEF0pSeSNIW7hNHsjsipT3hio2bSIxPd3KUAiDDj5mlV40sHRQ69vLY9QS8ZN4RLSVlcybCU-Jc4w1fkrS3qLT2ERl8KNnawVmdT0J3v5LZptnRoTbw42TGPrvzf4/s1600/Daniel%20Gortler%20schubertiade.co.il.jpg" width="224" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel Gortler (www.schubertiade.co.il)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">
<br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-IL"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-20904113100393118832024-02-17T22:23:00.000-08:002024-02-18T04:13:49.012-08:00Tenor Daniel Johannsen in a new two-CD set of Schubert's "Die schöne Müllerin": CD1 with Christoph Hammer (fortepiano);CD2 in Tom Randle's setting for tenor and string quartet<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgntnGF-r7gqjpFs7SWN00H6AndhgXIexqjQztHosnlVPOfNXVHRQ4_NtMXoMU5DZnsvl2c3Sa6AKEVASqcdOaxevB-jJj-G1xfF8bq8rhx_j6oCF6DPI0t8l0Hzs4MDoFWaP_OTlVB3-lXXZO3S5iOVJAFmuL02EQNT-pGwPwj668XzXvOHemGXcnLuOQ/s225/johannsen%20schoene.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgntnGF-r7gqjpFs7SWN00H6AndhgXIexqjQztHosnlVPOfNXVHRQ4_NtMXoMU5DZnsvl2c3Sa6AKEVASqcdOaxevB-jJj-G1xfF8bq8rhx_j6oCF6DPI0t8l0Hzs4MDoFWaP_OTlVB3-lXXZO3S5iOVJAFmuL02EQNT-pGwPwj668XzXvOHemGXcnLuOQ/s1600/johannsen%20schoene.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">At
the beginning of the 19th century, the intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie of
German-speaking countries were much occupied with their love of nature. Rising
economic activity and growing wealth allowed for the leisure time necessary to
enjoy their passion for the outdoors, for country walks and even for long
journeys on foot. "Die schöne Müllerin" </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">(The Fair Maid of the Mill) </span><span lang="en-IL"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Op.</span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">2, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">D.795, Franz Schubert's setting
of poems of Wilhelm Müller, celebrates the influence of nature on man's
emotions, but with added dimensions of a storyline.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">first of Schubert's two seminal song cycles
(preceding the "Winterreise"</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">), it </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">is usually performed by a pianist and a solo
singer, the vocal part falling within the range of the tenor (or soprano)
voice. Transposed to a lower range, however, it can also be sung by other
voices, a precedent established by Schubert himself. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Actually,
Müller's first large-scale poem cycle originated from a literary </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">parlour </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">game </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">taking place</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">
in 1816, where the poet joined friends at the home of a German privy councillor
to create a "Liederspiel" (a narrative play told in poetry and song),
the subject of which was the folk story of a false-hearted miller maiden moving
between various suitors. Müller eventually completed the cycle of poems,
combining the roles of gardener and miller into a single character and telling
the entire story from the miller's point of view. <span style="background: white;">Schubert
came across the poems in late 1822. Wishing to create songs on a grand
emotional scope, the composer was drawn to this cycle; it occupied him much in
1823. Publishing </span>"Die schöne Müllerin" D.795 in Vienna in
August 1824, Franz Schubert chose twenty of the poems, creating one of the first
song cycles in music history. Sadly, Müller, who had claimed that his poems
"lead but half a life, a paper existence of black-and-white, until music
breathes life into them ..." probably died unaware of the fact that
Schubert had put this poem cycle to music.</span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In Schubert's time, the singer would have been
joined by a fortepianist. In this 2-disc recording for the hänssler Classic
label (2023), the first disc presents Austrian tenor Daniel Johannsen
performing the song cycle with fortepianist Christoph Hammer (Germany). In the
second disc, we hear Johannsen singing </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">"Die
schöne Müllerin" with the Alinde Quartett (2022)<span style="background: white;"> in a groundbreaking setting by renowned US-born
composer/conductor/tenor Tom Randle </span></span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">With much focus on the music of Schubert, Johannsen
and Hammer have collaborated frequently, both in live performance and in
recordings. Their reading of </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">"Die schöne Müllerin" <span style="background: white;">addresses each and every aspect of the cycle as the
narrative thread unfolds - the miller's naivety, expressed with </span>artfully-stylised
folksiness, outbursts of ecstatic exuberance of love, <span style="background: white;">together with</span> the deep tragedy of the events which unfold in
their full intensity. The two artists conjointly highlight the sheer beauty of
Schubert's melodic shaping, the composer's economic but striking use of
dissonances and the constant duality reflected in rapid changes between major
and minor. Nature, in all its splendour, emerges fresh and enticing as it
reflects the miller's emotional state throughout. Hammer's playing is buoyant
and articulate as he and Johannsen communicate hand-in-glove </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">at</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> each turn of phrase of </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">the </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Müller
text, with the murmuring brook and the turning of the mill wheel the most
constant and symbolic backdrop elements to the diegesis. Playing on an original
fortepiano by Conrad Graf, Hammer displays </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">its</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> warmth of sound, the delicacy
and emotional and dramatic variety offered by this instrument and of his own
musical palette. I<span style="background: white;">nstead of bowing to restraint
(a quality so often attributed to the fortepiano), Hammer invites the
instrument's capacity for expressive freedom and considerable carrying power to
serve the music and words. With the direct action of the small hammers on the
strings and the natural decay in the mechanism, there is space between the
notes, rendering clarity of delivery. Johannsen, engaging his wonderfully
distinct diction and meticulously-defined phrasing, unveils the gestures and meaning of each song, his richness
and radiance of timbre, his fine vocal and interpretational skills giving expression
to the emotions and meaning (camouflaged and otherwise) present in each song.
The result of superb teamwork, Johannsen and Hammer's performance is precise in
detail and subtle, indeed, a convincing, gripping and moving interpretation.</span></span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">And to the Tom Randle setting. Remaining faithful
to Schubert's text and concept, Randle underscores key words and creates fine
contrasts between intimate, jubilant and vehement moments. Translating the
fuller, more dramatic keyboard textures into the string quartet medium, Randle
adds extra melodic lines, "comments" and some doubling. There is much
delicacy and beauty both in the setting and in the Alinde Quartett's superbly
eloquent, attentive playing. Daniel Johannsen relates- and reacts to the string
players and to Randle's spectrum of references.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The adaptation is profound and it is </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">indeed </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">very Schubert. I personally missed the fortepiano
textures when it came to certain associations, especially those of the
mechanical, pounding mill-wheels and </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">the
burbling brook, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">keyboard
timbres</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> so intrinsic and unique to the
work.<span style="background: white;"> Still, Randle's transcription is refined,
intelligent and aesthetically </span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">appealing</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. It asks to be listened to again and again.</span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="en-IL" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Recorded in Grafrath (CD 1) and Ratingen (CD 2),
Germany, the sound quality is lush and convincing.</span><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzf4XIi6DxnKo3fzj5gr6t_seohH758fOg9vAY1r2WVk9YB3G1PhIgus23GH_QeCZcU6HPCDShDzy9v-cQ9EO9ObH9toWsU27_HsrHFRhcUciZIrB30Gn12UV0uMokMNhV3CXmV9QHgBrbJUQXNAk4IWef65G7lm5kzhPpWTR47FAA1yJU9YTDaZ0SS8/s225/Tom%20Randle@tomrandle.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzf4XIi6DxnKo3fzj5gr6t_seohH758fOg9vAY1r2WVk9YB3G1PhIgus23GH_QeCZcU6HPCDShDzy9v-cQ9EO9ObH9toWsU27_HsrHFRhcUciZIrB30Gn12UV0uMokMNhV3CXmV9QHgBrbJUQXNAk4IWef65G7lm5kzhPpWTR47FAA1yJU9YTDaZ0SS8/w200-h200/Tom%20Randle@tomrandle.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom Randle@tomrandle</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span lang="en-IL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: #0C00; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br />
<br />
<br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><span lang="en-IL"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUYX11L20elZEulz3Y4k5Sz2h-9lmav7VCarjkypbiUvpg-tOQEkSsqNjmWJZKJ4mB4xgbWniGnT95QvMJhUbJXSyE6xawi2YN2lk8AlEvOEVIckoaHyxv4v9imIYwbqGvPtxVaMJ0-AUYGPSmWzwQ6atjfA2tg9dMZq4-ejAFAJVpnkGqxTXpQEdZQs/s801/Johannsen%20Hammer%20kulturhaus.lu.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="801" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUYX11L20elZEulz3Y4k5Sz2h-9lmav7VCarjkypbiUvpg-tOQEkSsqNjmWJZKJ4mB4xgbWniGnT95QvMJhUbJXSyE6xawi2YN2lk8AlEvOEVIckoaHyxv4v9imIYwbqGvPtxVaMJ0-AUYGPSmWzwQ6atjfA2tg9dMZq4-ejAFAJVpnkGqxTXpQEdZQs/w200-h137/Johannsen%20Hammer%20kulturhaus.lu.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christoph Hammer (kulturhaus.lu)</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-72279490209895664062024-01-26T07:51:00.000-08:002024-01-26T08:08:27.084-08:00"Women in Music" - the Carmel Quartet (Israel) presents works by women composers and discusses three courageous women composers<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFk2d5BM7K0-WaPmKGVK3jmczQ3kyKURYvDZ41Byab3H2X8CuRD_a_Rbes-SRY5usZuAn7nA5Z1LFvOxQprdGfY3Nfvk2etZecwJLYgw9TRHBoCIllL6vg-br4YH54zz1w0nmbQCZZKqbCDJ3CpCb3wIAlE2X9LwsVNu50sGgSxzZSERqdhdJ-DVdim8U/s701/Carmel%20Quartet%20Women%20in%20Music.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="526" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFk2d5BM7K0-WaPmKGVK3jmczQ3kyKURYvDZ41Byab3H2X8CuRD_a_Rbes-SRY5usZuAn7nA5Z1LFvOxQprdGfY3Nfvk2etZecwJLYgw9TRHBoCIllL6vg-br4YH54zz1w0nmbQCZZKqbCDJ3CpCb3wIAlE2X9LwsVNu50sGgSxzZSERqdhdJ-DVdim8U/w300-h400/Carmel%20Quartet%20Women%20in%20Music.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yoel Greenberg,Sarit Shley Zondiner,Tali Goldberg,Rachel Ringelstein,Tami Waterman (Courtesy Sarit Shley Zondiner)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Opening
"Women in Music", Concert No.2 of the Carmel Quartet's 2023-2024
Strings and More series, Prof. Yoel Greenberg, the quartet's musical director
and violist, spoke about brave women. The concert itself was dedicated to the
memory of one such brave woman - <span style="background: white;">Staff Sgt. Yam
Glass, 20, an observation soldier in the Israeli Armed Forces, who was murdered
on October 7 2023 at the outset of the current war. This writer attended the
English-language presentation at the Jerusalem Music Centre, Mishkenot
Shaananim, on January 17th, 2024.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The evening opened with much interesting
information and the performance of works by three courageous women composers -
composers of three different periods and from three different continents. The
first movement of Maddalena Lombardini Sirman's Quartet Opus 3 No.2 was
performed behind a screen, symbolizing the iron grate behind which the
brilliant young women musicians of the Ospedale di San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti
(one of four such music schools in Venice) were obliged to perform in the name
of modesty. Lombardini (1745-1818), one of the school's most famous pupils, was
a virtuoso violinist (a student of the great Tartini), a composer and, later
on, a singer. She was the first woman to compose string quartets at a time when
the genre was still extremely new and in its formal, experimental stage.
Indeed, Prof. Greenberg referred to Lombardini Sirman as a
"trailblazer for women". The Carmel Quartet's buoyant playing
highlighted the slow–fast two-movement quartet's freshness, its geniality,
variety of colours and richness of form.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It was only in the 1990s, when women musicians
championed her work, that interest in American composer Amy Beach (1867-1944)
led to a revisiting of her compositions and newfound respect for her
achievements. A child prodigy, she became a virtuoso pianist, emerging as the
most frequently performed composer of her generation and the first woman to
succeed as a composer of large-scale symphonic music. Beach assumed many
leadership positions, advancing the cause of American women composers and
proving to be a stickler for authenticity in the quotation of folk themes. One
instance of the latter is her Quartet in One Movement Op.89, through which are
threaded three Eskimo (or Inuit) tunes. The Carmel players gave expression to
the splendid writing of the tripartite piece, its beauty, lyricism and
intensity and to the textures arising from its mix of dissonance, chromatics
and irresolute tonality, presenting a fine example of American music of the
time. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">And to a work of another go-ahead young woman
composer. "Shira" for string quartet was written especially for this
program by prominent Israeli composer Sarit Shley Zondiner (b.1984), today a
faculty member of Haifa University. Shley Zondiner addresses the impact
that background has on foreground, both musically and emotionally.
"Shira" (Hebrew: song, singing), two movements written for string
quartet and recorded electronic sound, takes the listener into a sound world of
uncompromising timbres, otherworldly effects, engaging layering and intensity.
Interesting music indeed, the melodic- and textural sentiments expressed
in it certainly sounding indicative of these anguished times. The Carmel
players' reading of this challenging piece was scholarly and detailed, but also
decidedly insightful and compassionate. Of her music, the composer writes:
" I create complex soundscapes, utilizing extended techniques and
combining 'noise', rich harmonies and wide-ranging melodies."</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The evening's subject matter - women's standing in
music in the western world through the ages - was presented captivatingly by
Prof. Greenberg (a native English speaker), with much interesting and amusing
detail added (in fine English) by the three other Carmel Quartet members - Rachel
Ringelstein and Tali Goldberg (violin) and 'cellist Tami Waterman. If
"sexist" can be defined as "characterized by- or showing
prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination, typically against women, on the
basis of sex" one must assume that the world of western music has been
dominated and impeded by this attitude for a very long time.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">There was also talk of the concept of
"masculine" and "feminine" types of music. Beethoven's
music was considered "masculine". In 1927, French dramatist, novelist
and mystic Romain Rolland proclaimed Beethoven's masculinity, rejecting the
Romantics' association of the composer's music as having feminine
qualities. The "Women in Music" event concluded with Ludwig Van
Beethoven's Quartet Op.95 in F minor "Serioso" (1810). As to the
quartet's opening, with the four instruments in unison pouring forth one of the
composer's most violent statements, the first violin (Ringelstein) in wild
octave leaps and the ensuing slashing scale passages, all these would suggest that the
work reflects the composer's depth of despair at the time. The players'
songful, questioning and reflective rendition of the ensuing Allegretto gave
way to the strongly chiselled and propulsive Allegro, its intensity temporarily
relieved by the hymn-like nature of the middle section. As to the final
movement, following the tense, contemplative Larghetto opening, we meet
Beethoven in a sudden surge of major-key good humour. Interestingly, Beethoven
acknowledged the radical nature of the work when he wrote to Sir George Smart
(a member of the Philharmonic Society, London) maintaining that the Op.95
Quartet had been "written for a small circle of connoisseurs and is never
to be performed in public". This request may have been made due to the
work's prematurely experimental nature…not, I am sure, due to its masculinity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-56689242711915805592024-01-07T00:34:00.000-08:002024-01-07T00:38:44.933-08:00The gala concert of the A-Cappella Jerusalem Vocal Ensemble draws a large audience. Conductor/music director: Judi Axelrod<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XHPShky7bby5AJw6KMkp-tvJjL98kQJ5YKqu2UPjRBTftYZqSfXpRud3-hneix7eHlZIJgseQr69XVhP5tvvPMSFp_qP5_aCxQcx2oP1j2iBYB-JJ4GoU0nl_LQp7CtYU3BLKgetzhvlfCjnjR6Onkp-_rJL8iepKy2R65KsswTn9a2bTpxVsNhSX4E/s2486/Judi%20Axelrod%20Photo%20Rahel%20Sharon%20Jaskow.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2486" data-original-width="2430" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XHPShky7bby5AJw6KMkp-tvJjL98kQJ5YKqu2UPjRBTftYZqSfXpRud3-hneix7eHlZIJgseQr69XVhP5tvvPMSFp_qP5_aCxQcx2oP1j2iBYB-JJ4GoU0nl_LQp7CtYU3BLKgetzhvlfCjnjR6Onkp-_rJL8iepKy2R65KsswTn9a2bTpxVsNhSX4E/s320/Judi%20Axelrod%20Photo%20Rahel%20Sharon%20Jaskow.jpg" width="313" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judi Axelrod (Rahel Sharon Jaskow)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Taking
place on January 2nd 2024 in the Henry Crown auditorium of the Jerusalem
Theatre, the gala concert of the A-Cappella Jerusalem Vocal Ensemble was a
festive affair. The first thing one noticed was the choir's new, larger format.
The concert was conducted by Judi Axelrod</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">(conductor
of the A-Cappella Singers as of 2003), who has been working with the
newly-expanded ensemble for some nine months. A cooperative project of choral
conductor Ms. Ronit Banit and Mr. Ofer Amsalem (CEO of the Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra), the singers were joined by a small ensemble of JSO players and by
Netta Ladar (harpsichord/organ). There were also several vocal soloists.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
event opened with Antonio <span style="background: white;">Vivaldi's Kyrie RV
587, a work scored for two choirs and two groups of stringed instruments in the
Venetian antiphonal style of spatially divided musical groups. Despite the
choral-instrumental groups not being placed separately, one was ever aware of
the two groups' exchange of dialogue. The two forces progressed from agonizing
painful clashes through the joyful duet to a masterful fugal finale, the JSO
violinists offering a sparkling performance. In the second section of the Kyrie,
soprano Yeela Avital and Rahel Jaskow (mezzo-soprano) were answered by the
choir. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Countertenor Alon Harari's performance
of "Cum dederit" (Psalm 127, 2–3) from Vivaldi's "Nisi
Dominus" emerged reverent and mellifluous as he gave expression to the
aria's slow Siciliana style with its chromatically ascending lines, guiding the
listener through the intense melodiousness of the movement.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Of particular interest was </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frideric_Handel"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">George
Frideric Handel</span></a><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">’s secular
cantata "Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne" (HWV 74), scored for
choir, orchestra and vocal soloists and featuring a significant obbligato role
for the trumpet, here performed by Guy Sarig. The ode features a level of
virtuosity for both soloists and instrumentalists and quite some complexity in
the choral writing, the latter handled splendidly by the A-Cappella singers
with clear English diction and by the JSO players' crisp instrumental playing
in a performance articulate in its contrapuntal weave and contrasts. Soloists
Alon Harari and Yeela Avital collaborated well, matching gestures and ornaments
with precision.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Handel premiered his opera "Serse" on
April 15th 1738 at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket in London. The composer had
decided on a semi-historical plot involving the hot-blooded Persian tyrant
Xerxes. The London audience, however, disliked it and the first production was
a complete failure, the work becoming referred to as “one of the worst things
Handel ever set to music.” As a result, it disappeared from the stage for
almost two hundred years, to be revived only in 1924.The opera proper opens with
a short- and rather strange aria “Ombra mai fù” (Never was a shade) a love song
sung by Xerxes. The aria's rarefied atmosphere is meant ironically, as Xerxes
sings of his profound, heartfelt love not for a woman, but for a tree!
Harari showed fine vocal control as he shaped the emotional and dynamic course
of probably the most famous number from any of Handel's operas. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Then to the choir's sensitive handling, superb
choral colour and contemplative spirit in its performance of the unaccompanied
devotional prayer "Yihyu lerazon" (Let the words of my mouth) from
Ernest Bloch's "Avodath Hakodesh" (Sacred Service), the</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> neo-Romantic work inviting the choir's subtle
blend and ability for expressive phrasing.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Another a-cappella piece heard at the concert,
"Eshet Khayil'' (A Woman of Worth), by Israeli composer Mordecai Seter, is
based on a Bratslav Hasidic melody for the Friday evening recitation (Proverbs
31). Judi Axelrod led her singers through a precise, articulate performance of
it, the piece's clusters emerging in lush, shimmering textures. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Naomi Shemer was</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> hailed as the "first lady of Israeli song and poetry".
"Giora” expresses the nation's shared grief at the loss of its children
most persuasively as it remembers "B'khol Shanah Bastav Giora" (Every
Year in Autumn, Giora) in this elegy to Giora Shoham, a young victim of the Yom
Kippur War. The melody almost takes on the character of an art song, waxing and
waning in plangent gestures, sounding unmistakably like a tender prayer.
Axelrod's outstanding a-cappella arrangement of the song brims with musical
elements in a rich arrangement of layers, giving the stage to the vocal
expression and independent abilities of her singers.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Then, to a total shift of scene with a concert
performance of Act 2 of Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" (The Bat),
the performance deftly reflecting the work's mid-European mentality with its
irreverent humour and exciting music, its plot one of mistaken identities, </span><a href="http://www.utahopera.org/backstage/2018/04/dirty-dancing-the-waltz-king-vs-the-king-of-rock-and-roll/"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">scandalous
love interests</span></a><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">, absolute
chaos and hysterical outcomes. On one side of the stage, we see and hear young
promising singers Roi Witz, Eran Margalit and Dimitri Negrinovski; on the
other, Yeela Avital (Rosalinde), Nadezhda Gaidukova and Tali Ketzef. Ketzef,
always at home on stage, made for a coquettish, risqué Adele, with
mezzo-soprano Nadezhda Gaidukova (en travesti) playing a cunning, whimsical </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(248, 249, 250); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Prince Orlofsky, her young voice powerful and of a
unique, penetrating colour. Axelrod's direction of "D</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">ie Fledermaus" was savvy, as she gave the
stage to the operetta's drollery, its vocal elements and its splendid music,
the latter replete with numerous catchy waltz- and polka themes. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Indeed, an impressive gala concert with
interesting, well-balanced programming. Axelrod's careful approach to the
singing voice was apparent throughout, making for fine-spun-, well-blended
choral timbres. Following the evening of fine entertainment, we were reminded
of the reality of these times with the orchestra and choir's subdued and
moving performance of Judi Axelrod's re-arrangement of "Bring Him
Home" ("Les Misérables"), the words here changed to "Bring
them home" (in Hebrew and English), a fervent plea to bring the Israeli
hostages back from Gaza.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-16673841540366932932023-12-31T10:56:00.000-08:002023-12-31T22:47:23.319-08:00The 2023 Jerusalem International YMCA's Christmas concert features the Israel Camerata Jerusalem (conductor: Avner Biron). Soloists Rachel Frenkel (mezzo-soprano), Muki Zohar (oboe) <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAg4_4oLvyJ-PecDyNrZlvwrB0idAtsNrmxEhLrZigcn3prwv7t-O-HG410ulnBAEMTLk_9kSdTNJ5fWXCDxiKzYOMMclEmeKhIFtfWei6sO0KwTKlbyfjNaCNEsOd2DZyYI6VIsNRhu-L2dB6jnYlLLenQJnSob75wZQqlZEJZ-cH_S8hsCaqOdY-2s/s829/christmas_concenrt_YMCA_b2b7a0baba.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="829" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAg4_4oLvyJ-PecDyNrZlvwrB0idAtsNrmxEhLrZigcn3prwv7t-O-HG410ulnBAEMTLk_9kSdTNJ5fWXCDxiKzYOMMclEmeKhIFtfWei6sO0KwTKlbyfjNaCNEsOd2DZyYI6VIsNRhu-L2dB6jnYlLLenQJnSob75wZQqlZEJZ-cH_S8hsCaqOdY-2s/w400-h260/christmas_concenrt_YMCA_b2b7a0baba.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Greeting guests to the Jerusalem International YMCA
on December 24th 2023 were the many lights illuminating the impressive historic
building and the large, brightly lit Christmas tree, always a focal feature of
Jerusalem's King David St. during the festive season. Ringing out into the
crisp evening air were the festive sounds of Christmas carols played on the
YMCA's bell carillon, the only instrument of its kind in the entire Middle
East. Jerusalem residents, guests and tourists filled the auditorium to
celebrate Christmas eve with a concert performed by the Israel Camerata
Jerusalem conducted by its musical director Prof. Avner Biron. Soloists were
Rachel Frenkel (mezzo-soprano) and Muki Zohar (oboe.)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Welcoming the audience, Mr. Fadi Suidan, CEO of the
Jerusalem International YMCA, spoke of the YMCA as a beacon of unity and peace,
of its purpose and mission, its message of hope and as a place bringing
together people of different backgrounds.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The evening's program opened with Concerto Grosso
in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 by Arcangelo Corelli. Published posthumously in 1714,
one of Corelli's 12 Concerti Grossi Op. 6, it bears the inscription
"Fatto per la notte di Natale" (made for the night of
Christmas.) The Camerata performance unveiled the work's subtlety and
cantabile expressiveness, as the players leaned into the dissonances of the
noble, reflective slower movements, setting them against the buoyancy and joy
of the faster sections, the final Allegro segueing into the graceful Pastorale so
gently evocative of the flocks near Bethlehem in the Christmas scene. From J.S.Bach’s
Orchestral Suite No.3 BWV 1068, composed for his patron Prince Leopold of
Anhalt, comes the much-loved Air on the G string. It was thus titled after
violinist August Wilhelm's late 19th century arrangement of the Air for violin
and piano. (Transposing the key from its original D major to C major and taking
the melody down an octave, Wilhelm was able to play the piece on only one
string of his violin, the G string.) Maestro Biron and the Camerata players
gave a beautifully poised reading of the piece reflecting how elegantly Bach's
density of material is lodged in the finespun interweave of inner lines
over a walking bass line. One could not object to listeners at the YMCA event
gently humming along with the melody of possibly one of the most famous single
movements in Bach’s output!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">An enigmatic item on the program, however, was
"Three Pieces in the Old Style'' by eminent Polish composer Krysztof
Penderecki (1933-2020), a composer whose works from the 1960s placed him
firmly in the avant-garde scene, with music of sheer emotive power using new notation
methods, aggressive glissandi, massive tonal clusters and innovative vocal and
instrumental techniques. On the podium, Penderecki was an imposing figure who
conducted with sweeping gestures befitting his herculean music. His "Three
Pieces in the Old Style'' for string orchestra were commissioned for the
soundtrack for "The Saragossa Manuscript" (director: Wojciech Jerzy),
where they accompany scenes of a Baroque- or even Rococo-like atmosphere. At
the Christmas concert, t</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(248, 248, 248); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">he
beautiful, yet sad Aria (Lento) and two charming Minuets</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> (all pieces unexpectedly pleasing to the most
conservative of audiences) were given a performance that was refined,
understated and unmannered. I imagine Penderecki's "Three Pieces in the
Old Style '' must have shocked listeners when they first appeared in 1963. They
certainly took the YMCA audience by surprise! It is a fact that the composer
only released them for publication in 1989.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">One of the principal Italian composers of comic
operas Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801) did not write an oboe concerto: It was
Australian-born composer Arthur Benjamin who adapted four of the thirty-two
keyboard sonatas Cimarosa wrote after the style of Domenico Scarlatti, scoring
them for oboe and string orchestra, retaining most of the melody in the solo
voice. First oboe of the Israel Camerata Jerusalem Muki Zohar (b. 1973 Tel
Aviv) soloed in a pleasing, effortless performance of this much-loved
work, giving expression to its warm melodiousness, grace and plangent moments, also
bringing attention to its playful and good-naturedly cheeky elements, the
latter making reference to the exuberance and wit present in many of Cimarosa’s
operas. Orchestra and soloist discoursed splendidly, making for a sparkling
performance.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Israeli-born mezzo-soprano Rachel Frenkel enjoys an
international career on both opera- and concert stages. The Christmas program included
Frenkel's performance of three of the most prominent Baroque arias. Her stable,
resonant and substantial voice endorsed the soaring curve of the “Et exultavit
spiritus meus” (And my spirit rejoices) from J.S.Bach's "Magnificat",
as she carried the jubilation through the entire movement. Singing
"Erbarme dich, mein Gott" (Have mercy Lord, My God, for the sake of
my tears) from Bach's St. Matthew Passion, she gave expression to the aria's
aching beauty and profound sadness, the lamenting solo violin obligato
expressively interwoven by Camerata concertmaster Matan Dagan. And finally, Frenkel's communicative performance of the virtuosic aria, “But who may abide/For He is
like a refiner’s fire” from Handel's Messiah, its two contrasting sections
addressed skilfully and meaningfully, as in her treatment of the bravura
runs and also in the dramatic expression given to the ominous passages that precede
them. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Concluding the evening of
high-quality musical performance and true enjoyment, the Jerusalem YMCA's 2023
Christmas concert presented Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in a suave,
stylish rendition of Nemanja Marković's arrangement for string orchestra. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-81647322927366698812023-09-10T23:11:00.007-07:002023-09-10T23:13:29.678-07:00The opening concert of the 2023 Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival features works of Brahms, Mahler and Mieczyslaw Weinberg<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCP4KzKvDuzyam0ZeOmZ8CRaYifqhjkc7Yq4VK966QPTgleH4HG-87G9OduXOa_pJclL9V3C98xniB1t4Guu0UeXi1sUogFazSYIOoFMCFvN9Q29M6J0P9lQ0uOLWNizJUTEV2qO8HJKy6mUbtQao4Ntn57mItCoeyLFR6QKIzcmX4ORiRtnzTEg0tmxg/s226/Elena%20Baskirova%20JICMF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="223" data-original-width="226" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCP4KzKvDuzyam0ZeOmZ8CRaYifqhjkc7Yq4VK966QPTgleH4HG-87G9OduXOa_pJclL9V3C98xniB1t4Guu0UeXi1sUogFazSYIOoFMCFvN9Q29M6J0P9lQ0uOLWNizJUTEV2qO8HJKy6mUbtQao4Ntn57mItCoeyLFR6QKIzcmX4ORiRtnzTEg0tmxg/s1600/Elena%20Baskirova%20JICMF.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elena Bashkirova (Courtesy JICMF)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Established in 1998 by pianist Elena Bashkirova and
Adv. Yehezkel Beinisch, the annual Jerusalem International Chamber Music
Festival features renowned musicians together with outstanding upcoming younger
artists performing in diverse combinations of instruments. This writer attended
the 2023 festival’s opening event on September 5<sup>th</sup> at the Jerusalem
International YMCA. With each festival choosing a theme, that of the 2023 event
(September 5th to 10th) focused on migrant composers. The displacement of
composers in the 20th century, prompted by such constraints as antisemitism or
political persecution, with other composers seeking work or financial security,
has given rise to new styles in the language of musical repertoire. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Following words of welcome from Yehezkel Beinisch
(chairman, JICMF board), the festival took off on a stellar start with Gustav
Mahler's Piano Quartet in A minor, the work comprising only the first movement of
an abandoned piano quartet written by Mahler when a student at the Vienna
Conservatory, this piece ending up as the composer's sole surviving
instrumental chamber work. The artists (violinist Clara-Jumi Kang, violist
Adrien La Marca, 'cellist Tim Park, pianist Yulianna Avdeeva) gave insight into
the creative processes of the 16-year-old Mahler, as they wholeheartedly
addressed his early encounter with matters of musical form and texture. They
probed the work's lush, singing beauty, its uneven phrases, complex dissonances
and mood changes, inviting its ominous and foreboding moments and
passionately rhapsodic character to dictate tempo flexibility. Kang led
masterfully and expressively, with Avdeeva subtly endorsing the piece’s dramatic
intensity and disquiet via the piano's lower harmonies. In 1907, Mahler
migrated to America, hopeful of a new phase in his career, attracted by a
lighter conducting schedule, more time to compose and lavish monetary
earnings. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In 1850, Johannes Brahms met the Hungarian
violinist Ede Reményi, then to accompany him in a number of recitals over the
next few years. This was the composer’s introduction to gypsy-style music,
which was later to inspire his most lucrative and popular compositions - the
two sets of "Hungarian Dances" (pub.1869, 1880). Playing a selection
of Book 1 WoO1, a true festival treat was provided by French-born Nathalia
Milstein and Russian-born Yulianna Avdeeva. Performing the pieces in their
original setting (4 hands, 1 piano) the young artists</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #0f1111; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> captured the spontaneity and passion of Hungarian
gypsy music in playing that was clean, fresh, nuanced, at times majestic, at
others, poignant, with much dancelike joy and a touch of whimsy. Their playing
took on board the timbral variety and rich "orchestration" of the
4-hand piano genre, as they contrasted intimate, pared-down moments with
exhilarating tutti, to the enjoyment of the audience.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">And to the very different “mise en scene”
of Violin Sonata No.4, Op.39, by Polish-born Jewish composer/pianist
Mieczysław Weinberg </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #2c3e50; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">(1919–96)</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">. Weinberg’s flight from Nazi-occupied Europe was
rather different from the customary exile to the West. His move to the Soviet
Union in 1939 meant a second period of threat and discrimination under
Stalin. He was to live out the rest of his days in Russia, first unjustly
neglected but eventually enjoying considerable success as one of his adopted
country’s most celebrated and frequently performed composers, especially during
the 1960s and 1970s. At the Jerusalem concert, Weinberg's Violin Sonata No.4
(1947) was played by German-born Clara-Jumi Kang and Nathalia Milstein.
Alternately sombre and hectic, Weinberg's musical idiom stylistically mixes
traditional- and contemporary forms, combining a freely tonal, individual
language (inspired by Shostakovich) with ethnic (Jewish, Polish, Moldovan)
influences and a unique sense of form, harmony and colour. Performing with
unstinting discipline and dedication, Kang's playing produced pure,
unforced sounds at all levels of dynamics, with breathtaking virtuosity in the
fast perpetuum mobile section of the central movement. Milstein proved to
be the ideal partner, both in approach and ability. Their performance of
Weinberg’s slow-fast-slow structure gave a transparent reading of the
composer’s ideas, highlighting the substantial solo sections for each
instrument.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Mahler's 1901-2 settings of five poems of Romantic
German poet Friedrich Rückert, composed in one of the happiest periods of the
composer's life, do not constitute a song cycle. In fact, deciding the order
they are to be performed is left to the artists. At the Jerusalem concert, we
heard the songs sung by German soprano Dorothea Röschmann, with Elena
Bashkirova at the piano. The artists' mutual engagement, their focus on the
texts and on the distinctively otherworldly atmosphere permeating the
"Rückert-Lieder" emerged via the transparency, fragility, understatement
and the sensitive pacing of each song. As they conjured up sensations of love,
scents, night ponderings, indeed, "the feeling that fills us right up to
our lips but does not pass them” (in Mahler's own words) Röschmann used the
sounds and shapes of words to endorse their meaning.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">In the 1880s, when in his mid-fifties, Brahms
retired from composing, believing he had exhausted his creative powers.
However, it was hearing performances of clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld
(1856-1907) in the Meiningen Court Orchestra that inspired him to resume
composing. The Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op.115, written in the twilight of
his career, concluded the 2023 Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival's
opening concert, the performance bringing together five artists from different
corners of Europe: clarinettist Pablo Barragán, violinists Rainer Honeck and
Maria Ioudenitch, violist Adrien La Marca and 'cellist Ivan Karizna. Drawing
attention to its dark tonal hues, lush textures and sweeping, cantabile vocal
lines, the virtuosic "gypsy" section (2nd movement) and to the
brilliant variations of the fourth movement, the artists gave expression to the
quintet's poetic beauty, deep introspection, yearning, and melancholy as
well as to Brahms' consummate writing for the clarinet and chamber ensemble
medium. Young Pablo Barragán's playing underscored the piece's underlying depth
of sadness, also celebrating its moments of rhapsodic, wild gestures and
flickering textures.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">This was an evening of excellent programming,
matched by outstanding performance!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-92047513240389136122023-08-12T10:40:00.008-07:002023-08-12T10:58:36.955-07:00The Sounding Jerusalem Festival concludes with a concert of oriental instrumental and vocal music directed by Mahran Morab. Vocal soloist - Lamar Mireb<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCLUJ_zYRNu2wB6ZLbB22aWm4TuS_WlC72TeuvAB_N7W_7CmcxqBQIMJHlE2sDmQXIZ3c2A4mJZt2npccYfFhO4v1b-LjX1fqz3YLGmr2cFGNuToAV_e16_YLuYUzq-kUoHAOxXO1Jz67uVVi8QY-WC_O7zgXckE1YAYvaugcAy_Y3kApLWsq578beBmg/s600/Mahran-Moreb%20courtesy%20SJ%20Festival.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCLUJ_zYRNu2wB6ZLbB22aWm4TuS_WlC72TeuvAB_N7W_7CmcxqBQIMJHlE2sDmQXIZ3c2A4mJZt2npccYfFhO4v1b-LjX1fqz3YLGmr2cFGNuToAV_e16_YLuYUzq-kUoHAOxXO1Jz67uVVi8QY-WC_O7zgXckE1YAYvaugcAy_Y3kApLWsq578beBmg/w200-h200/Mahran-Moreb%20courtesy%20SJ%20Festival.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mahran Moreb (Courtesy Sounding Jerusalem 2023)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8LWhN7gJuBG989uw7M3ukM6OzSPC3pbLUkbkglatDGe8EtjJ74dG2Fo_mGpD_9fdvsXTXsHfOF0TLo5RYz-eYUR4V9xuVqJwSQ8nwpMH6JOSyv9GfdXNUNRmKndEGAgOqXVc6jkD6v5zRpPw2wR7neLyF0sLuese5zKjpEVWEkqMQX5SQEYZdavYiVnc/s600/Lamar-Mireb%20courtesy%20SJ%20Festival.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8LWhN7gJuBG989uw7M3ukM6OzSPC3pbLUkbkglatDGe8EtjJ74dG2Fo_mGpD_9fdvsXTXsHfOF0TLo5RYz-eYUR4V9xuVqJwSQ8nwpMH6JOSyv9GfdXNUNRmKndEGAgOqXVc6jkD6v5zRpPw2wR7neLyF0sLuese5zKjpEVWEkqMQX5SQEYZdavYiVnc/w200-h200/Lamar-Mireb%20courtesy%20SJ%20Festival.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lamar Mireb (Courtesy Sounding Jerusalem 2023)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The
evening of August 10th was balmy, ideal for a zesty concert in the medieval
courtyard of the Lutheran Redeemer Church in Jerusalem's Old City, a magical
venue offering fine acoustics and enhanced by lush foliage descending from
the upper balconies. The event was the final concert of the 2023 Sounding
Jerusalem Festival. The Right Rev. Joachim Lenz (Redeemer Church) opened the
event, mentioning the Redeemer Church as being in the heart of the Jerusalem
soundscape, the sounds heard there evident of the three religions represented in close proximity. He referred to the concert of local oriental music as "music of
the land". Sounding Jerusalem founder and director Austrian 'cellist Erich
Oskar Hutter spoke of the intensive week of festival concerts as having
been a "beautiful journey", creating a "musical family" and
always attracting a good mix of people. He stressed the importance of the
discussions following each concert. Huetter thanked all the festival's
partners, both local and from overseas. He alluded to the various concert
venues of this year's festival as "special, hidden, spiritual
places", settings that give rise to magical moments.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
closing concert mostly comprised works by composer/arranger and educationalist
Mahran Moreb - instrumental pieces, classical Arabic songs, with some influence
of Iraqi and Syrian folklore and the occasional reference to western-style
music - performed by 13 musicians, including a small chorus and the ensemble of
instrumentalists playing bowed-, plucked-, percussion instruments and keyboard,
with vocalist Lamar Mireb presenting the songs. All on stage were led by
Mahran Moreb himself on qanun (<span style="background: white;">a type of large
zither with a thin trapezoidal soundboard, having a distinctive, melodramatic timbre).</span>
Explaining the program, Moreb (with double bass player <span style="background: white;">Eleni Mustaklem </span>translating his words into English<span style="background: white;">) spoke of the concert as being a "musical
journey", many of the songs speaking of love (and its complications) and
the fleeting nature of life. </span> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">With no further ado, the ensemble launched into the
music, sweeping the audience into its candid, highly-coloured,
robustly-textured and forthright presentation, its accessible and
sensitively-shaped melodic content and its compelling, foot-tapping rhythms.
Her voice stable, powerful and well anchored, Lamar Mireb's singing of the songs
was convincing and passionate. Although we non-Arabic speakers were at a slight
disadvantage as to the content of the vocal material, Mireb, supported by the
small chorus of singers, conveyed the emotions to the audience. Under the
watchful eye of Moreb, the artists presented us with an evening of highly
polished performance. Most delectable were the several instrumental solos
performed by ensemble members and by Moreb himself, these wonderful moments
highlighting the individual players' fine musicianship, virtuosity and
invention.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Sounding Jerusalem 2023 signed out on a high note!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnyoi_EjJDvPAV5cRBp88A6Fr8xIfpIDfV11jzPSdTpBXBsEh4rKYEExluHqiiSlE509ffrb2Udq9A4LK9mv-cVukPrq_X2WESit8qXlugTUtqxtgrFdKYwbG7k0BtjbyGo6FGQqLvzNY3ma_6N14ZcL0WcIgANSoRb-6Qqz63zowUvjeHEujp9uBiX0/s4000/Sounding%20Jerusalem%20Peter%20Shelley.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsnyoi_EjJDvPAV5cRBp88A6Fr8xIfpIDfV11jzPSdTpBXBsEh4rKYEExluHqiiSlE509ffrb2Udq9A4LK9mv-cVukPrq_X2WESit8qXlugTUtqxtgrFdKYwbG7k0BtjbyGo6FGQqLvzNY3ma_6N14ZcL0WcIgANSoRb-6Qqz63zowUvjeHEujp9uBiX0/w300-h400/Sounding%20Jerusalem%20Peter%20Shelley.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Peter Tilley</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span><p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-65636280560010684902023-08-07T21:16:00.008-07:002023-08-07T22:44:05.228-07:00The 2023 Sounding Jerusalem Festival opens at the Redeemer Church (Jerusalem) with a concert of works of Richard Strauss, Gideon Klein and Tchaikovsky<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBjKovOaVUOcxpAAbYazN4srfWzuaoQklG0TV-bEie-aX7xyAYnpfxdE5LukwFLhIkw5sguWhoxqgV5YOnyyZTX6WFOvc6CEaDFXwYzhPH0tYHfe3oRBmU2r03snZduvkWm1dcI8emvMvcHSI_tlDzdrY57jJ9gUgL4UGK8H1XlVByy_KUYbapLslQNs/s3008/Erich-Oskar-Huetter-%20trashPHOTOGRAPHY.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3008" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBjKovOaVUOcxpAAbYazN4srfWzuaoQklG0TV-bEie-aX7xyAYnpfxdE5LukwFLhIkw5sguWhoxqgV5YOnyyZTX6WFOvc6CEaDFXwYzhPH0tYHfe3oRBmU2r03snZduvkWm1dcI8emvMvcHSI_tlDzdrY57jJ9gUgL4UGK8H1XlVByy_KUYbapLslQNs/s320/Erich-Oskar-Huetter-%20trashPHOTOGRAPHY.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erich Oskar Huetter (trashPHOTOGRAPHY)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Taking
place on August 3rd at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem's Old City,
"Capriccio" launched the 2023 Sounding Jerusalem Festival with
exhilaration, creating interest in events in the week to follow. Sounding Jerusalem
was established in 2006 by Austrian 'cellist Erich Oskar, who continues to
direct the annual festival. The artists include established musicians as well
as gifted younger players, together exploring a diverse range of European
classical repertoire, but also jazz and local ethnic music. The Right Rev. Joachim
Lenz (Redeemer Church) opened the event by reminding the audience in these
turbulent times that beautiful music in beautiful places brings people
together. Maestro Huetter added that it was an honour and a privilege to be
back making music in Jerusalem.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Performing
this concert were Austrian violinists Eszter Haffner and Johannes Meissl,
violists Anna Brugger (Switzerland/Germany) and Patrick <span style="background: white;">Jüdt (Switzerland) and 'cellists Matthias Johansen (Germany) and Erich
Oskar Huetter. The program opened with the Sextet that forms the Overture to
"Capriccio" (1942), Richard Strauss' last stage work, an opera on the
subject of opera, dealing with the age-old question about the opera genre:
which is more important, the words or the music? The Sextet is frequently heard
as a stand-alone work; in fact, it was first performed before the premiere of
the opera itself! Richard Strauss is writing in the post-Wagnerian late
Romantic style of extended tonality. Binding the piece together is the
recurring melodic motive announced by the 1st violin in the opening bars. Led
manifestly by Meissl, the artists' playing of the Sextet was imaginative,
fresh, lush and empathic, at times reflecting the score’s unsettled moods, as
they probed the music's gestures and emotions with both involvement and
subtlety. Their performance invited the audience to delight in the radiant
brightness of tone, the silken luminosity inherent in Strauss’ six-string
writing. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">We then heard Haffner, Brugger and Huetter in a
performance of Gideon Klein's Trio for violin, viola and 'cello. Moravian-born
Jewish pianist/composer/</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1a1818; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">arranger/accompanist
and repairer of instruments</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Gideon
Klein </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1a1818; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">was a pivotal figure in the
cultural life of the </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Terezin
prison camp and ghetto. The String Trio, his final composition (and probably
the last major work to be composed by anyone in Terezín) was completed in
October 1944, ten days before Klein's deportation to Auschwitz. He was murdered
at age 25 in the Fürstengrube camp. Many of his compositions were entrusted to
a fellow prisoner who survived, later to pass them onto Klein’s sister, pianist
Eliška (Lisa) Kleinová. Vigorous and articulate, the Sounding Jerusalem artists'
playing of the work highlighted Klein's harmonic sophistication and rhythmic
dynamism, the brief outer movements emerging </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">i</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">ntense,
vivid, fsounding in almost neoclassical transparency and brimming with lively
rhythms and melodies evoking Czech folk dances. The players' committed and
eloquent performance of the middle movement, a set of variations on
"The Kneždub Tower", a folksong from Klein’s native Moravia (its text
symbolically telling of a wild goose flying up into a high tower), presented a wide
range of emotions - from deep sorrow to occasional moments of whimsy. Here was
a fine opportunity to hear one of Klein's most ambitious, comprehensive
and extraordinary pieces, a work that has remained central to the string trio
repertoire.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Following his disastrous three-month marriage with a
former student of the Moscow Conservatory, Tchaikovsky travelled to Italy,
spending a winter in Florence to enjoy some peace of mind and to put thoughts on
his own life into perspective. There, he worked on a draft of his opera
"The Queen of Spades"; his ballet "The Sleeping Beauty" was
being premiered there. With </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Eszter Haffner<span style="background: white;"> taking the 1st violin role, the opening Sounding
Jerusalem concert concluded with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's spirited sextet
"Souvenir de Florence" in D minor. Conceived in part during the
composer's Florence sojourn, some of this last chamber music composition of his
sings the praises of Italian lyricism, the second movement, in partictular, on whose score the composer stipulated that the melody that has become referred
to as the "Souvenir de Florence" theme should sound “sweet and
singing”. Italianate but inescapably Russian, indeed, evoking much of the flavour
of Slavic traditional music, this is a splendid and vivid concert piece. The
artists gave it an ebullient and wholehearted rendition, addressing its
sweeping phrases, finespun bel canto melodies and sensitively-shaped poignant
tunes, its variety of string textures, its dialogues, driving rhythms, its sophisticated contrapuntal writing and (as Tchaikovsky mentioned in a
letter to his brother) </span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">the proposition
of juxtaposing “six independent and at the same time homogeneous voices".</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It was an evening of fine festival fare and
excellent musicianship. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-15876036536038850092023-07-30T05:24:00.005-07:002023-07-30T05:47:53.455-07:00Leonard Sanderman (UK) performs English organ repertoire and an original work at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem's Old City<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSmelmQ_8JyLdXp8JusVHdLNUvAqshe-jKQPyby7sJEDeYhLGwkukStckbACAr1NJujQmTXmCVgwW1_gb2YXQTLkVCcuO-ozo0R_QWRNG2uH_hvXEFUC6WdQCilPEZG-N7vxrQL7x2BffN3_ewitm6ixJDoYhCoVjuAk1NeI_WiM_5hm20FokmBVMmDns/s251/Sanderman%20Leonard.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="201" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSmelmQ_8JyLdXp8JusVHdLNUvAqshe-jKQPyby7sJEDeYhLGwkukStckbACAr1NJujQmTXmCVgwW1_gb2YXQTLkVCcuO-ozo0R_QWRNG2uH_hvXEFUC6WdQCilPEZG-N7vxrQL7x2BffN3_ewitm6ixJDoYhCoVjuAk1NeI_WiM_5hm20FokmBVMmDns/w320-h400/Sanderman%20Leonard.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #5f6368; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;">© </span>2022 Leonard Sanderman </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It
is rare to hear English organ music of the late 19th century-early 20th century
on these shores. In his recital </span>on July 23rd 2023 in the Jerusalem Lutheran Church of the
Redeemer's annual July International Organ Festival, Leonard
Sanderman (UK) presented works of this very repertoire together with a work of
his own.<span style="background: white;"> The Right Rev. Joachim Lenz of the
Redeemer Church welcomed the audience, commenting on the fact that the
evening's program would be well suited to the church's Karl Schuke organ.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Prof. Sanderman spoke of English organ music as
having gone through periods of popularity and times when it was less so. He
spoke of the late 19th century as having produced a surge of organ music in
Britain - not necessarily church music, but several ceremonial works and
those written for entertainment. Opening the program with "Marche
Héroïque" (1915) by Gloucester Cathedral organist Sir Alfred Herbert
Brewer (1865-1928), Sanderman gave bold expression to the composer's most
highly-favoured organ piece (possibly written as wartime propaganda!), its
forthright opening section giving way to attractive cantabile moments, as the
artist highlighted the work's antiphonal effects and Brewer's rich use of
harmony. Although Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918) had a lifelong
love of the organ, an instrument he had played from childhood, his most
significant solo organ works for the instrument were written in the last few
years of his life. Parry's most substantial organ work, the Toccata and Fugue
"The Wanderer" (1912), of which we heard the Toccata at the Jerusalem
concert, was named by Parry after his yacht. Sanderman's playing of the piece
gave prominence to the work's rich "orchestration" and sudden changes of
mood and texture, indeed, to music suggesting the unsettled nature of
wandering. It was also a reminder of the beauty, power and emotional content
this forgotten English Romantic composer had incorporated into his fine
compositional style. And to the opening Allegro Maestoso movement of Organ
Sonata in G (1895) of Sir Edward William Elgar (1857-1934), a work that has
been referred to as one of the most outstanding works of English Romantic organ
repertoire. Sanderman met the high challenges of the piece, his performance not only
portraying its vivid canvas and the scale and dexterity of the pipe organ, but
also offering touching moments in his playing of its finely-shaped
high-register personal melodic utterances. A felicitous opportunity to
hear a movement of this far too-little-known masterpiece.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Moving into the 21st century for a short hiatus,
the program included a composition of the artist himself - "An Harrogate
Fanfare" for organ solo (2014) - commissioned and published by De
Orgelvriend, a Dutch journal. Brimming with radiant organ timbres, this hearty,
tonal piece spoke of joy and positive energy.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Of the program's works of a decidedly light-hearted
nature, we heard A.H.Brewer's appealing and delicate (at times mysterious)
arrangement of the Prelude to Act 3 of Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan's incidental
music to Shakespeare's "The Tempest". Composed when Sullivan was 20, his Op.1 a set of movements for the play, its success quickly brought him to
the attention of the musical establishment in England. The name Berthold Tours
(1838-1897) does not ring British. The Netherlands-born violinist/organist and
music editor, however, moved to London in 1861. Sanderman bedecked the various
sections of Tours' charming, up-beat "Allegretto Grazioso" with a
variety of delectable timbral hues. Originally written for piano and violin,
Elgar's "Chanson de Matin" was arranged for organ by Herbert Brewer.
Sanderman's uncluttered reading of it was sensitive, beautifully contrasted and
poetic. For an encore, the artist played a delightful improvisation in
appreciation of the young woman who was his page-turner at the recital!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Initially taught the organ by his father, Leonard
Sanderman (Holland, 1991) performs internationally. He is a prize-winning,
commissioned composer and a published author on church music and the organ. His
PhD focuses on issues in the historiography and canonisation of
liturgical music in high church parishes between 1827 and 1914. A senior
lecturer in Organ and Historical Musicology at Leeds Conservatoire, he also
teaches Harmony and Counterpoint at the University of York. This was Prof.
Sanderman's second visit to perform at the Jerusalem Redeemer Church.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-36958749174448410582023-07-16T04:34:00.004-07:002023-07-16T05:02:46.381-07:00The Chaos String Quartet (Austria) performs works of Mozart, Beethoven, Henriëtte Bosmans and Diego Conti at the American Colony Hotel, Jerusalem<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjj1N0qaMOAAzZv2pao1koDQvaW2b7EnD8yo-z5UbD72C4T0SUwL7gNPUHAh68VcrpRAlie08ngIo8qwVpN1PLM4Se8LBgKxcAOLatJfpUW8Pnqi_a8C9kAt9Q-mfZEBoRGaFzm3zH_VwzLO-Qj6QaA_AOa39NERx_MdAy4snqnEqgRmOkxVNw-Gr0dBg/s2000/Chaos%20String%20Quartet%20Andrej-Grilc-05628-web.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjj1N0qaMOAAzZv2pao1koDQvaW2b7EnD8yo-z5UbD72C4T0SUwL7gNPUHAh68VcrpRAlie08ngIo8qwVpN1PLM4Se8LBgKxcAOLatJfpUW8Pnqi_a8C9kAt9Q-mfZEBoRGaFzm3zH_VwzLO-Qj6QaA_AOa39NERx_MdAy4snqnEqgRmOkxVNw-Gr0dBg/w400-h266/Chaos%20String%20Quartet%20Andrej-Grilc-05628-web.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Chaos String Quartet (©Andrej Crilc)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Under
the auspices of the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Chaos String Quartet (Austria)
- <span style="background: white;">violinists Susanne Schäffer and Eszter
Kruchió, violist Sara Marzadori and Bas Jongen (violoncello) - </span>performed
at the American Colony Hotel (Jerusalem) on July 9th 2023.<span style="background: white;"> </span>Seemingly contradictory, the quartet's
enigmatic name surely raises some questions (and perhaps a few eyebrows).
However, it is based on <span style="background: white;">Italian theologian and
philosopher of religion </span>Vito Mancuso's theory that "chaos plus
pathos equals logos", from which the four artists <span style="background: white;">understand chaos as the “original form of all creative”, by which art,
science and philosophy can be joined in one artistic synthesis. </span> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum Tel Aviv,
Arno Mitterdorfer welcomed the audience to the event. He spoke of the American
Colony Hotel as a multicultural Jerusalem venue, as a suitable location for
such concerts. Referring to the Chaos String Quartet as "an excellent
shooting star", he promised those gathered in the ACH’s Pasha Room a
journey taking the listener from works of Classical repertoire to music of a
more contemporary European landscape.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Violinist Eszter Kruchió briefly explained the
works to be performed. The concert opened with W.A.Mozart's String Quartet No.1
in G major, K.80, the composer's first string quartet effort, composed at age
14 in a tavern when he was on a vacation in Lodi, Italy. The work is written in
the style of Italian chamber sonatas of the time, originally only comprising
the first three movements. The French Rondo (final) movement was added two
years later. From the very first sounds of the opening Adagio, one is
drawn into the vibrant, rounded and full-bodied signature sound of this
ensemble as the artists give expression to the work's charm, lyricism and interest,
its majestic moments, its playfulness and whimsy, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">in playing that was effortless and beautiful. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Then to a work of Henriëtte Bosmans (1895-1952),
considered one of the most important Dutch composers of the first half of the
20th century. Her works are presently enjoying rediscovery. Bosmans was already enjoying a well-established reputation in Dutch musical
life prior to World War II. As a pianist, she was affiliated with various
chamber music ensembles in Amsterdam; her works were performed under
such conductors as Willem Mengelberg, Ernest Ansermet and Pierre Monteux.
However, being half Jewish, she fell into disfavour with the Nazi occupiers,
who banned her from all public performances and she was forced to support herself
with underground house concerts. Henriëtte Bosmans' parents had influenced her
in the German Romantic style but her own musical bent took her in the direction
of French Impressionists in an ongoing quest to find her own independent
compositional language. Her String Quartet (1927), reflecting her</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #1f2228; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> sharply modernist bent, is an early product
of this experimentation. Performed at the</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Jerusalem
concert, it carries imprints of Debussy and Ravel, its polytonal, modal colouring,
its dissonant elements and moments of exotica providing the nuts and bolts for
the Chaos musicians' candid and intense reading of the work. As to the
melancholic theme of the Lento movement (introduced by Schäffer) followed by
the high-register 'cello utterance (Jongen), the artists provided reflective,
albeit eerie relief from the mostly robust, uncompromising message of the work, as its final movement bowed out with a series of glissandi. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The program at the American Colony Hotel also came
with a premiere - "Une étoile dansante" (A Dancing Star)
commissioned from Italian violinist/composer Diego Conti (b.1958). Typical
of Conti's idiom of freely incorporated styles, the short work takes the
players through a wide range of string-playing techniques - spiccato and con
legno bowing, flageolets and more - to create a vivid and varied canvas of
jagged gestures, of busy soundscapes, also intimate moments and heartfelt solos,
inviting the players to indulge in Conti's mix of the harmony of dissonances, of Classical harmony, and to dip into in their large palette of dynamics. Not to
be ignored is the fact that Conti came to his musical style via
progressive rock, after which he immersed himself in 20th-century concert
music, finally moving backwards through music history to study earlier styles.
Taking the work's host of demands on board, the instrumentalists led the
"dancing star" on a committed, impressive and vivid journey.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The quartet's final piece took audience and
players back to Vienna, the Chaos String Quartet's nerve centre. Stemming from
his first years in Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 18 needs little
introduction as his initial step into the Classical string quartet genre, this
opus being the only quartet contribution from his first period, the collection,
however, providing the listener with proof that the composer was already a
master of the form. The players' auspicious choice of the Op.18 No.3 Quartet in
D major gave the stage to their fresh, sincere playing and to their
comprehension of the work's delicate melodiousness and charm, as they
highlighted each gesture of the first three movements with spontaneity, a sense
of wellbeing and a touch of wistfulness. As to the Finale - galloping,
virtuosic and richly contrapuntal - they juxtaposed its technical demands with
its exuberance and (Haydnesque) wit as it exited with a teasing, quiet whisper.
We tend to hear many late Beethoven works on today’s concert platforms. The
artists’ performance of this quartet was a welcome reminder that the young
Beethoven had produced music that was brimming with energy and variety, youthful
optimism and passion, with invention and enthusiasm.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Remaining in Vienna, the quartet chose to perform
Bas Jongen's arrangement of a Schubert Lied - "Nacht und Träume"
(Night and Dreams), with Susanne Schäffer taking on the vocal line (text: Matthäus
von Collin). The result was enchanting as the artists created the song’s otherworldly
mood of night </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(245, 250, 244); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">"floating down, Like your
moonlight through the expanses of space" </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The evening's performance highlighted the exemplary
and polished performance of each of the young instrumentalists, also their
excellent teamwork. Add to these 1st violinist Susanne Schäffer's outstanding qualities of leadership and suave musicianship. Established in 2019, the Chaos
String Quartet is rapidly establishing itself on the international concert
scene. Winner of prestigious competitions, the quartet has been selected for
the New Austrian Sound of Music sponsorship program. This was the quartet’s
first concert tour of Israel.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br />
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<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: right;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #c8c7cc; font-size: 4.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">REPORT THIS AD</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-72996651174737901452023-07-02T10:19:00.013-07:002023-07-03T10:14:00.157-07:00"Dolce e Coraggioso" - Gabriela Galván (traverso) and Isidoro Roitman (liuto attiorbato) record sonatas of Corelli, Barsanti, Platti, Vivaldi and Locatelli <p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqBa7HBmbb10blLmUWW8G1paRVckYVp25hbkoOua7v8RQlHL4k-_8JCIqliYCGLplqXF4LtwAsSu8ipMLoN1HWmsQu8g_mRTu1FKYUuF7wYjT9oDPReZdOSg4bAC1rmG9bt58oZdPW6noJcBtuzfd6UzEhTRk6GaKvDL3k1gxmvfRb6BhaEzgpeS4gEg/s908/Dolce%20e%20Coraggioso%20Embouchure.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="908" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilqBa7HBmbb10blLmUWW8G1paRVckYVp25hbkoOua7v8RQlHL4k-_8JCIqliYCGLplqXF4LtwAsSu8ipMLoN1HWmsQu8g_mRTu1FKYUuF7wYjT9oDPReZdOSg4bAC1rmG9bt58oZdPW6noJcBtuzfd6UzEhTRk6GaKvDL3k1gxmvfRb6BhaEzgpeS4gEg/s320/Dolce%20e%20Coraggioso%20Embouchure.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover design Horacio D'Alessandro</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Recently
issued, "Dolce e Coraggioso" (Sweet and Brave), comprising works of
Italian Baroque composers, is the third disc issued by Argentinian artists
Gabriela Galván (traverso) and Isidoro Roitman (liuto attiorbato). Smaller than
the archlute, the liuto attiorbato can be tuned to G and A, enabling the
lutenist to play in sharpened keys, as are the works on this recording.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">"Dolce
e Coraggioso" opens with Arcangelo Corelli's Sonata Op.5 No.4 in G major.
Written originally for violin, the <span style="background: white;">Twelve Violin
Sonatas, Op. 5 (Sonate a violino e violone o cimbalo, 1700)</span> were the
best-known instrumental sonatas during much of the 18th century (indeed,
Corelli <span style="background: white;">was feted by the aristocracy, cardinals,
and royalty) </span>and have been arranged for many different instruments. Playing
from a score appearing on "Editorial Paris: Le Clerc le cadet, Le Clerc
l'ainé, Boivin" (1754)<span style="background: white;">, the artists gave poignant
expression to the contrasts dictated by the sonata da chiesa form, with </span>Galván's
playing at times elegant, poised and fragile, at others, vivid and energetic,
ornamenting suavely and adding just a touch of the <span style="background: white;">inégal. Reading from figured bass notation, Roitman's resourceful
treatment of it abounded in interest, creativity and imagination. Here, one is
reminded of</span> Geminiani, who referred to Corelli as possessing<span style="background: white;"> "a nice ear and most delicate taste… pleasing
harmonies and melodies…to produce the most delightful effect upon the ear”.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Francesco Barsanti is well known to recorder
players for his highly idiomatic 6 Solo Sonatas for alto recorder Opus 1. Galv</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">á<span style="background: white;">n and Roitman's inventive, exhilarating and eloquent
playing of Sonata No.2 in B minor from the composer's 6 Sonatas for German
[transverse] Flute and Continuo Op. 2 (1728) shed light on the excellence of
this less frequently heard collection. Once again, the figured bass allows
Roitman's fantasy to take flight, to explore the lute's potential. Not to be
ignored is the fact that Barsanti (1690-1772) was one of several extraordinary
Italian instrumentalists, virtuosi and composers travelling across Europe,
contributing decisively to the definitive success of instrumental music and the
formation of an international musical language. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">No household name today, Giovanni Benedetto Platti
(1697-1763) was known in his day as an exceptionally fine singer, instrumentalist
and composer. He left his native Italy in 1722 to take up a position in Germany
at the court of Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn.
Straddling the late Baroque and early Classical eras, his "Sonatas
for Transverse Flute" paint a vivid and engaging portrait of the
18th-century musician/composer himself. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Galván and Roitman's playing of
Platti's Sonata No.3 Op.1 was candid, fresh and charming, as they presented the
composer's refined melodiousness with the timbral and tonal qualities that are <span style="background: white;">an extension of the Italian Baroque style.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It seems that Antonio Vivaldi wrote as few as four
sonatas for the transverse flute (RV48-51). Interestingly, none of these is
characteristically Vivaldian and none brings to mind sonatas for other
instruments. Performing Vivaldi's Flute Sonata in E minor RV 50, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Galván
and Roitman chose to call attention to the</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">poésie</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> <span style="color: black;">common to all four movements - Andante, Siciliano, Allegro,
Arioso - rather than effecting strong contrasts between them. The intimate
soundscape they produced took shape via the cantabile character of its
melodies, interesting use of motifs and of <span style="background: white;">inégal-</span>
and extemporary rhythmic shaping on the flute, as Roitman added interest with
such devices as spreads and with some melodic soupçons elegantly linking one
passage to another.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
artists choose to sign out with Sonata Op.2 No.2 in D major o<span style="background: white;">f </span>Pietro Antonio Locatelli's<span style="background: white;"> "Dodici Sonate", </span>12 Sonatas for
transverse flute and bass (first published Amsterdam 1723). In
playing that was strategically paced, genial, entertaining in its surprising
turns of phrase and variety of expression, punctuated by the occasional coy and
mysterious gesture and enhanced with tasteful, fanciful ornamenting, Galván and
Roitman drew attention to the composer's colourful personality (Locatelli
was known to have <span style="background: white;"> performed at the
Prussian court wearing a blue velvet coat with silver trim, precious
diamond rings and carrying a sword), to the </span>emerging style galant of the
time as well as to <span style="background: white;"> the increasing
importance</span> of the solo sonata genre, as they subtly highlighted<span style="background: white;"> the versatility of Locatelli’s writing.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">For the recording of </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">"Dolce
e Coraggioso" <span style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Gabriela </span>Galván plays a B<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">aroque flute made by Martin Wenner,
Singen, Germany (2018) a copy of an original by Carlo Palanca (c.1750.)
Made by Paolo Busato, Padua, Italy, 2021, Isidoro Roitman's liuto attiorbato is
a copy of an original by Matteo Sellas, Venice (1638.) Recorded in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, in February 2023 (recording engineer Ariel Gato), </span>"Dolce
e Coraggioso" sounds natural and <span style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">true, creating the intimate ambience required for
this genre of chamber music. Once again, Gabriela </span>Galván's informed
approach, her unique signature timbre and sensitive musical shaping, joined by
Isidoro Roitman's deep scrutiny of the composers' manuscripts and styles
and his response to detail and gestures of the flute role, make for a rewarding
listening experience to the discriminating listener.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br />
<br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<!--[endif]--></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDSKKMw9_cuaqVDB5lewrr7_-R2ecubAfnzwn5Uf8Qoi8gan21TEl2SxQBxjMc461bP-m2tGWagUWXWRpQg6zs0U00XRzALxwydnq8Q0eV8WJJ6rN5lgCllF6266_0oxQ7EBwq-hNy_UzvKDQI3WAgKALypFgxe6HM2FTrT1YXFF3iSS25SiJIzE4McI/s1920/Embouchure%20Ariel%20Gato.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDSKKMw9_cuaqVDB5lewrr7_-R2ecubAfnzwn5Uf8Qoi8gan21TEl2SxQBxjMc461bP-m2tGWagUWXWRpQg6zs0U00XRzALxwydnq8Q0eV8WJJ6rN5lgCllF6266_0oxQ7EBwq-hNy_UzvKDQI3WAgKALypFgxe6HM2FTrT1YXFF3iSS25SiJIzE4McI/s320/Embouchure%20Ariel%20Gato.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Embouchure Duo (Ariel Gato)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-72310876516637902082023-06-20T11:15:00.012-07:002023-06-21T11:39:43.900-07:00Mozart String Quintets K.515 and K.516 performed by Ensemble PHOENIX on period instruments at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem<p> </p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflDm954nAvWTgp13m6AxyBs9xa4BthkCrgARndA44wgzBBbQbXQba2YxW137p-zElgrvSAakfGsQ9XV3rur35muj8ig0BMcINRTmRsf3NUfea13kClmp1bc7sqyOWqR2nnpWuVml5zkv3F8HnUccrLOmQu5fdpCcOj7CGhExOLyaVy0_My3nIAsXd0ts/s843/PHOENIX%20%20Mozart%20Quintets%202023%20Eliahu%20Feldman.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="843" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgflDm954nAvWTgp13m6AxyBs9xa4BthkCrgARndA44wgzBBbQbXQba2YxW137p-zElgrvSAakfGsQ9XV3rur35muj8ig0BMcINRTmRsf3NUfea13kClmp1bc7sqyOWqR2nnpWuVml5zkv3F8HnUccrLOmQu5fdpCcOj7CGhExOLyaVy0_My3nIAsXd0ts/w400-h250/PHOENIX%20%20Mozart%20Quintets%202023%20Eliahu%20Feldman.jpg" width="400" /></a> <span style="text-align: left;">Myrna Herzog,Lilia Slavny,Noam Schuss,Miriam Fingert,Amos Boasson (Eliahu Feldman)</span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #231f20; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">I don't remember the last time I heard Mozart string quintets played on
the concert platform. Yet </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">it is no secret that W.A. Mozart
soared to new heights in his late works for five instruments - the four
quintets for strings, all scored for string quartet with a second viola and the
quintet for clarinet and string quartet, K. 581. Ensemble PHOENIX's performance
of String Quintets K.515 and 516 at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Ein Kerem,
Jerusalem on June 17th 2023 was an opportunity not to be missed. Also drawing
listeners to the event was the fact that Ensemble PHOENIX performs on period
instruments (Baroque instruments, Classical bows, gut strings, here tuned to A430 and in 1/6
comma temperament, as were organs of Mozart’s time) offering insight into
how the quintets may have sounded when Mozart and his friends played them for
their own diversion. Performing the works were Noam Schuss and Lilia Slavny
(violins), Amos Boasson and Miryam Fingert (violas) and PHOENIX founder and
musical director Myrna Herzog - 'cello.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">1787 was a pivotal year for Mozart. With Vienna
ringing out with melodies from the "Marriage of Figaro" that had debuted
the year before, Mozart turned to work on what would become his operatic
masterpiece, "Don Giovanni". Indeed, 1787 saw the completion and the
debut of the latter. Taking a break, Mozart composed the
pair of string quintets that would eventually be regarded as his greatest
chamber music masterworks - the K. 515 in C major and K. 516 in g minor,
writing them within a month of each other, shortly after learning of the death
of his beloved father, Leopold. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">No concrete evidence exists as
to the occasion(s) or musicians for which Mozart composed these string
quintets.<span style="background: white;"> One theory is that Mozart wrote the
quintets to win the favour of Frederick William II, the new King of Prussia,
who happened to be a gifted cellist. H.C. Robbins Landon, on the other hand, suspects</span> that
the composer was “hoping to sell manuscript copies to amateurs by
subscription.” (Amateur players would have found them technically daunting.) <span style="background: white;"> As to why Mozart chose to write for the viola
quintet, we do know that the viola was the stringed instrument Mozart preferred
to play himself. These works show his love for the viola, placing emphasis on
rich inner voices as well as on prominent lead roles for the first chair.
Indeed, the close completion dates of these two quintets suggests that Mozart
might have intended them as a contrasting pair - K. 515, in C major,
characterized by optimism and confidence; with K. 516, in G minor, speaking of
pessimism and despair. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">From the mammoth opening movement of the String
Quintet No.3 in C major (Noam Schuss-1st violin, Amos Boasson-1st viola) to the
closing Allegro, all tempi were moderate, giving the stage to the work's
largely intense setting, its expressive use of tonality and chromaticism, t</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">he
unique partitioning and grouping of parts among the five instruments
fortifying inner voices creating new textures, and to the resourceful
interplay of duets, antiphonal quartets and everything in between. Shaping
gestures into deep musical meaning, Noam Schuss led and soloed judiciously,
meeting at eye level with Boasson, also with Herzog, to convey the work's
humanistic substructure. As to the final movement (Allegro), we were
presented with the richly sonorous resources of the quintet as well as with
mirthful grandeur, so unmistakably Mozartian.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="background: white;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">For the K.516 Quintet, Mozart's choice of g
minor, a tonality associated with agitation and despair, is clearly no
coincidence, indeed strengthened by the fact that the first movement's second
theme also appears in the tonic minor. As the artists (Lilia Slavny-1st violin,
Miryam Fingert-1st viola) present the opening Allegro (the upper three
instruments untethered by the bass) in playing expressing restless, yet quiet
agitation with a touch of reticence, Lilia Slavny (1st violin) brings out the
work's sense of anguish as she leans into key notes, expressively engaging with
Fingert (1st viola), also with Herzog. The despondent mood (and tonality)
continues into the Minuetto (hardly minuet-like in spirit) characterized by a </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">dark-and-light polarity,</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> with tension added by the repeated appearance of
the motif of two bitter, off-beat, ejaculatory chords. Throughout, Slavny's
playing incorporated some tasteful ornamentation. Played with strings muted,
with each motif strategically placed, the artists' heartfelt, inward-looking
performance of the Adagio, its tragedy at times temporarily whisked away but
never completely out of earshot, was profound and soul-searching. (On hearing
the Adagio, Tchaikovsky chronicled experiencing a "feeling of resignation
and inconsolable sorrow....I had to hide in the farthest corner of the
concert-room so that others would not see how much this music affected
me.”) As to the final movement, the artists convincingly recreated its
enigmatic course as it weighed in with a lengthy adagio introduction
wrought of dissonance and unresolved tension, this to be swept away with the
gallant elegance of carefree rondo dances in G major.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Hearing these two monumental
works on authentic instruments and at the hands of five outstanding artists in playing that was poised and
emotionally balanced was a rare experience. Keeping a safe distance from music-making that is
precious or overwrought, the PHOENIX artists' performance was balanced, buoyant, intelligent
and powerful, a performance reflecting their own enquiry into- and deep experience encountered in playing the quintets, both of which they conveyed to the
audien</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">ce. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-41070631080926740302023-06-11T07:35:00.002-07:002023-06-11T08:40:13.392-07:00The Kanazawa-Admony Piano Duo performs works inspired by tragic love at the Eden-Tamir Music Center Ein Kerem, Jerusalem<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr2B5JV4PR7eQbUMp66iK9QXJtNHEcBLntlqJlg6aibVXSen8f0pYtxela7KM-bToV3UTfk5vmm4h7RJWAuDPdyVoLvBU4rzThJ154jMaYFbxBN6T5pYMFZxVz7EQd-3ahrrC3liDLOnZlTqI-H3i7lo0wZLwPQOdRgzBKl165anfz0xb6YZrkQRi/s2713/Kanazawa%20Admony%20Clemens%20Wortmann.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2713" data-original-width="2203" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr2B5JV4PR7eQbUMp66iK9QXJtNHEcBLntlqJlg6aibVXSen8f0pYtxela7KM-bToV3UTfk5vmm4h7RJWAuDPdyVoLvBU4rzThJ154jMaYFbxBN6T5pYMFZxVz7EQd-3ahrrC3liDLOnZlTqI-H3i7lo0wZLwPQOdRgzBKl165anfz0xb6YZrkQRi/s320/Kanazawa%20Admony%20Clemens%20Wortmann.jpg" width="260" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tami Kanazawa, Yuval Admony (Clemens Wortmann)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">For "Love Stories in Two
Pianos", a concert of the Eden-Tamir Music Center's Glorious Sound of the
Piano series on June 3rd 2023, duo pianists Tami Kanazawa and Yuval
Admony performed works all based on love…an idyllic subject you would think
for a morning concert on a sunny spring day in the magical Jerusalem village of
Ein Kerem… </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">The program opened with some of
Johannes Brahms' "Liebeslieder Waltzer" (Love Song Waltzes) Op.52
(premiered Vienna,1870) a collection comprising eighteen songs originally scored for
four vocal soloists (or choir SATB) and two pianos. Brahms chose to set poems
from Georg Friedrich Daumer’s "Polydora<i>", </i>an<i> </i>1855
German anthology of folk song texts from many countries.<span style="background: white;"> Due to the work's popularity and playability, many versions and transcriptions
of the "Liebeslieder Waltzes" exist, including the setting we heard
for piano duet (without voices), in which minor additions and intricacies were
added to the original piano lines. Kanazawa and Admony conjured up the vividly
pastoral texts relating to birds, stars, the moon and nature in general in
playing that was both sensitive and subtle - at times reticent, gently
lyrical and singing, positive and genial, even melancholy, at others, hearty,
free-spirited and lavish. Their playing addressed each individual miniature,
all of which deal with matters of the heart. And how birdlike
and evocative No. 6 "A small, pretty bird" emerged. Much has
been told of Brahms' amorous letdowns and his long-term friendship with Robert
Schumann's wife Clara. However, it seems </span>he had developed feelings for
Robert and Clara’s daughter Julie. Distraught at Julie’s 1869 engagement, he
completed his op. 52 "Liebeslieder Walzer" the same year. <span style="background: white;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">As to Franz
Liszt's duet transcriptions of his own symphonic poems, they are not to be
viewed merely as arrangements but as works that exist alongside the symphonic
forms. Indeed, Liszt very often worked on the orchestral and two-piano versions
simultaneously. At the Ein Kerem concert, we heard "Orpheus",
Symphonic Poem No.4. The piece had its genesis in a performance of Gluck's
opera "Orfeo ed Euridice" (1762), which Liszt produced in 1854 when
music director of the Weimar Court. The composer was inspired by the depiction
of Orpheus as seen on an Etruscan vase at the Louvre Museum and by the notion
that Orpheus had a civilizing effect on humanity. With consummate teamwork,
Kanazawa and Admony recreated the dilemma and struggle of the fateful Orpheus
and Eurydice fable, represented on Liszt's broad canvas, </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">with its pungent dissonances, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">and in the musical
language of the 1850s, but also in pensive,
fragile moments, showing Liszt at his most delicate, as well as at his most
harmonically inventive. </span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Liszt's
"Réminiscences de Don Juan" (S. 418) is an opera fantasy for piano on
themes from Mozart's 1787 opera "Don Giovanni". Composed</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(248, 249, 250); color: black; font-size: 11pt;"> in 1841 and published as a two-piano version in 1877, the piece
is n</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">o paraphrase of the popular Mozart opera, rather,
an interpretation, even a portrayal of the title character as seen through
Liszt's eyes (understandably, the result being anything but condemnation of Don
Juan's licentious life!) Although </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(248, 249, 250); color: black; font-size: 11pt;">extreme in
technical demands, indeed, considered to be one of Liszt's most taxing works
(Ferruccio Busoni referred to the "Réminiscences" as carrying
"almost symbolic significance as the highest point of pianism")
Kanazawa and Admony concerned themselves with presenting the many-layered weave
of the work that</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;"> draws on three themes from Mozart's opera<i>,</i>
opening with the intense depiction of Don Juan's eventual confrontation with
the flames of hell as vivified in sinister timbres of the pianos' lower
register. As to the much-loved aria melodies threaded throughout, the artists
presented them with cantabile good cheer and warmth. One could not object to
the gentle humming of these jewels as was heard in the hall.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; font-size: 11pt;">“The radioactive
fallout from "West Side Story" must still be descending on Broadway
this morning,” wrote Walter Kerr, critic of the Herald Tribune following the
work's New York premiere. Considered by many to be Broadway's greatest
contribution to the arts and Leonard </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Bernstein's most
memorable work, "West Side Story" (conceived by Jerome Robbins,
lyrics: Stephen Sondheim, based on a book by Arthur Laurents) was
composed between 1955 and 1957. In 1961, Bernstein chose numbers
from the score for his "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story",
overseeing the orchestration carried out by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal.
Performing John Musto's arrangement for two pianos, Kanazawa and Admony gave
expression to the tragic love story set against the rivalry between two
teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds in New York's Upper West
Side, to its tensions, to its slick undertones, devious characters and to its
fragile, disarming tenderness. With strategic collaboration and consummate
mastery, the artists presented the work's extravagant canvas, one rich and
candid in jazzy rhythms, in temperament and moods, all coloured with
dissonances and cross-rhythms, highlighting Bernstein's sophisticated writing. And
how poignantly each of the memorable songs emerged, threaded between sensitively
wrought transitions.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Remaining in the
seething back alleys of America, the artists performed Percy Granger's "Fantasy
on Porgy and Bess". Considered by many to be America’s first great
opera, "Porgy and Bess" composed by George Gershwin (libretto:</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; font-size: 11pt;"> DuBose Heyward, lyrics: Ira Gershwin) tells the story of
Porgy, a disabled black street beggar living in the slums of Charleston. It
deals with his attempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent,
possessive lover, and Sportin' Life, her drug dealer. Kanazawa and Admony's
performance called attention to Grainger's profuse and daring setting
- its virtuosic two-piano "orchestration", complete with bell- and
xylophone effects and its sultry, tough, noble and tender moods. The duo's
playing of G</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 11pt;">ershwin's timeless melodies, one gorgeous,
sparkling tune soaring up to meet another, created a pageant of intense human emotions,
as the artists invited the audience to join them for the ride. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 11pt;">Always
informative and entertaining, Prof. Admony introduced each of the works. The
stories of love represented here ended tragically, but the works written around them made for an
elaborate and colourful program and engaging performance. Real-life partners
Tami Kanazawa and Yuval Admony, a piano duo for almost 30 years,
perform internationally, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #212529; font-size: 11pt;">take part in music festivals
and were co-founders of the Israel International Piano Duo Festival, of which
Yuval Admony is the artistic director. They conduct piano duo master-classes in
Canada, Korea and Japan and are adjudicators of solo and chamber music
competitions in Italy and Israel. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #2e2e2e; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-86357037108674671622023-05-28T23:49:00.008-07:002023-07-05T02:32:48.970-07:00Conducted by Avner Biron, the Israel Camerata Jerusalem performs Handel, Copland and Piazzolla. Soloists:Julia Rovinsky (harp) and accordionist Teodoro Anzellotti (Italy/Germany)<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCdVi2k3fU7sYscz6xp3jrYumR7YvHDJuYmBFFqvhhgvbPJbhuTVYixz5_do3xkjFpC-40cl69OQS921kxgP2bBEUOLntw5eo8BsRL9D0Em-GZIwDPmleMy_NCZ2TShdcgcVFuFV0NMa4OlF56RzZKUQ_HaSP_xC5nY0Xko5tSr3EBl1P2429Hmhn/s275/Julia%20Rovinsky%20Israel%20Camerata.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCdVi2k3fU7sYscz6xp3jrYumR7YvHDJuYmBFFqvhhgvbPJbhuTVYixz5_do3xkjFpC-40cl69OQS921kxgP2bBEUOLntw5eo8BsRL9D0Em-GZIwDPmleMy_NCZ2TShdcgcVFuFV0NMa4OlF56RzZKUQ_HaSP_xC5nY0Xko5tSr3EBl1P2429Hmhn/w200-h133/Julia%20Rovinsky%20Israel%20Camerata.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julia Rovinsky (www.camerata.com)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJ5j2HrZr_e5-oDBPnJT5ZWEPnqDl7L8NoeEDkDi8dbCzOIo76-0uo22m8QjuU3ch-zNUzIaTa7gyuGF9AMU0OJlpuqjbAuVfoJvjah4Wu43F9FBxm95KZSjXPcrNBN-jL1PdDe88mFbrfxL_Q6UBW5K5cVl4_5EoMtpsoL3NKssgVXlTQcQKB-bl/s275/Teodoro%20Anzellotti.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJ5j2HrZr_e5-oDBPnJT5ZWEPnqDl7L8NoeEDkDi8dbCzOIo76-0uo22m8QjuU3ch-zNUzIaTa7gyuGF9AMU0OJlpuqjbAuVfoJvjah4Wu43F9FBxm95KZSjXPcrNBN-jL1PdDe88mFbrfxL_Q6UBW5K5cVl4_5EoMtpsoL3NKssgVXlTQcQKB-bl/w200-h133/Teodoro%20Anzellotti.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teodoro Anzellotti (www.camerata.com)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Attending
"From the Peaks of America", a concert of the Israel Camerata
Jerusalem's "Passion for Music" series in the Henry Crown Auditorium
of the Jerusalem Theatre on May 23rd 2023, took the listener to America, but
also further afield. The program, conducted by the Camerata's founder and music
director Avner Biron, featured two soloists - harpist Julia Rovinsky and
accordionist Teodoro Anzellotti (Italy-Germany).</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
event opened with George Frideric Handel's Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in B
flat major, Op.4 No.6. The British Library boasts an autographed score of the
“Concerto per la Harpa” by G. F. Handel, written in 1736, a musical
intermezzo for the premiere of “Alexander’s Feast” at Covent Garden. In
the piece, the composer wished to<span style="background: white;"> evoke the
minstrel Timotheus’ masterful playing of the lyre in the oratorio.</span> "<span style="background: white;">Alexander’s Feast", which tells the story of how a bard
used music to manipulate Alexander the Great in the celebration after his
conquest of Persia; hence the use of lavish displays of instrumental sounds.
Handel wrote this concerto for the Welsh harpist </span>Robert Powell<span style="background: white;">, whom he admired for his virtuosity. Four of Handel’s
full-scale concert pieces were heard at the festive premiere - his "Ode
for St. Cecilia’s Day", the "Alexander’s Feast" Concerto Grosso,
his Organ Concerto in g minor and, quite remarkable for its time, the Harp
Concerto. The latter was later published as a work for organ and orchestra,
and is most often heard today performed on the organ, but its pared-down
orchestration, muted violins, and pizzicato bass parts still point to the fact
that it was originally conceived for the harp. Julia Rovinsky's playing was
radiant and beautifully poised, her sound fresh and rich in dynamic contrast as
she created interest with each different gesture and mood of the opening Andante
allegro. No less dynamic was the Larghetto, lyrical, noble and pensive, her
playing of Grandjany's cadenza emerging as a rich canvas of ideas and harp
techniques, to be followed by the sheer dancelike joy of the final Allegro
moderato. Although the Camerata is not a period orchestra, the modest number of players chosen here
for the work and their clean instrumental sound made for an ensemble favourable to Baroque
music, the splendid balance of orchestra and harp calling attention to
Rovinsky's bold sense of line, indeed, to the unique possibilities of the harp
itself. For an encore, Julia Rovinsky gave an appealing and sincere rendition
of "Chat without Words" by Israeli composer Al Ravin.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It was the legendary American music patron
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge who commissioned Aaron Copland to compose a ballet
for dancer/choreographer Martha Graham. The composer was aware that this work -
"Appalachian Spring" - was to reflect "the pioneer American
spirit, with youth and spring, with optimism and hope,” in his own words. With
neither the season nor the mountains on Copland’s mind when he composed
the work, he collaborated with Graham to delineate the characters of the
ballet, its storyline telling of the events of an entire day, from the morning
of the young couple’s wedding (in one of the most effective musical evocations
of sunrise ever composed) to the evening. From the ballet (1944), Copland
extracted a suite and scored it for full orchestra, this earning him the
Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1945. The work, going beyond the world of dance,
has remained a beloved icon of American culture. Copland’s “Appalachian Spring”
marvellously evokes an idyllic sense of country and landscape, the folk element
is strongly present (with reference to square-dance rhythms) as it features a
set of variations on the Shaker song “Simple Gifts.” Maestro Biron's reading of
the suite had a fine, natural flow, sensitivity to colour and to the shaping of
phrases. At times, nostalgic, fleet and delicately textured, at others, exuberant
and energetic, the leaping dance rhythms were taut and sinewy; hearty utterances emerged
with some touches of humour. With many solos allotted to the woodwinds, these
moments rose out of the orchestral weave with poignance and beauty of timbre. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(255, 251, 249); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Although to some listeners certain</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> movements might tend to sound a little drawn out
without the visual aspect of dancers on the stage, the "Appalachian
Spring" Suite is indeed a splendid concert piece, its score featuring the
unique tonings of pandiatonic harmony (in which a tonal centre is created while
avoiding traditional formulas) in charming, well-crafted and uncontrived
writing. Signing out with a velvety cluster, the Camerata's performance
was characterized by a sense of delicacy, sparkle and imagination.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Astor Piazzolla composed his Concerto for
Bandoneón, Strings, Harp, Piano and Percussion in late 1979. It was a
commission from the Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. The composer himself
was soloist at the premiere on December 15th of the same year. Also given
the title of “Aconcagua” by his publisher Aldo Pagani, who considered the work
the peak of Piazzolla's oeuvre (Aconcagua is the highest mountain peak in South
America), the Concerto for Bandoneón garnered Piazzolla the title of “the
Villa-Lobos of Argentina” .Although the bandoneón, a button accordion (invented
in Germany by Heinrich Band in the 1840s), its sound described by John
Henken, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Director of Publications, for its
"moaning wheeze, seductive and sarcastic", characterising the
quintessential sound of the tango, it is not unusual to hear this concerto
performed on the accordion, as was the case at the Jerusalem concert. Collaborating
deftly with Avner Biron and members of the Camerata, Italian-born accordionist
Teodoro Anzellotti (known for integrating the accordion into the sphere of
classical music) brought the spirit of Argentinean music and the palpable
elements of Piazzolla's real-life- and musical world into the Henry Crown
Auditorium. Setting the scene, the opening Allegro marcato burst into life with
the typically Argentinean intensity of </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(251, 251, 251); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Piazzolla’s
brand of tango, his complicated harmonies and stinging dissonances, sultry
moments and melancholy. In solo sections and moving tastefully through the
orchestral weave, </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Roboto; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">lending a rich voice to the melody, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(251, 251, 251); color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Anzellotti expresses each turn of mood. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Beginning with the accordion alone, ultimately joined by the harp (Julia
Rovinsky) in an elegantly reflective duet, the Moderato movement's dream-like
burgeoning also featured solo violin (concertmaster Natasha Sher) alongside the
accordionist. The highly spirited final movement included some distinctive,
intimate moments - as, for example, when the accordion engaed in duet with gentle
percussion sounds. In this work, Piazzolla provides the soloist with ample
opportunities for drama, pathos and virtuosity. Add to those the sophistication
and subtlety Anzellotti infuses into his music-making. Teodoro
Anzellotti then gave a touching rendition of “Chiquilin de Bachin” (The little
boy at Bachin), a deliciously sentimental waltz-tango, also by Astor
Piazzolla. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The audience enjoyed the Israel Camerata Jerusalem's delightfully imaginative programming.</span></p>
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<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-49878713448014815822023-05-21T23:49:00.020-07:002023-05-22T01:17:38.750-07:00Yuval Benozer conducts the Rishon LeZion Orchestra with the Israeli Vocal Ensemble in Haydn's "Creation". Vocal soloists: Tali Ketzef, Ron Silberstein, Yair Polishook<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div> <br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnwRwcV9usaHf_nTiaPb7KbWiqTGlS4dprB7PL4wYIgpLUfF9PoyUaHKaj-0jp7X1nyj-N5CRnFYbXcD-ihejWzds7XEpPcds2p1EzJ9HmDyoBHu-1jGagcS7tEv96NYKicZm6m2WgczAvvopOa89u9FtQa896E1bCEzJCKxGfJ1FOPlXonbm_YUzl/s981/wenzel%20adam%20and%20eve.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="981" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnwRwcV9usaHf_nTiaPb7KbWiqTGlS4dprB7PL4wYIgpLUfF9PoyUaHKaj-0jp7X1nyj-N5CRnFYbXcD-ihejWzds7XEpPcds2p1EzJ9HmDyoBHu-1jGagcS7tEv96NYKicZm6m2WgczAvvopOa89u9FtQa896E1bCEzJCKxGfJ1FOPlXonbm_YUzl/w400-h299/wenzel%20adam%20and%20eve.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Peter Wenzel (1743-1829)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 19.0pt; margin: 19pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“The story of the creation,” Joseph Haydn wrote in 1801 “has
always been considered the most sublime and awe-inspiring image for mankind. To
accompany this great work with appropriate music could certainly have no other
result than to heighten these sacred emotions in the listener’s heart, and to
make him highly receptive to the goodness and omnipotence of the Creator.”</span><span face=""Source Sans Pro",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Attending the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion's
performance of Joseph Haydn's "Creation" on May 16th 2023 at the Tel
Aviv Performing Arts Center was an experiential affair. Joining the orchestra
was the Israeli Vocal Ensemble, whose conductor and music director Yuval
Benozer conducted the performance. Soloists were soprano Tali Ketzef, tenor Ron
Silberstein and baritone Yair Polishook. For the benefit of Hebrew speakers,
actor Eli Gorenstein's readings of passages from Genesis were interspersed
throughout the performance. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 19.0pt; margin: 19pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">During his
first visit to London, Haydn attended one of the great Handel festivals held in
Westminster Abbey and was completely overwhelmed by the experience, the result
of which being that he resolved to write an oratorio himself that would be
worthy of Handel’s supreme examples. <span style="background: white;">Returning
to Vienna, Haydn brought back with him an English oratorio text (now lost) -
"The Creation of the World". Based on that, he set to composing
"Die Schöpfung" (The Creation), a work blending the ideals of the
Enlightenment with those of Romanticism, a work designated to be heard by
people from any religious tradition or of none, by intellectuals and common
people alike. </span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Its three sources
are Genesis, the Biblical book of Psalms and John Milto</span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">n</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">'s "Paradise Lost". Haydn had shown the English libretto to
Baron Gottfried van Swieten, a central figure in Vienna's musical and literary
(not to mention political) circles. Swieten set out to prepare an oratorio text
in German for Haydn; how much of the original English libretto was used is open
to conjecture. Intending the new work to be presented in London as well as in
Vienna, Haydn’s idea was that it should be sung in either German or
English. When the initial edition appeared in print in 1800, it was the
first choral work ever to be published with the text appearing in two
languages. The story is told by three angels: Gabriel (soprano), Uriel (tenor)
and Raphael (bass). The chorus mostly represents the heavenly host, commenting
on the action and praising God for his acts of creation. Haydn uses what, for
his day, was a rather large orchestra: The results were beyond anything he
could have imagined. From the very start, "The Creation" was an
enormous success, remaining one of the cornerstones of choral repertoire. A
person present at one of the first performances in 1798 wrote the following:
"No one, not even Baron van Swieten, had seen the page of the score
wherein the creation of light is portrayed...and in that moment when light
broke forth for the first time, one would have said that light-rays darted from
the composer’s blazing eyes. The enchantment of the electrified Viennese was so
profound that the performers could not proceed for some minutes."</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Maestro Benozer's concept of the work felt right throughout, with tempos
judiciously chosen and forces sizable (or powerful) enough to evoke the effect
of the work's earliest performances, as true to the composer's intent. Haydn’s
famous moments were vividly conveyed as Benozer invited soloists, chorus
and orchestra to revel in the work's sublimely beautiful word painting,
both vocal and instrumental, its startling dramatic gestures and bold
orchestral colours. From the very outset, the audience was connected and
enthused as the oratorio.was thrillingly brought to life, with Haydn’s
astonishing depiction of the Genesis creation story emerging with fine
articulacy and richly daring dynamic contrasts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">The success of any performance of "Creation" hinges much on
the soloists, to whom: Haydn has allotted some superb, albeit demanding
sections. As Uriel, Ron Silberstein's performance, never oversung, came across as clear, controlled and expressive, his warm timbre conveying the
brightness inherent in several of the oratorio texts – as he, for example,
depicted </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; font-size: 11pt;">a "brilliant sunrise, then a languid
moonrise" (In splendour bright is </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">rising now). Tali
Ketzef (Gabriel, Eve), contending well with the large orchestral and choral
forces, (exercising a touch too much vibrato for my taste) gave a
performance that was eager and fresh, one highlight for me being her delicate,
evocatively cooing description of the eagle, the lark, the dove and the
nightingale in "On mighty wings the eagle proudly soars aloft",
joined- and enhanced by the flute (Margalit Gafni). As Raphael (also Adam),
baritone Yair Polishook's profound scrutiny of texts and dramatic instinct,
served by his fine diction and imposing, majestic vocal delivery, made for
a memorable and gripping performance, also with some lovely lyrical moments. In
"At once Earth opens her womb", he matched his own fantasy with
Haydn's gentle sense of humour to present the line-up of newly-created
creatures (each with musical illustration) - the lion, tiger, stag, horse,
cattle, sheep, insects and even worms - commencing the aria in Hebrew, then moving
back into English. Once again, the Israeli Vocal Ensemble gave a performance
that was of true intonation, precise, polished, rich in colour and dynamic
contrast, replete with moments both powerful and fragile. The Rishon LeZion
Orchestra complemented the work's dramatic- and musical demands, also offering
some splendid orchestral interludes. Eli Gorenstein's rendition of the
relevant Biblical passages was articulate, communicative and presented with a
touch of naivete and humour. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">From the work's opening description of chaos, evoked by harmonic
aimlessness, set within the context of C minor, with fragments of
melodies going nowhere in boundless primordial disorder through the darkness,
prior to when we hear God’s words uttered by the angel Raphael
pronouncing the first words of the Old Testament, from the creation of light,
through the vivid series of tableaux, to Adam and Eve’s love duet, Haydn's
"Creation" offers depictions of the most dazzling scenes of unspoilt
nature - of birds, flora and beasts - to culminate in soaring choruses
celebrating the creation of the world in life-affirming sounds. The giant final
chorus of praise is preceded by Uriel making just a passing reference to
the next chapter in the story: - the entrance of sin into this
perfect world. The three angels sing solo episodes in this movement but they
are joined by an alto soloist for four bars (here, a member of the Israeli
Vocal Ensemble) to make up a solo quartet. Haydn was a deeply religious man.
His devotion, however, was not of the gloomy, suffering kind, but rather
cheerful and reconciled, a profound statement of an optimistic and assured
faith and of a belief in music's ability to edify, uplift, and inspire the
listener. Indeed, "The Creation" is a work larger than life!</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5AcmvyTkSN8KvZvl_OcTig3rZtyVXQWYZuUiVGsLu9xufDwMbLglFfpwCpzyY5ZuDPJfeCGUAJIChW887eDmxW1IYvn-vC1Ir7eZrZhOVFDm4iXzKUmAd3kJKs9c8Auent2G1SH5LIuHEC249nY2hKlrBfDVJJsHgysc5S7MkpH9xMzG2bEy-wb2/s234/Yuval%20Benozer%20agfestival.co.il.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="234" data-original-width="215" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT5AcmvyTkSN8KvZvl_OcTig3rZtyVXQWYZuUiVGsLu9xufDwMbLglFfpwCpzyY5ZuDPJfeCGUAJIChW887eDmxW1IYvn-vC1Ir7eZrZhOVFDm4iXzKUmAd3kJKs9c8Auent2G1SH5LIuHEC249nY2hKlrBfDVJJsHgysc5S7MkpH9xMzG2bEy-wb2/w184-h200/Yuval%20Benozer%20agfestival.co.il.jpg" width="184" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yuval Benozer (agfestival.co.il)</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-8705597933738617832023-05-03T10:36:00.006-07:002023-05-04T05:02:09.041-07:00"Bach in France, Couperin in Germany" Ensemble PHOENIX on period instruments offers some interesting thoughts on Bach and Couperin's chamber music<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ZxWmlpYnJ3P_ry62IpUKmS89X676sFIunmaJYtvWlAIiOMtoYi_2G9UKPeEyRNTzxUgfrmFPzsbLg9FXkaL6VkcFExoI67RdOW-KKsyAEIcdG_Elxlu3yElHo-4atg3HgKXy7_NTIVEKyDn1Hqc5xyepf--45WK9A3vxg-Ot_seOEUeyV6kROWYb/s526/PHOENIX%20Bach%20Couperin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="526" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ZxWmlpYnJ3P_ry62IpUKmS89X676sFIunmaJYtvWlAIiOMtoYi_2G9UKPeEyRNTzxUgfrmFPzsbLg9FXkaL6VkcFExoI67RdOW-KKsyAEIcdG_Elxlu3yElHo-4atg3HgKXy7_NTIVEKyDn1Hqc5xyepf--45WK9A3vxg-Ot_seOEUeyV6kROWYb/w400-h300/PHOENIX%20Bach%20Couperin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Bach in France, Couperin in Germany? Did I hear correctly? What we do know is that J.S.Bach never left the region of
his birth in Germany and that Couperin certainly never travelled to Germany. In
the series currently being performed by Ensemble PHOENIX, founder and director
Myrna Herzog is "throwing down the gauntlet" to her listeners in this
rather unique program. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">A hint: "L'Impériale", the third suite (ordre) of François Couperin's "Les Nations", makes
reference to the Holy Roman Empire of the German People, which formally lasted
until 1806. However, you might just find this music distinctly French and
conservative in style. The dances themselves are Couperin's most beautifully
turned in the old style - discreet and flowing, but with a wealth of expressive
detai<b>l. </b>And be prepared to hear one of the most sublime fugues in
musical repertoire! Myrna Herzog feels this movement might well be Couperin
paying homage to J.S.Bach.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">As to J.S.Bach's Ouverture in the French Style BWV 831, is
this keyboard work based on a lost version for ensemble? Musicologist Dr. Alon
Schab makes this argument credible. He has arranged it for two violins, viola, viola da gamba and harpsichord.
The result is astounding in its rich weave and voice play. In the obituary for
his father, C.P.E. Bach writes: “While a student in Lüneburg, my father had the
opportunity to listen to a band kept by the Duke of Celle, consisting for the
most part of Frenchmen; thus, he acquired a thorough grounding in the French
taste, which in those regions was something quite new...” C.P.E. Bach also
writes that among the music studied and loved by his father, there were
works by “several good Frenchmen.” Bach’s interest in the forms of French
music is especially evident in his harpsichord suites, BWV 806-817, and
Ouvertures BWV 820 (assuming its authenticity), 822 and 831.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Not to be missed.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Performed by a line-up of fine artists: Lilia
Slavny, Noam Schuss– Baroque violin</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Miriam Fingert – Baroque viola Marina Minkin
– harpsichord</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Myrna Herzog - bass viol, musical direction</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; margin: 12pt 0cm;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #545454; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br />
</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Wednesday 03.05.23 at 20:00<br />
Tel Aviv, Studio Annette, the Felicja Blumental Music Center<br />
Shvil HaMeretz 2 <br />
<br />
Saturday 06.05.23 at 11:00 am<br />
Jerusalem, the Eden-Tamir Center, Ein Karem <br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><a href="https://eventbuzz.co.il/lp/event/f1fjk"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">https://eventbuzz.co.il/lp/event/f1fjk</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><br />
<br />
</span></a></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Monday 08.05.23 at 20:00<br />
Ra'anana, The Chamber lounge, Ra'anana Pais Music Center, 48 Etzyon St,<br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><a href="https://ticks.co.il/event.php?i=tR1uixJlr61"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 11pt;">https://ticks.co.il/event.php?i=tR1uixJlr61</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVChwJIvRAU2WFLbJdax4yoVrM8loIkiZLSdRmXXIyaz2-y4PRQgF3kKqrRyWyf95Tb40jY_6GCByrfD14VtGQMlvZQ7CsYEx5-hBKwpKM2gUgdSyaV_AsUWeE8oYJ9W5QECZqTe66WsuJrFtgCwHEt1kJ216WhGEnqoVUag9dDk25PJNBu9up_wLc/s1611/PHOENIX%20Bach,%20Couperin.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="970" data-original-width="1611" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVChwJIvRAU2WFLbJdax4yoVrM8loIkiZLSdRmXXIyaz2-y4PRQgF3kKqrRyWyf95Tb40jY_6GCByrfD14VtGQMlvZQ7CsYEx5-hBKwpKM2gUgdSyaV_AsUWeE8oYJ9W5QECZqTe66WsuJrFtgCwHEt1kJ216WhGEnqoVUag9dDk25PJNBu9up_wLc/w400-h241/PHOENIX%20Bach,%20Couperin.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Noam Schuss,Lilia Slavny,Marina Minkin,Myrna Herzog,Miriam Fingert (Eliahu Feldman)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-76243344912454154062023-04-30T10:20:00.004-07:002023-04-30T11:21:10.170-07:00The world premiere of Michael Wolpe's Choral Fantasy followed by Beethoven's Symphony No.9 at the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra's 2023 Independence Day concert. Conductor: Steven Sloane<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZSOLqAlumvK6y_L_ASxJ2LXRMkevtPdlz1ofGJAm0ahh661ZjZdgHLuMhDLX8S6V6rx3Fe5fOVfgROp_HNljZ_uJAA0mY3-df28tkfwDHlVhoHO-_4SUpKTD96ZVeC6RsfTN-yeyI238SyQNsy_hfbUnoAP-bAlAKrUwHWjHCn93zJaAIGEhvzYW/s200/Michael%20Wolpe%20www.jamd.ac.il.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="160" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZSOLqAlumvK6y_L_ASxJ2LXRMkevtPdlz1ofGJAm0ahh661ZjZdgHLuMhDLX8S6V6rx3Fe5fOVfgROp_HNljZ_uJAA0mY3-df28tkfwDHlVhoHO-_4SUpKTD96ZVeC6RsfTN-yeyI238SyQNsy_hfbUnoAP-bAlAKrUwHWjHCn93zJaAIGEhvzYW/w256-h320/Michael%20Wolpe%20www.jamd.ac.il.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prof. Michael Wolpe</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It was April 25th, the eve of Israel's 2023
Independence Day and the air in the Henry Crown Auditorium of the Jerusalem
Theatre was alive with joy, expectation and a touch of trepidation. The hall
was packed to capacity, with concert-goers attending the Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra's festive concert honouring 75 years of the State of Israel.
Conducting was JSO music- and artistic director Steven Sloane. We were to hear
two large and interconnected works - the world premiere of Michael Wolpe's
Choral Fantasy for choir, soloists, piano and large orchestra, to be followed
by Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No.9 in D minor, Op.125, "Choral".
The concert featured the Chamber Choir of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and
Dance (director: Stanley Sperber) and the Tel Aviv Collegium Singers (director:
Yishai Steckler), Tom Zalmanov (piano), soprano Ilse Eerens (Belgium),
Israeli-born contralto Noa Frenkel, tenor Liviu Indricau (Romania) and
British-born bass baritone Simon Bailey. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">On April 25th, Michael Wolpe (b. Tel Aviv, 1960)
wrote: "This evening, on the seam between painful memorial days and the
75th Independence Day of our beloved and troubled country, against the background of
all the events happening around us, a work of mine will be premiered by the
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Academy of Music Choir and the Collegium
Choir, pianist Tom Zalmanov and solo singers." Wolpe's Choral
Fantasy for choir, soloists, piano and large orchestra (2023) was clearly
inspired by Beethoven's 9th Symphony, both in its grand setting - large
orchestra, choir and four vocal soloists (here, with the addition of the piano)
- and by the fact that it carries a strong social message. However, appearing 200
years later and composed in a location far removed from Central Europe, Wolpe's
rich selection of texts by Jewish and Israeli poets is woven through the work's fabric together with the familiar music of Israeli songs and oriental dance
rhythms, such as those inherent in the music of the Jews of Yemen. In addition
to texts sung by the choir and soloists, Prof. Wolpe himself added (and
recited) his own spoken narrative to the multi-dimensional canvas. Falling into
four sections bound together almost seamlessly, the Choral Fantasy includes
texts of Russian-born Rachel Bluwstein (1890-1931), the Hebrew-language poet
known as "Rachel", who immigrated to Palestine in 1909, of Tel Aviv-born poet
Havatzelet Habshush (1950-1984), of Polish Hebrew/Yiddish modernist writer
David Frischmann (1859-1922) and of the medieval Jewish Spanish Talmudic
scholar Rabbi Shmuel HaNagid (993 AD-1056). Written in a highly accessible
tonal/modal style, the huge choral and orchestral setting moved from foreboding
moments to soulful, cantabile melodies, to infectious dance rhythms. The joint
choir gave fine expression to Wolpe's masterful choral writing as the soloists'
strong, resonant voices, mostly paired or singing as an ensemble, contended
admirably with the massive forces on stage. Pleasingly handled by Tom Zalmanov,
there was poetry in the piano sections, some solo, others weaving through the
orchestral score. The third movement soars to a climax with the choir's
vehement singing of David Frischmann's all-too-actual question: "Till
when, till when, will man row with his brother?" In a work that is challenging,
confronting and exhilarating, also abounding in melodiousness and associations
of Israeli music, Wolpe's message comes across loud and clear, and with deep conviction. As to his rich choice of texts, the possibility of reading them as
surtitles above the stage would have been advantageous to the audience.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">With its close-to-impossible
technical demands and the utopian humanist idealism in the choral setting of
Friedrich Schiller’s "Ode to Joy" in the last movement, Ludwig van
Beethoven's Symphony No.9 in D minor, Op.125,"Choral" has sometimes
been referred to as the central work of western classical music both by those
who view it as the quintessence of symphonic, technical, and compositional
imagination and mastery, but also by those who claim that classical music can
also embrace the world outside the concert hall, the work calling for social
change, hope and even political reform. No symphony has been more widely
discussed, nor has any other been a greater divider of musical opinion. For me,
this was an opportunity to revisit Beethoven's 9th and, familiar as the work is
to concert-goers, Maestro Sloane's direction of it had the people in the Henry
Crown Hall at the edges of their seats, once again stirred and unsettled
by the overwhelming drama, tension and turmoil of the first two movements,
their suspense and jagged utterances, their expansive triumphant and
tender statements. The JSO's wind players added some splendid solo interludes. The
symphony's heartfelt, mellow slow movement (Adagio) offered contrast and repose,
with its variations on two gloriously warm-hearted themes. With the choral
section of the final movement issued in by the bright, warm timbre of Simon Bailey's bass solo (always an electrifying moment when the baritone first sings)
Beethoven's use of solo singers and chorus emerged as revolutionary
and emotional as ever in the movement’s kaleidoscope of episodes. It
was a performance of passionate conviction and excellence. This was the
Beethoven work set for our time!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-4229647780451351892023-04-23T07:19:00.004-07:002023-04-23T07:33:58.968-07:00Philippe Herreweghe conducts the Collegium Vocale Gent and the Israel Camerata Jerusalem in works of Mozart and Beethoven. Vocal soloists: Elisabeth Breuer, Olivia Vermeulen, Daniel Johannsen and Thomas E. Bauer<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSRrfgF_UC8qLl0fqVG7LDEtalwDfONjU-830WGnw_M1lzj1X4sstKosDaDY7J05JoJ6oEK3z9DmOrEa4VmOxLfm6zgBNgeWXVMArv3txOi1U-o-_0bAe79UlWvdMcpHs1Wk1vj_aT1ioIf7LqEXR-4DhramjoWmvsuLZtaGwEeOE9wMKo-2QqcbhU/s4032/Camerata%20Herreweghe%20Shirley%20Burdick.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSRrfgF_UC8qLl0fqVG7LDEtalwDfONjU-830WGnw_M1lzj1X4sstKosDaDY7J05JoJ6oEK3z9DmOrEa4VmOxLfm6zgBNgeWXVMArv3txOi1U-o-_0bAe79UlWvdMcpHs1Wk1vj_aT1ioIf7LqEXR-4DhramjoWmvsuLZtaGwEeOE9wMKo-2QqcbhU/w400-h225/Camerata%20Herreweghe%20Shirley%20Burdick.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Shirley Burdick</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It
was difficult to assess which aspect of this program had drawn such a large
audience - the line-up of outstanding artists or people's curiosity to hear
seldom-performed works of Mozart and Beethoven. For me, it was both. Taking
place in the Henry Crown Auditorium of the Jerusalem Theatre on April 16th
2023, "The Great Classic", a concert of the Israel Camerata
Jerusalem's Instruvocal Series featured the Collegium Vocale Gent
(Belgium), soprano Elisabeth Breuer (Austria), mezzo-soprano Olivia Vermeulen
(Holland), tenor Daniel Johannsen (Austria), baritone Thomas E. Bauer (Germany)
and eminent Belgian conductor and scholar Philippe Herreweghe. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The
event opened with “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage”, a short work for chorus and
orchestra composed (1814-1815) by Beethoven to a text by Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe. Beethoven loved Goethe’s poetry and set it to music repeatedly. A few
years after the two met in 1812, Beethoven set Goethe’s popular pair of short
poems "Meeres Stille" and "Glückliche Fahrt" as his opus
112, dedicating it to Goethe. Setting the scene for "Calm Sea",
performance of the short tone poem opened with fragile, sotto voce choral
timbres (the choir giving much emphasis to the various consonants) backed by
plucked notes in the strings to evoke the motionlessness of a windless sea,
then to be punctuated by Beethoven's startling treatment of “fürchterlich”
(terrible), for example, highlighting the word with a stinging
dissonance, or of “Weite” (distances”) where, in the latter, a high soprano
note in a sudden fortissimo crowns a massive dissonant chord. Here,
Beethoven enlists unorthodox procedures to convey the perilousness of sailing
in such calm conditions. Issued in by a fluttering figure in the 'cellos, the
journey is now underway again, with "Prosperous Journey", evoked in a
massive choral and orchestral scene, rugged and fearfully joyous. Here, the
audience becomes aware of Maestro Herreweghe's experiential approach to music
(and poetry), with Collegium Vocale Gent (established by him in 1970) together
with the Camerata players convincing in their expounding of the Romantic
period's intrigue with storms and the sublimity of nature. It remains unclear
why this substantive late Beethoven work has been condemned to obscurity and neglect.
On completing it, the composer sent Goethe a copy, expressing that “I had
united my harmony with yours in appropriate fashion.” Sadly, Goethe sent him no
reply.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">As
to Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No.1 Op.21, the composer was 30 when it was
first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna. <span style="background: white;">The
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported that “this proved to be the most
interesting concert we have had in a long time" with Beethoven's symphony
displaying "great artistry, innovation, and a wealth of ideas; except that
the winds were overused, so that it was music for a band rather than for the
whole orchestra.” For me, hearing the work played by a chamber orchestra
was a revelation. </span>Herreweghe and t<span style="background: white;">he
Camerata members brought out its fine details, nuances and colours, the work's
vitality (the Menuetto is indeed a Scherzo!), its elegance, charm and sense of
well-being. Add to those qualities Beethoven's audacity and teasing humour in
the first- and fourth movements. Here was the music of a Beethoven not yet a burdened
man, not yet a man grappling with fate. As to the criticism aired in the
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung following the symphony's premiere, the work
indeed showcases the winds; the distinctive artistry and beauty of sound of the
Camerata's wind players is never short of rewarding.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Accessible as it is to the listener, W.A.Mozart's
Mass in C minor (Grand Mass) K.427 presents a number of unanswered questions.
As to the task of completing it, Mozart wrote to his father on January 4, 1783:
."It is quite true about my moral obligation... I made the promise and
hope to be able to keep it"...The fact remains that Mozart never completed
the work. What is known is that it was first performed on August 25 1783 in St
Peter’s Church, Salzburg. It is likely that Mozart's wife Constanze sang the
high-lying first soprano part. Mozart himself may have presided at the organ.
What is not known is how or, in fact, whether the missing sections were filled
in at the Salzburg performance. And there is also no consensus on why Mozart
wrote the C minor Mass. A perfect combination of all the genres and styles
known in the late 18th century, from early polyphony to the galant style, it is
nevertheless a wonderfully balanced musical unity, in spite of its
incompleteness. Reconstructions of this tremendous creation only began in the
early 20th century, instigated by the efforts of German musicologist Alois
Schmitt. His pioneering edition has since been superseded, most significantly
by that of American scholar H. C. Robbins Landon (and by several </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ligatures: none;">others, those including
Robert Levin, Frieder Bernius/Uwe Wolf and Helmut Eder.) The version performed
at the Israel Camerata Jerusalem concert was that of Robbins Landon. The work,
featuring a double choir at the centre of each of its two halves, is a
celebration of choral writing and</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> Maestro
Herreweghe and his very excellent Collegium singers certainly did not disappoint. The grandiose
"Qui tollis" in G minor, probably the climax of the piece, with its
haunting dotted rhythms, grating dissonances, chromaticism and extreme dynamic
changes, emerged imposing and humbling. The lion's share of the solos belongs
to the female singers. Enlisting her outstanding technical skills, soprano
Elisabeth Breuer gave delicate and deeply moving portrayals of the “Christ</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #444444; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">e eleison” in the “Kyrie” (taking on its two
octave-and-a-half leaps with ease), then executing the coloratura passages of
the composition’s vocal centrepiece </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">"Et
incarnatus est" with brilliance and poignance, the piece's intimate
setting involving three solo instrumental lines at the hands of Muki Zohar
(oboe), Mauricio Paez (bassoon) and Esti Rofe (flute). For the "Laudamus
te", Olivia Vermeulen, her voice warm and finely-anchored, contended
admirably with the dynamics, the shaping and melismatic course of the movement.
Tenor Daniel Johannsen is no new face (indeed, no new voice!) to Israeli
audiences. His profound understanding of sacred works always shines through his
textual and musical delivery. The "Quoniam tu", featuring Breuer,
Vermeulen and Johannsen, resounded radiant and exhilarating, indeed,
constituting a highlight of what was altogether a sparkling performance. It was
H.C.Robbins Landon who had referred to the last month of the year 1791 as
"the greatest tragedy in the history of music" with the premature
death of the thirty-five-year-old Mozart. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-36901511753835139662023-04-07T21:08:00.007-07:002023-04-07T21:47:17.801-07:00"A Viennese Morning" - the Jerusalem Piano Duo performs works of Mozart and Schubert at the Eden-Tamir Music Center<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5CHo4q13EujeDaUv56j6zO-43ih8oiAVMfnZ76HuHiHFXvpz6A8qZUrdX4eDUkBrUDTAZFHmhlUGdRvCgoWoXhSqLajaWoqcgJv3CjKg-TRB3gC6FQK02U-7xB8nwhAb7kWrtHMrw0jQgSA-fP77AjGAdg3uS7RTwCj1VrCg4cVlX8l79Bvw-vX25/s4368/Jerusalem%20Piano%20Duo%20Dan%20Porges.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2912" data-original-width="4368" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5CHo4q13EujeDaUv56j6zO-43ih8oiAVMfnZ76HuHiHFXvpz6A8qZUrdX4eDUkBrUDTAZFHmhlUGdRvCgoWoXhSqLajaWoqcgJv3CjKg-TRB3gC6FQK02U-7xB8nwhAb7kWrtHMrw0jQgSA-fP77AjGAdg3uS7RTwCj1VrCg4cVlX8l79Bvw-vX25/s320/Jerusalem%20Piano%20Duo%20Dan%20Porges.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Jerusalem Piano Duo - Dror Semmel, Shir Semmel (Dan Porges)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">"A Viennese
Morning - Piano 4 Hands" could not have been a more fitting title to the
concert performed by the Jerusalem Piano Duo - siblings Shir Semmel and Dror
Semmel - at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, on March 23rd
2023. Dr. Dror Semmel, artistic director of the Eden-Tamir Center, spoke
briefly of the four-hand genre and the works on the program. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The piano duet – four
hands sharing one keyboard – was once an important part of musical activity, to
be enjoyed at home and in the cultural salons of Europe during the 19th and
early 20th centuries. In more modest times, the initial motivation to compose
for piano four hands was not so much the medium’s creative potential, but
rather for the opportunity it presented for enjoying proximity with one’s
playing partner at a time when such things were otherwise frowned upon. The
piano duet became increasingly popular as the modern piano was developing and being manufactured more cheaply, thus becoming the “must have” instrument
for the home. Composers and especially music publishers capitalized on this by
producing a wealth of sheet music for amateur pianists to enjoy. Of course, the
abundance of piano duet material for pianists of all levels constitutes an
important part of student=teacher repertoire. Music that is too much for one
player is easier with more hands helping. Then followed works for four
hands that were highly challenging and complex, catering to outstanding amateurs and professional players, today taking what began as
domestic and salon music onto the concert platform. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Franz Schubert left a large
legacy of music for piano four hands, extending to some sixty works. Largely
little-known today, most of these works were composed for domestic use at the
Schubertiades hosted by the composer’s Viennese friends. The Ein Kerem concert
opened with Schubert's much-loved Fantasy in F minor D.940, a work of four
movements combined into one. As to its title, the work relates both to the act
of "fantasieren" (German: improvise) and to "Fantasie"
(imagination.) It was dedicated to Karoline Esterházy, one of the students Schubert
taught on the Esterházy estates in Zseliz in 1818 and 1824. Legend has it
that the dedication to Karoline Esterházy is indicative of a possible
love affair between teacher and student. Opening with one of those heaven-sent
Schubertian melodies, one occupying a fragile place between nostalgic, sad
reminiscence and bliss, the artists gave expression to the manner in which the
epic Fantasy unfolds, as it shifts between major and minor, contrasting shadow
and light, sadness and happiness, with the artists (primo: Dror Semmel)
displaying control, articulacy, clean, unblurred textures and subtlety, also
exercising gentle flexing of tempi and giving articulate explication to its
fugal writing and hearty tutti. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Schubert's Allegro in
A minor D.947 "Lebensstürme" (Storms of Life) was written in May
1828, the last year of his life. This title was not given by the composer but
by Anton Diabelli who published it in 1840, presumably with an eye to the
market. However, the stereotyped sobriquet does little to prepare the listener
for the depth and breadth of what is in store. Possibly Schubert's star four-hand
composition, written only a month after the Fantasy, it offers us more than a
glimpse into Schubert’s inner life. The Jerusalem Duo artists probed the highly
dramatic work, with its extensive use of chromaticism and Neapolitan sixth
chords, a single-movement work which, by turns, is turbulent, passionate, tragic
and blissful. They brought out some rapturous moments of floating, otherworldly fragility,
their sensitively-shaped phrasing and powerfully built climaxes (in the fugue) emerging with conviction. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Mozart was one of the
pioneers of works for piano four hands, undoubtedly encouraged to do so through
his music-making on the harpsichord together with his sister Maria Anna (Nannerl), as
depicted in the famous family portrait by Johann Nepomuk della Croce (c.1780).
As his musical career progressed, Mozart created a small repertoire of masterful four-hand piano compositions that remain among the most admired and performed
of this genre. Sonata in F, K. 497, showing the composer exploiting
the opportunities inherent in this distinctive style of writing, was a
pioneering work, leading to impressive results. It is Mozart’s largest-scale
four-hand sonata and the most ferociously difficult of them. Shir and Dror Semmel
gave rhythmic spontaneity to the opening movement, a quest into imagination
with its enthralling exchange of musical ideas, not to speak of the many
moments echoing Mozart's operatic writing. The artists' performance of the
Andante movement brimmed with invention and noble gestures, to be followed by
their joyful but carefully paced playing of the final Allegro with its
delightful series of interwoven sonorities. Ten months after completing the F
major Sonata, Mozart finished his last full-scale foray into the genre of piano
for four hands with Sonata in C major K 521. Instead of the tight interweaving
of the four hands of K 497, Mozart establishes a more competitive relationship
between the two performers, with many passages in which they imitate each other
(with deviations). With Shir Semmel in the primo role, the artists launched
into the extended opening Allegro with zest and freshness, navigating its
dazzling dialogue with charm and fine contrasting. Following the full,
virtuosic texture of the Allegro, they balanced the Andante's pared-down
lyrical, dream-like outer sections with its more intense and contemplative
middle section, taking on the sonata's final movement, a good-humoured Allegretto, at a
moderate pace.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Performance by two
pianists simultaneously sharing a single piano requires not only a level of
intimacy unique to chamber music; it also presents its own set of technical
challenges. Once again, Shir and Dror Semmel's performance brought home that the four-hand
genre has qualities that can’t be found in any other form of collaborative
playing, characterizing a melding of two players and four hands into one
musical organism. Their performance was finely detailed, rich, polished and
rewarding. Despite the fact that the four-hand piano repertoire is
primarily associated with domestic music-making, the size and intimate ambience
of the Eden-Tamir Music Center’s hall makes for a good second!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ7nQgTzHo34Trq9aOPRoSmJo2t9YdkJJZlZc06baG9JDru9luVanYXT4a1HZfkiSfN5YcaswAW7Uw7Vy6g2Xkp7cvFJ-rIHwT_XnT0zaANKFGttH9f3cUgw2ehXnpcJVPRiuPQs4u2Xv3TzrNL7ThOTYjFLj3ImRGWBFDIqu0FOVgZIYYlao1V8XV/s225/Mozart%20family%20portrait%20Johann%20Nepomuk%20della%20Croce.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="225" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ7nQgTzHo34Trq9aOPRoSmJo2t9YdkJJZlZc06baG9JDru9luVanYXT4a1HZfkiSfN5YcaswAW7Uw7Vy6g2Xkp7cvFJ-rIHwT_XnT0zaANKFGttH9f3cUgw2ehXnpcJVPRiuPQs4u2Xv3TzrNL7ThOTYjFLj3ImRGWBFDIqu0FOVgZIYYlao1V8XV/w320-h236/Mozart%20family%20portrait%20Johann%20Nepomuk%20della%20Croce.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mozart Family portrait painted by Johann Nepomuk della Croce</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-60788470378882836752023-03-30T21:07:00.007-07:002023-04-16T22:28:36.923-07:00The Dormition Abbey of Jerusalem opens its doors again with a concert performed by the Cologne Cathedral Boys' Choir. Conductor: Eberhard Metternich<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSt0FxGvEhgDs4At6nTns6vAAQZggKOTOuCXY_pSsgnTlSvQGWFTGRk9MgDkayYXkCX8cbt9uUo3sqmgV5ctaUCeW6MSKhPYMMg7XYs1k-I08u86de-7RnsU2CyfGgskcaSRsU6Xmc5-r7LTgXEhwPswWbI0OWVeAaHIDDym-tTnlaYGnwWwDD0v9c/s267/Cologne%20Jerusalem.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="189" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSt0FxGvEhgDs4At6nTns6vAAQZggKOTOuCXY_pSsgnTlSvQGWFTGRk9MgDkayYXkCX8cbt9uUo3sqmgV5ctaUCeW6MSKhPYMMg7XYs1k-I08u86de-7RnsU2CyfGgskcaSRsU6Xmc5-r7LTgXEhwPswWbI0OWVeAaHIDDym-tTnlaYGnwWwDD0v9c/w284-h400/Cologne%20Jerusalem.jpg" width="284" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Following three years of closure of the Dormition Abbey Jerusalem, due to
extensive renovations, the faces of people
entering the Mt. Zion church once again conveyed curiosity and exhilaration.</span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #4d5156;"> The occasion was</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> a concert on March 22nd 2023 to
celebrate the reopening of the Dormition Abbey. The concert featured the
Cologne Cathedral Boys' Choir (Germany), joined by a small group of young adult
singers from Cologne Cathedral and conducted by Prof. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #212529;">Eberhard Metternich</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">. The audience was welcomed by Fr.
Simeon Gloger. </span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">The Cologne
Cathedral Boys' Choir, the only boys’ choir in Cologne, is the oldest of the
four choirs of the Cathedral, re-established in 1863 to continue the
centuries-old Cathedral choral tradition. The choir sings for services and
concerts in the Cathedral, performing repertoire that spans
from Renaissance- to contemporary works. Appearing in national- and
international competitions, it has toured Europe and the Americas. As of
1987, Eberhard Metternich has been Master of Cathedral Music, conducting
the Cathedral Choir and the Cologne Cathedral Vocal Ensemble.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Opening with Melchior Frank's canonic
"Da pacem Domine" (Give peace, Lord), the Jerusalem program
gave a representative selection of the choral works and styles in the choir's
repertoire. We heard well-defined, articulate readings of the interplay of
voices and complexities in works by Palestrina, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's
lush, dynamic settings of sacred texts, and t</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #454545;">he choir's singing of Anton
Bruckner's spectacular but prayerful "Locus iste" (This place was
made by God), also Bruckner’s seven-voiced "Ave Maria" (1869), giving
expression to the composer’s rich palette of Romantic colour and
contrasts. There were several late-19th century and early 20th century
pieces: a nicely varied performance, including some solo singing, of a setting
of Psalm 130 by the eminent (but today little-known) German composer Heinrich
Kaminski and an imposing performance of Darius Milhaud's </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: #454545; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">setting of the
Psalm 121 for a cappella men's choir, in which the composer depicts a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, its blend of resonant male chorus textures with modal
scales indeed striking, with the piece culminating in a thrilling bitonal
chord. Contending well with English texts, the choir sang a number of works
from the British Isles: George Rathbone's vibrant, forthright anthem
"Rejoice in the Lord Alway", Hubert </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); color: #2c060c; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">P</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2c060c;">arry’s "I was glad when they
said", Parry's festive, celebratory setting of words from Psalm 122
composed</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #454545;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2c060c;">for the coronation
of Edward VII, here, so aptly including "</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202124;">Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity
within thy palaces"; and the touching simplicity and innocence of
"Look at the world", John Rutter's harvest anthem composed to his own
lyrics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202124;">As</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> to works of the 20th
century, we heard two tonal pieces - the hymnal-styled "Singen von Gottes
Wegen" (Sing in God's ways) by Christian Matthias Heiss, head of the
Regensburger Domspatzen, and a fresh, energetic presentation of Norwegian orchestral
and choral composer Knut Nystedt's "Laudate Dominum" (Praise the
Lord). For their performance of "Lux Aurumque" (Light and Gold),
American composer Eric Whitacre's a cappella Christmas piece composed in 2000,
the singers were positioned around the walls of the church and in the chancel,
creating a shell of scintillating sound to transfuse the space with
Whitacre's glorious and haunting hallmark timbres of pure harmonies and
clusters, here set against a sustained note, creating a slowly evolving otherworldly
wash of colours and light. Metternich and his singers gave eloquent statement
to the guidelines appearing on Whitacre's score, advising that " if the
tight harmonies are carefully tuned and balanced they will shimmer and
glow." </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">In addition to
conducting a few of the works, choir assistant Simon Schuttemeier performed verses and the C</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">anzona in C major by Domenico Zipoli from the "Sonate d'Intavolatura per Organo
e Cimbali".</span>ture. The festive concert closed with a
contemporary arrangement of "O little town of Bethlehem", the warmth
and sincerity of Bob Chilcott's setting of the "Irish Blessing"
and the full, swaying, hearty canvas of Cologne cantor Oliver Sperling's
"Am Dom zo Kölle", the latter piece painting a vibrant musical scene
of the life and sounds of the Cologne Cathedral.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Under the dedicated
guidance of Prof. Metternich, the young singers, aged 10 to 29, displayed
competence, fine intonation and an understanding of musical styles and colour,
making for an evening of polished performance, beauty of sound and genuine
pleasure.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-82040602704139251272023-03-19T06:14:00.004-07:002023-03-19T06:25:34.143-07:00Opera North (Israel) presents its first production - Aviram Freiberg's setting of Federico Gracia Lorca's "The House of Bernarda Alba" <p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoRo6Ruw2aiSZRLmZcl5_T4Us0SgX1AI8InC6CNn94vrBCI1q3PpZ3Ej_56-od7UPevqgZmv2AYF2I_95jS0prVbQeR9QJfr9bTfQj6uihPT7cGM7fzo5XPoxXtGOKGT8yMO8J4o2HuSmdUPjZ5kAPYSRip53b1RLKOtuoujqRDbVBvOZsadOaUlQ/s702/Bernarda%20Alba%20Aviram%20Freiberg.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoRo6Ruw2aiSZRLmZcl5_T4Us0SgX1AI8InC6CNn94vrBCI1q3PpZ3Ej_56-od7UPevqgZmv2AYF2I_95jS0prVbQeR9QJfr9bTfQj6uihPT7cGM7fzo5XPoxXtGOKGT8yMO8J4o2HuSmdUPjZ5kAPYSRip53b1RLKOtuoujqRDbVBvOZsadOaUlQ/s320/Bernarda%20Alba%20Aviram%20Freiberg.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Aviram Freiberg</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opera North (Israel) has set its sights
at encouraging opera creativity, composers and performers in Haifa and in the
northern region of Israel. "The House of Bernarda Alba" was the
company's first production. Completed in 1936, two months before the death of
its author Federico García Lorca, this drama was the third and last of what has
often been referred to as the "rural trilogy" - "Bodas de
sangre" (Blood Wedding), "Yerma" and " La casa de Bernarda
Alba" (The House of Bernarda Alba).. Abridged and translated into
Hebrew by Rivka Meshulach, the text has been set to music by Aviram
Freiberg. Stage direction was by Jonathan Szwarc, stage design - <span style="background: white;">Dorota Biales, lighting - Yoni Tal; </span>Tom Karni
conducted with Alyssa Kuznetsova at the piano. This writer attended the
performance at the Khan Theatre (Jerusalem) on March 14th, 2023.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opening with the stark singing of
"Requiem Eterna", followed by elements of Jewish mourning liturgy,
the action takes place in the home of Bernarda Alba after the funeral of her
second husband. Authoritarian, unbending and bound to the stringencies of
Spanish tradition, Bernarda announces to her five daughters that there will be
a mourning period of eight years, during which time they must stay in the house
and do needlework. Her authority is not to be questioned. La Poncia (Iris
Brill), Bernarda's maid and confidante, challenges Bernarda's authority, but
the daughters are to submit to her will in spite of their unhappiness.
Lilach Tolnai-Turcan was well cast as the controlling Bernarda, her eyes never
moving from her daughters. In the production, the daughters' individual
personalities were excellently portrayed - Angustias (Carmel Ben-Ephraim),
whose name means "anguish" or "torments", the weeping
Magdalena (Shira Shaish), the gossipy Amelia (Mor Rosenfeld), the unhappy,
sickly and manipulative Martirio (Elinor Greenberg), and Adela (Tom Ben Ishai), the
youngest, most beautiful and passionate of the daughters, who openly disobeys her
mother. Adela has been having a secret affair with Pepe el Romano. At the
climax of the play, she hangs herself after Pepe was (mistakenly) rumoured to
have been shot. Throughout the opera's streamlined three-act continuum, we were
presented with some fine, articulate singing. The acting was natural, subtle
and convincing, never excessive, allowing the dramatic course to spiral to its
conclusion with puissance, the singers' body language, in particular their
facial expressions, indicative of each turn and gesture of the scenario. On the
bare stage, save for the symbolic red needlework thread wound in and out through
the chair legs, symbolically incarcerating the daughters, the performance gave
expression to all the elements of Lorca's play - the stringency of tradition,
authority, the oppression of women, family dynamics, jealousy, anger,
despair, love and death, and emotion versus reason. With Tom Karni
conducting and Alyssa Kuznetsova's attentive, spirited and dependable playing,
Freiberg's music, moving between modal, atonal and even folk-based styles, in
keeping with the dramatic developments, flows well. His musical language is
accessible and meaningful. A highlight of the performance was the solo scene of
Maria Josefa, Bernarda's demented mother, poignantly presented by Dalia Treibich,
its content telling of dreams and yearning, her words filled with truth and
wisdom. Another touch was Flamenco dancing by Maayan Yagil. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Opera North is off to a promising
start. Kudos to all involved!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-78771603698447116082023-03-07T06:09:00.008-08:002023-03-07T19:56:59.201-08:00Birds in Music - the Melzer Consort on recorders with soprano Yeela Avital perform at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLnGATch0jsJu7U9qDrXL-iuJZG6E16LJDEyHj4ZOx16TGzw9UfzhS2HWpwfffQSL-WFuelQKVpaUYHW6lbK1pNPvZAdK9zZqri9ZJd6LFdQzU0H9gW5RuAKDMdPhj4IaVEfabW-Gzo9rYSmdOy73DyJ0v8ZHmsgpW5eqyty6tkKWKOVCYlv5-5kNA/s200/Michael%20Melzer%20JAMD.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="160" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLnGATch0jsJu7U9qDrXL-iuJZG6E16LJDEyHj4ZOx16TGzw9UfzhS2HWpwfffQSL-WFuelQKVpaUYHW6lbK1pNPvZAdK9zZqri9ZJd6LFdQzU0H9gW5RuAKDMdPhj4IaVEfabW-Gzo9rYSmdOy73DyJ0v8ZHmsgpW5eqyty6tkKWKOVCYlv5-5kNA/s1600/Michael%20Melzer%20JAMD.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prof. Michael Melzer (Courtesy JAMD)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #141140; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It was Olivier Messiaen who said:
"In artistic hierarchy, birds are the greatest musicians that exist on our
planet." In fact, he </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #212529; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">considered himself as much an ornithologist as a
composer, organist and pianist. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Birdsong has played a significant role in Western classical
music for hundreds of years. Among the birds whose song is most often imitated
in music are the nightingale and the cuckoo. "Birds in Music" was the
theme for a concert performed by the Melzer Consort at the scenic venue of the
Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies (Mormon University) on February 26th
2023. Recorder players Michael Melzer, Yael Melzer and Ezer Melzer were joined
by soprano Yeela Avital.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">In keeping with the
nature of the recorder and the times in which the it flourished, many of the
pieces on the program were from the Elizabethan- and Baroque periods -
the anonymous Elizabethan "This Merry Pleasant Spring", graced with
the calls of several birds and evocatively presented by Yeela Avital, then a jolly
dialogue between alto recorder and Avital in "The Cuckoo" by Richard
Nicholson, to be followed by the sober, bitter-sweet "Venus'
Birds" lullaby by John Bennet. As to the dialogue between Joan and
John in</span><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> </span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Nicholson's "Wooing Song", whether or not
the repetition of "</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">every hour to woo" refers to the owl's
nocturnal cry</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">
is arguable. For their performance of "There Were Three Ravens", its
grim scene devoid of any joyful bird song, the ensemble chose a deliberate,
languid tempo to set the bleak scene. Avital sustained the almost leaden pace
impressively, as the strophic song concluded</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #161616; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> with the somewhat comforting
message that every person should hope to be as lucky as the knight in the poem
whom God had blessed with hounds, hawks, and a loyal woman who cared for his
body after death. Sweeping aside any gloom and doom in the air, there was no
mistaking the joy and abandon of Thomas Morley's ever popular and gently </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202124; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">risqué</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #161616; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> "It was a
lover and his Lass", </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">its refrain speaking of bird songs in Morley's
setting for Shakespeare’s "As You Like It". The</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #4d5156; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> song, to be sung and danced, d</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #5f6368; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">raws</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #252324; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">
together pastoral love and spring, wooing and the promise of new life </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #161616; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">And to two solo
pieces played by Michael Melzer. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Jacob van Eyck (c.1590–1657), a Dutch nobleman
and blind musician of the Golden Age, was a carillon player and technician,
organist and composer. He was also a virtuoso recorder player, well known for
his improvisations. Many recorder players are familiar with "Der
Fluyten Lust-hof" (The Flute's Pleasure Garden),</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> an extensive
collection of soprano recorder pieces, mostly variations on psalms and popular
songs. Of these some 150 pieces, Melzer chose to perform "Engels Nachtegaeltje"
(1644). Addressing the song's increasingly complex variations, Melzer performs it with spontaneity, imagination and a touch of humour, ornamenting
generously and incorporating such techniques as flutter-tonguing to create a
twittering effect. Not merely virtuosic, his playing was most evocative of the
lively calls of the English nightingale. A more sober, nostalgic mood pervaded
François Couperin's "Le Rossignol en Amour" (The Nightingale in Love), played with tenderness
and French courtly elegance, enhanced by the richly mellow, caressing timbre of the Baroque transverse flute. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The nightingale
appeared in yet another piece - in "Ma tredol rossignol", a 14th
century</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #0f0f0f; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">
virelai performed on recorders with the pleasingly clean articulacy pertaining to the
style, with Michael Melzer singing the song's opening lines.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #0f0f0f; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Franz Anton
Hofmeister (1754-1812), a </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">German composer and publisher residing in Vienna, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #4d5156; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">is known as one of
the founding fathers of music publishing. His compositional oeuvre, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #212529; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">all very much in the
accepted style of his time, covers</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #4d5156; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> many genres of music. His </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">widespread
reputation stemmed from the original content of his works, several</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #4d5156; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> of them </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">composed with
Vienna's growing number of amateur musicians in mind, for whom the flute was
one of the most favoured instruments. One such work is</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> “La Gallina,
il Cucco, e l'Asino” (The Hen, the Cuckoo and the Donkey), the piece
"staging" a dispute between the three, with the individual parts
representing each creature. Making no changes to the work originally scored for three flutes, save
transposing it, the Melzer Consort players gave an entertaining reading of it
on recorders. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The program
included two Israeli songs for voice and three recorders in arrangements by
Michael Melzer - "</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #212529; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">I saw a bird of exquisite beauty"
(lyrics-Natan Zach, melody-Misha Segal) pensive, plaintive and sprinkled with
some unconventional harmonies, to be followed by a somewhat hybrid,
no-less-original setting of "Spring", (lyrics-Thomas Nashe,
melody-Shlomo Gronich), complete with copious bird calls, reminding the listener of how well suited recorders are to imitating birds!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Spring, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king,<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring,<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing:<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"> Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">The palm and may make country houses gay,<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day,<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay:<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"> Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo!<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet,<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit,<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">In every street these tunes our ears do greet:<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;"> Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to witta-woo!<br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #212529; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><span face="adobe-garamond-pro, Garamond, Baskerville, "Baskerville Old Face", "Hoefler Text", "Times New Roman", serif" style="font-size: 20px; text-indent: -1em;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-indent: -15pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">T The audience in the auditorium of the
Mormon University was presented with an evening of varied, polished,
finely-detailed and stylistically-informed ensemble playing at the hands of the
Melzer Consort and attentive, sensitive singing by Yeela Avital. Under the
direction of Prof. Michael Melzer, the Melzer Consort was formed some twenty
years ago. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #212529; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><br />
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<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-60383170831974650792023-02-23T08:00:00.003-08:002023-02-23T09:56:18.216-08:00"The Classic and the Romantic" - Eugenia Karni, Gilad Karni and Asaf Zohar perform Mozart and Brahms in the Mormon University's Sunday evening concert series<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFgzPxF0-524GelklusG6eHL3pKhVrdj3wr9ZT3LER-V1vSr-qQ45LqHY0I6v8ZlBnXz1ZHLrWufsy6VWeYiXkdPSRYLuGoz9eoAoOZgHZodcYrR65x2DzRAQOaG_CKusTh0LOQLKdXczwhFzUAGVXLSeWK0kF_UxJ-hbsmRUCDnuMsmD-_gs3iinM/s419/asaf_zohar.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="419" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFgzPxF0-524GelklusG6eHL3pKhVrdj3wr9ZT3LER-V1vSr-qQ45LqHY0I6v8ZlBnXz1ZHLrWufsy6VWeYiXkdPSRYLuGoz9eoAoOZgHZodcYrR65x2DzRAQOaG_CKusTh0LOQLKdXczwhFzUAGVXLSeWK0kF_UxJ-hbsmRUCDnuMsmD-_gs3iinM/w320-h192/asaf_zohar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Asaf Zohar (Courtesy A.Z.)</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvD2-vvUq8t5Bs3OqivSTrPFV4CGMjDT-uajuwSlPtu78PBCwWAbZ34vUCZxNTt0PsnwxGYIHtCppLIGPG4mzJB9NimoyD1hls8KMv1ocUUgI9NYgvdSCg08LsC91L638XnfgY0kgStbQWV40ThJwlH-8x_Sw8vnQHIXbWqC_yUbfWpkgk-NuZHSms/s2048/Eugenia%20and%20Gilad%20Karni.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvD2-vvUq8t5Bs3OqivSTrPFV4CGMjDT-uajuwSlPtu78PBCwWAbZ34vUCZxNTt0PsnwxGYIHtCppLIGPG4mzJB9NimoyD1hls8KMv1ocUUgI9NYgvdSCg08LsC91L638XnfgY0kgStbQWV40ThJwlH-8x_Sw8vnQHIXbWqC_yUbfWpkgk-NuZHSms/s320/Eugenia%20and%20Gilad%20Karni.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eugenia and Gilad Karni (Courtesy G.K.)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> The title of "The Classic and the
Romantic", a concert performed by Eugenia Karni-violin, Gilad Karni-viola
and Asaf Zohar-piano at the Brigham Young Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern
Studies (Mormon University) on February 19th 2023, could not have been more
accurate. <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The program opened with Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart's Trio in E-flat major for violin, viola and piano K.498
"Kegelstatt", the work's curious sobriquet arising from <span style="background: white;">an unconfirmed legend that Mozart composed this trio
while attending an </span>outdoor game of skittles. Originally composed for
clarinet, viola and piano, t<span style="background: white;">he trio was
published in 1788 transcribed – probably with Mozart's consent – for
violin, viola and piano. (In the publication, the original clarinet part is
referred to as an "alternative part".) </span><span style="background: rgb(251, 251, 251);"> Wishing to assure the K.498's commercial success, the publisher
advertised it as “a trio for harpsichord or pianoforte with violin and viola
accompaniment”, a description that defies all accuracy!</span><span style="background: white;"> The work was composed for a private musical gathering
with </span>specific players in mind; Mozart himself played the viola part, the
composer's<span style="background: white;"> favourite instrument by his own
admission; indeed, the viola role attests to this, being a much stronger part
than if the composer had scored it for the 'cello. Although not performing on
period instruments, the Karnis and Zohar paid homage to the delicate timbres of
Classical instruments, to the joys of house music, to the work's charming
gestures and to its lyricism and sense of well-being, with just a splash of
dramatic contrast, in playing that was fresh and exquisitely shaped. There are
pianists who celebrate the power and fullness of the Mormon University
auditorium's Steinway & Sons piano. Here, Asaf Zohar, however, wielded it
with crystalline grace. Listening to the trio, it was as if we had been
transported into a Viennese salon to hear Classical chamber music at its best
at the hands of Mozart and </span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">his confreres.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Remaining in E-flat major, the artists, however, took the listener into
a very different style, creating the full-blooded sound world of Romantic
chamber music for their performance of Johannes Brahms' Trio in E-flat major
for violin, viola and piano Op. 40. Composed in 1865 for natural horn with
violin and piano, it was revised in 1891 with alternative versions of the horn
part for either 'cello or viola. Brahms loved the sound of the natural horn,
composing several of his most inspired melodies for the instrument. His father
was a horn player and had taught his son to play the instrument, too. Indeed, for many concert-goers, the work echoes a strong association with the
sombre, melancholic sound qualities of the natural horn. Hearing it performed
on the viola (rather than the horn) certainly did not rule out the work's
nostalgic element. A highly expressive performance, it was rich in sweeping
melodies, excitement and drama, scrupulous timing of gestures (and between
gestures) and close communication with discerning balance among all three
musicians. The 3rd movement, labelled by Brahms as "Adagio mesto"
("mesto" meaning “truly sad”), emerged as fragile, heartfelt and
personal in expression, this to be followed by the Finale-Allegro con brio in
playing that was unleashed, dramatic and brimming with earthy vitality. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The Mormon
University's Sunday evening concerts usually include some brief explanations of
the pieces being performed. Eugenia Karni, Gilad Karni and Asaf Zohar invited
the works themselves to do that. Here, words might have been superfluous. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">This was the first program in which the Karnis have performed with Asaf
Zohar. For their encore, the artists played the 3rd piece of one of Robert
Schumann's last works - the Märchenerzählungen, Op.132 (Fairy Tales), interestingly,
(coincidentally or not?) originally scored for unconventional combination of clarinet, viola and piano as was
Mozart's Kegelstatt Trio! Marked "Ruhiges Tempo, mit zartem Ausdruck"
("reposeful tempo, with tender expression"), the artists' playing of the movement presented a
poignant, intimate dialogue between violin and viola to the gently ever-flowing
course of the piano. A fitting nightcap to an excellent evening of music. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><br />
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<!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318557902733669395.post-12571654681393628812023-02-13T10:55:00.008-08:002023-02-14T23:22:14.835-08:00The 2023 Israeli Schubertiade hosts Graham Johnson (UK) at the Mormon University, Jerusalem. Other performers: Roman Rabinovich (piano), mezzo-soprano Hagar Sharvit and 'cellist Hillel Zori<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2UJiBWp-2ri8O2M3uLgEu6OX2vKCNe4e5WwUMyYFhS8JajRUTL2OYRX9p0YBbMn8szi2VqbmnGj1p3w6KoP9RlvfOGONhwX2mFSmUmqEDV_Dij1xtCRn-S4N6lEFNYTwe-Xx0jrbeH8G4cXN5eOqUeqO6wQ-V0rUl9Y0zl9BjwpV3I_5p9TDsVTq/s233/Franz%20Schubert.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="233" data-original-width="217" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2UJiBWp-2ri8O2M3uLgEu6OX2vKCNe4e5WwUMyYFhS8JajRUTL2OYRX9p0YBbMn8szi2VqbmnGj1p3w6KoP9RlvfOGONhwX2mFSmUmqEDV_Dij1xtCRn-S4N6lEFNYTwe-Xx0jrbeH8G4cXN5eOqUeqO6wQ-V0rUl9Y0zl9BjwpV3I_5p9TDsVTq/w186-h200/Franz%20Schubert.jpg" width="186" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Franz Schubert</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">It was Franz Liszt who
spoke of Schubert as "the most poetic musician that ever was".
Schumann went as far as to say that "Schubert’s pencil was dipped in
moonbeams and in the flame of the sun." and Beethoven, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">on his deathbed, declared: <span style="background: white;">"Truly, Schubert possesses the divine fire.”
Franz Schubert's music draws the listener in on so many levels: within his
world of musical colour and melodic splendour, the composer seems to wield a
powerful force of mystery, of light and dark and of emotional intuition well beyond
the years of a young man who lived only to the age of 31. British</span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> classical pianist,
teacher and Lieder accompanist Graham Johnson has been heard to claim that
"everyone has his/her own Schubert ''.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> From the first Schubertiades, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">informal,
unadvertised gatherings, held at private homes in Vienna, often including the
composer's </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">participation,
to those of today taking place in various locations around the world, people
congregate year after year to reconnect with "their Schubert''. </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">A concert of the 17th Israeli
Schubertiade was introduced by Raz Kohn, who in 2007 initiated and established
the Israeli Schubertiade, remaining its artistic director. The festive event took
place on February 4th 2023 at the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for
Near Eastern Studies. Kohn spoke of this program as celebrating two 200-year
anniversaries - of Schubert's "Wanderer" Fantasy and also of the
arpeggione, the curious hybrid 'cello-guitar instrument that ended up
disappearing from the Austrian music scene almost as soon as it had appeared.
Guest artist at this year's Schubertiade was eminent Schubert scholar Prof.
Graham Johnson himself. Other artists performing in the program were
mezzo-soprano Hagar Sharvit, 'cellist Hillel Zori and pianist Roman Rabinovich...</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The concert opened with Schubert's
Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A minor D.821, seemingly t</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">he only substantial
composition for the arpeggione remaining from its short period of existence.
(The 21st century has seen a revival of interest in the arpeggione, leading to
the composition of a number of new works either for the instrument alone or
with ensemble.) Hillel Zori chose to play the first movement of the sonata on
an arpeggione (built by Amit Tiefe</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">nbrunn) - a six-stringed musical instrument fretted
and tuned like a guitar, but with a curved bridge, enabling it to be bowed like
a 'cello. No easy task, considering Zori was using a modern bow and the fact
that Rabinovich was accompanying on the large Steinway & Sons piano of the
Mormon University auditorium. But for those of us early instrument buffs, it
was more than interesting to hear the voice of this "outsider" as
Zori presented a finely-detailed and expressive reading of the Allegro
moderato, giving the stage to its drama and poignancy, albeit in the slender
musical voice of the arpeggione. How fitting it would have been to hear it
partnered with a fortepiano; Rabinovich's playing, however, was sensitive and
attentive to it. So, for a few minutes, we were taken back to a musical salon of
Vienna of 1824. Then, to the 'cello for the two next movements. Following the
artists' fine-spun introspective reading of the Adagio movement, their playing
of the Allegretto put to advantage the opportunities Schubert proffered for
contrast, from the Hungarian style to Viennese dance music. Virtuosic though it
might be for the string player, the Arpeggione Sonata (written at a dark time
in the composer’s life) presents mood shifts encompassing the full spectrum of
human experience, from unbounded joy to nostalgia and deep sorrow. Indeed, the
rich musical and emotional fabric of the Arpeggione never loses its personal
appeal. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Then to a selection of
Schubert's songs. Mentioning the huge range of emotions and poets found in the
more-than-600 Lieder, Graham Johnson said he and Hagar Sharvit would be
performing just six of their favourite songs. From the busy joy of Franz
Schlechta's poem "Fischerweise" (Fisherman's Ditty) ending
with an unexpected reference to a cunning shepherdess fishing there to provide
a small twist, to the complexity of "Der Zwerg" (The Dwarf). This
setting of a text of Matthäus von Collin must be one of the composer's most
disturbing and darkest songs, with the playing out of its three characters -
the dwarf, his mistress the queen (whom the dwarf strangles) and the narrator.
There was no soft pedalling as the artists set the drama before us - Sharvit
enlisting different timbres of her voice to evoke the characters, with Johnson
creating the night scene on the water with the drama's fateful message and references
to its neo-Gothic grotesque element - a song referred to by Johnson himself as
a "distillation of genius". Then to the mellow "</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #2c060c; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Der Jüngling und der
Tod" (The Youth and Death), Joseph von Spaun's soft-spoken dialogue
between a young man and death, quite a strong association in atmosphere and
construction with the "Death and the Maiden" Lied, only that here the
young man invites death to take him. Sharvit and Johnson's performance of
Schubert's unique setting of Friedrich Rückert's "Dass sie hier gewesen"
</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #3a3a3a; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">(That
she has been here) brings out the erratic workings of mind and memory as
prompted by the senses, in this case, a woman's fragrance. It is as if the
listener has intruded on the recounter in his </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">musings, is taking a clandestine
glimpse into just a few moments of his most intimate feelings, as Schubert
colours these sensations with either daring- or more conventional harmonies, as
befitting the degree of fantasy or reality. As to the artists' rendition of
Schubert's setting of Goethe's "Gretchen am Spinnrade" (Gretchen at
the Spinning Wheel), which they thankfully took at a more moderate tempo than is
often heard in performances, their strategic timing of the song’s gestures
provided a gripping and impactful listening experience. In its range of
emotions - from Gretchen's melancholy to heartache, to the moment of frenzy -
Johnson and Sharvit gave a memorable performance of one of the 17-year-old
Schubert's most dramatic and disturbing studies of love and obsession. The
artists concluded this part of the concert with "Der Wanderer" (The
Wanderer) set to a poem by Georg Philipp Schmidt (von Lübeck), its curious
line-up of unlike musical sections indicative of the wanderer's loss of
direction and base. Although she has had previous contact with Johnson via
master classes and competitions, this was the first time Sharvit has actually
performed with him; decisions regarding the concert repertoire were made
together. I had the pleasure of talking to the singer in Berlin, where she
makes her home today. Sharvit, who is attracted to the darker, more
psychological Lieder, gave an informed, profound and involved reading of the
songs. Graham Johnson's remarkable insight into the genre shines through the
layers of meaning in his awe-inspiring playing. A sense of close communication
between the two artists pervaded the performance.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Referring to the
technical demands of his</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> Fantasie in C major, Op. 15 (D.760), (Wanderer
Fantasy), Schubert himself wrote that "the devil may play it".
Composed in 1822, </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">the Fantasy finds its inspiration and primary
musical materials in "Der Wanderer", the final song heard at the
concert. The work emerges as a somewhat giant theme and variations across all
four movements, further enhanced as the movements flow together without pause,
each leading directly into the next.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> Roman Rabinovich's performance of it abounded in
positive energy, clarity of touch and virtuosic pizzazz, no less appealing in
its lyricism. As was the audience, he was clearly enjoying the response to the
work’s every gesture on the auditorium's superior piano. An exhilarating end to
an excellent concert. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"><br /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<!--[endif]--></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7_GL_i2A8fmzDUINCU0TjrKxvetNndgAlx63_uTxGsc64u6Dy0VxsrvpBDZwXX6zbJ2ReOzQgje5Jwfbmq-2eliIe9YjUIPjvQn0sCZu93iBKAzKOLIlqiyk8Gfehy05ZbygKIytf8kwGDA59h9g-T3aSol0gLPivOJWOndk6yZzN6V1gf6jF_qi_/s1632/Graham%20Johnson%20Miri%20Shamir.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1632" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7_GL_i2A8fmzDUINCU0TjrKxvetNndgAlx63_uTxGsc64u6Dy0VxsrvpBDZwXX6zbJ2ReOzQgje5Jwfbmq-2eliIe9YjUIPjvQn0sCZu93iBKAzKOLIlqiyk8Gfehy05ZbygKIytf8kwGDA59h9g-T3aSol0gLPivOJWOndk6yZzN6V1gf6jF_qi_/w265-h400/Graham%20Johnson%20Miri%20Shamir.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prof. Graham Johnson (Miri Shamir)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>Pamela Hickmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06233588088513947421noreply@blogger.com0