Handel's "Judas Maccabaeus" performed in Jerusalem: Yuval Benozer conducts soloists, the Israeli Vocal Ensemble, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and soloists. Narrator: Tomer Sharon

Maestro Yuval Benozer (agfestival.co.il)

For Concert No.2 of its Vocal Series, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, now in its 82nd season, presented George Frideric Handel’s oratorio “Judas Maccabaeus”. Joining the JSO were soloists Daniela Skorka, Alon Harari, Ron Silberstein and Oded Reich, the Israeli Vocal Ensemble (artistic director: Yuval Benozer) and Tomer Sharon-narrator. Yuval Benozer conducted the performance, which took place in the Henry Crown Symphony Hall of the Jerusalem Theatre on December 25th 2019.

 

Historical events have given rise to one of Handel’s greatest and most-loved choral works. In his program notes, Yuval Benozer recounts how Handel composed the oratorio immediately following the Duke of Cumberland’s bloody suppression of the Jacobite Rebellion, his victory in the Battle of Culloden (1746); the oratorio's celebration of the Maccabean victory became analogous to the English triumph. Thus, the heroic exploits of the guerrilla rebel Judas Maccabaeus proved particularly relevant to that time in British history. Handel's score even features a dedication to the triumphant Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland: “The plan was designed as a compliment to the Duke of Cumberland upon his returning victorious from Scotland… Had not the Duke carried his point triumphantly, this Oratorio could not have been brought on.” The libretto, written by Rev.Thomas Morell, is based on I Maccabees (2–8), with motives added from the “Antiquitates Judaicae” of Flavius Josephus. Reducing the libretto to its bare bones, Morrell wrote with less subtlety, more pageantry and closer connection to current events than Handel’s former librettists; and it seems Morrell was a good fit with the new and less sophisticated London audience of the time. At the Jerusalem concert, in place of the cantata’s recitatives, sections of I Maccabees were read masterfully in the original biblical Hebrew by actor Tomer Sharon, this also befitting to the Feast of Lights that coincided with the event. Benozer holds a special predilection for “Judas Maccabaeus”, with its combination of depth and lightness, drama and entertainment, the beautiful choral sections and, especially, its finale which, “in a most uncommon way, praises peace over war”, in the conductor’s own words. 

 

A finely responsive body of voices, the Israel Vocal Ensemble (Chorus of Israelites) gave performance of the choruses that was sensitive, incisive, rich in timbre and outstanding in the attentive detail addressed to every turn and emotion of the verbal text. The singers’ diction was impeccable (far clearer than many native speaking choirs), all sections well balanced, the members blending as one and engaging in subtly-textured dynamics. The evening's solo singing too was also exemplary. A new face to many of us, young tenor Ron Silberstein, issued in the work with a call to arms accompanied by torrential scales and agitated concitato playing of the unison violins.  Involved and dramatic in the role of Judas Maccabaeus, he addressed the audience, performing his final aria (with trumpet obbligato) with dynamic variety and technical skill. Daniela Skorka portrayed the Israelitish Woman with a clear clean soprano and mellifluous top notes, her singing easeful, lyrical and communicative.  She was well paired with Alon Harari, who, in his warm stable tone and equal flexibility, sculpted each utterance and made use of small but strategic pauses, also enlisting some elegant ornamentation. As the allegorical duo, the Israelitish Woman and Israelitish Man giving voice to the personal feelings of their people, Skorka and Harari performed their duets superbly, as in their absolute togetherness in “O lovely peace”, the flute line threaded through it adding to its pastoral tranquillity and sense of well-being. Bringing to bear his richly resonant tone, baritone Oded Reich embraced the priestly role of Simon with fine diction, articulacy and vigour, endorsing each emotion with stirring conviction, his voice moving securely and seamlessly between registers.

 

In Handel's lifetime, “Judas Maccabaeus” was even more popular than “Messiah”. Maestro Benozer’s direction of “Judas Maccabaeus'', with its eloquent orchestral accompaniments (including fine obbligato trumpets and timpani) brought  all participants together in a performance that never lagged, that was both refined and triumphal, giving choir and soloists latitude to be expressive, shape lines and deliver their characterizations with self-possession, capturing the work’s force. “Judas Maccabaeus” is George Frideric Handel at his heroic best. His music of mourning, rousing calls to arms and rejoicing in victory gave Jerusalem’s Handel aficionados much to enjoy.  

Vag Papian conducts the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra, two Oratorio Choirs and soloists in "Song of Destiny" at the Jerusalem YMCA

Maestro Vag Papian (vengerov-festival.com)

“Song of Destiny” – a program of Romantic works – was performed by the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Oratorio Chamber Choir (musical director: Kate Belshé) and the Jerusalem Oratorio Bel Canto Choir (musical director: Salome Rebello). All were conducted by Maestro Vag Papian, who serves as principal conductor of the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra. The concert took place on April 19^th 2016 in the Mary Nathaniel Golden Hall of Friendship, the Jerusalem International YMCA.

The program opened with a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.3 in a-minor opus 56, “Scottish”. On his visit to Scotland in 1829, Mendelssohn, deeply impressed by the rugged ruins of Holyrood Palace (the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland) wrote “I believe I found today in the old chapel the beginning of my Scottish Symphony”. An accomplished painter, the composer returned from his trip with some 30 dated pencil drawings and pen-and-ink sketches; his musical sketches, however, were laid aside, not to be completed as a symphony till 1842. When Mendelssohn conducted its premiere, he presented the work as “absolute” music; indeed, it includes no Scottish melodies and was probably largely influenced by the spirit of the Scottish literature the composer had read as well as the Scottish landscape. Maestro Papian and the Ashdod Orchestra gave expression to the large work, from the first movement’s sombre opening “Holyrood” theme, its tension and agitation, its plaintive and stormy moments and its pictorial and poetic aspects. Following the scurrying staccato Vivace movement, with its fanfare interjections (an association of the composer’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream”), the players stressed the Adagio’s dramatic, at times reflective and sweeping intensity. In the final movement, the orchestra juxtaposed the threatening first subject with the second more wistful idea, bringing the work to a powerful and majestic close. The performance indeed captured the heavy, brooding, sometimes martial character of much of the work (punctuated by the lightness and grace of the second movement), offering some very fine wind playing throughout.

One of the four Masses written in his teen years, Franz Schubert’s Mass No.2 in G-major (1815),  a work scored for mixed choir, string orchestra and organ, was written within six days. The Jerusalem performance highlighted the work’s lyricism, moments of grandeur and innate tunefulness, the Oratorio Choirs (joined by both conductors in the soprano section) opening with velvety singing of the Kyrie, then competently weaving Schubert’s largely homophonic textures into and around the lines sung by the three soloists. Soprano Efrat Vulfsons’ substantial, richly coloured voice added emotional weight to the Christe, conveying tranquillity and the element of personal utterance in the Agnes Dei as the choir represented the collective plea. Bass Yoav Meir Weiss, his voice mellifluous and fresh, joined Vulfsons in the Gloria, as they transformed its jubilance into the more grievous Domine Deus. Ron Silberstein’s full-bodied tenor voice formed a trio with Vulfsons and Weiss in the Benedictus. In their splendid singing of the stile antico Credo, the choirs presented its simple, hymnlike melody set against the detached, moving bass line, their singing infused with eloquence and displaying a finely blended choral sound.  A drawback in the YMCA hall was having the choirs surrounding the orchestra from the back and sides; the tenors and altos were not sufficiently audible, which was unfortunate.

Johannes Brahms “Schiksalslied” (Song of Destiny) opus 54 was begun in 1868. It took three years to complete and was premiered in October 1871, with Brahms himself conducting. The poem itself appears in Friedrich Hölderlin’s novel “Hyperion” (1799), in which the title character is an 18^th century Greek who fights against the Ottoman Empire and ponders the rift between the ideal perfection of unity and the destructive effects of suffering borne of personal freedom. The work is scored for 4-part mixed choir and orchestra. In contrast to the mainstream choral fare performed by many Israeli choirs,  the Oratorio choirs took on board the musical- and emotional challenges of this intensely Romantic tone poem; devoid of soloists, the choirs engaged in the contemplative, philosophical character of the text, its contrasts and its unanswered questions, performing the work in pleasingly intelligible German. No less integral to the work’s message, the orchestra contributed much to the unique work, as it opened with a slow, ominous instrumental Adagio. Still in the Adagio vein, the choirs then extol the peace of the Olympian gods, who are “free from care”. Then the tables turn, with the choir then setting before the audience the pitiful lot of man, the suffering of humanity, the choral part then fading away:

‘To us is allotted

No restful haven to find;
They falter, they perish,
Poor suffering mortals
Blindly as moment
Follows moment,
Like water from mountain
To mountain impelled.
Destined to disappearance below.’ (Translation: Edwin Evans)

Leaving the choir “wordless”, the orchestra takes over, concluding on a more positive note with the composer finally spreading a message of peace in the postlude.  Orchestra and choirs collaborated closely in conveying the work’s profound text and mood most effectively.

A graduate of the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories, Vag Papian’s international career as a conductor has covered orchestral music and opera; he also continues to perform as a pianist. Since immigrating to Israel in 1990, he has conducted- and soloed with several Israeli orchestras.  Today musical director of the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra, Vag Papian is also a professor at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (Tel Aviv).  His engaging and hearty direction at the Jerusalem concert drew players, choristers and soloists into the program material with commitment.