A noon concert of works by Haydn, Schubert and Mozart took place May 1st 2010 at the Augusta Victoria Church (Jerusalem), under the auspices of Pearls of Classical Music (www.pearl-music.co.il) . Sergei Stadler, both conductor and solo violinist, directed the Jerusalem Festival Orchestra and the Kfar Saba Chamber Choir (musical director Aharon Harlap). Soloists in the Mozart Requiem were soprano Maria Yoffe, mezzo-soprano Galina Malinsky, tenor Yotam Cohen and bass Natanel Zalevsky.
One of Russia’s most illustrious musicians, violinist and conductor Sergei Stadler (b. St Petersburg 1962), a graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory, conducts and performs widely and has recorded many discs. The recipient of several prizes, he teaches master classes and produces operas. He was the driving force behind the “Music in the Hermitage Halls” project.
The Kfar Saba Chamber Choir –an ensemble of some 40 singers - was established in 1986 and functions under the auspices of the town’s Department of Culture. Composer and conductor Aharon Harlap took over as musical director in 1997. The choir has a busy performing schedule, records and has had concert tours in Europe.
Located on the northern side of the Mount of Olives, the Augusta Victoria Hospital and
Church, named after Empress Augusta Victoria - wife of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, were built from 1907 to 1910. The church, designed in the grand taste of German architect Robert Leibnitz, is characterized by its 60 meter high bell-tower, and was named the “Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension”. The interior of the church is rich in interest, providing an attractive venue for concerts, its lively acoustic an added advantage.
The concert opened with Joseph Haydn’s (1732-1809) Violin Concerto in G major Hob. VIIa:4 (c.1769). Haydn has been credited with four violin concertos, three of which have survived. Some musicologists have expressed doubt as to whether the G major concerto was composed by him or not, although the Finale:Allegro, one of unadulterated joy, is most typical of Haydn. Sergei Stadler’s reading of the work was measured and deeply rooted in the Classical manner, his tempi moderate, his performance of the demanding violin solo sincere and articulate. Much of his direction of the Jerusalem Festival Orchestra of ten string-players and harpsichord was simply through eye contact.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) wrote no concertos. In the concerted genre, he did, however, compose the Concert Piece for Violin and Orchestra D.345 and his Rondo for String Orchestra. D.438 (1816). We heard Stadler and the Jerusalem Festival Orchestra in the latter. An extended rondo, comprising of three themes, it is a small masterpiece. Stadler’s clean, steady playing and direction stay clear of showy concert-piece mannerisms. He guides his listeners through the episodes, key- and mood changes, illuminating the text with clarity and brilliant, clean passagework.
The concert ended with an uplifting performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-1791) Requiem Mass in D minor K.626 (1791). With the orchestra providing much variety of timbre – woodwind playing was especially pleasing – the Kfar Saba Chamber Choir’s fine group of singers was responsive, confident and expressive, aware of dynamic changes, their singing of vocal lines leaning into the focal point of the musical phrase. Stadler and his musicians kept the work’s emotional tension running through the work right to the end, bringing out its underlying emotional struggle, its drama its pathos and its compassion. Soprano Maria Yoffe’s sensitive, well-chiseled phrasing and creamy voice and mezzo-soprano Galina Malinsky’s lush, fruity tone rang through the church. Yotam Cohen’s silvery, powerful and penetrating tenor sound is always distinctive. Young bass Netanel Zalevsky’s upper range boasts an interesting and rich mix of colors. A frequently performed work, Mozart’s Requiem is an inspiring work for performers and audiences and this was no exception!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
"Modern Music for Recorder and Piano" - a disc recorded by Leora Vinik and Liora Ziv-Li
“Modern Music for Recorder and Piano” is a selection of pieces by 20th century composers, a disc recorded in 2008 by two Israeli artists – recorder-player Leora Vinik and pianist Liora Ziv-Li. The 20th century has seen renewed interest in early music and its performance practice, one result being the recorder’s reinstatement as a solo- and ensemble instrument, another being the creating of a new and varied modern repertoire of works for the instrument. “Modern Music for Recorder and Piano” presents works of varying styles from different countries in Europe, plus one Israeli work, the technical- and musical demands on each instrument being equally challenging.
Israeli-born recorder player Leora Vinik received a B.A. with honors in Music and Bible Studies from Tel Aviv University, continuing her studies in recorder with Marion Verbruggen (Holland) to graduate with an Artist’s Diploma in Performance. Vinik divides her time between solo performance, recording, instructing music students and teachers, tutoring adults in recorder ensembles and much work in the field of music education for children in Israel. She has also been involved in the writing of performance practice manuals and of guided listening texts to accompany the Youth Concert Series of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In “Modern Music for Recorder and Piano” Vinik plays on a Moeck Rottenburgh model soprano recorder and a boxwood alto recorder made by Israeli recorder-builder Yoav Ran.
Pianist Liora Ziv-Li, born in Israel, graduated from the Tel Aviv Academy of Music (piano, harpsichord) proceeding to studies at the Royal College of Music (London). She is the recipient of a number of awards, winning prizes in international competitions. Ziv-Li’s professional engagements include performing with orchestras and recitals; she has played on radio and television in Israel and overseas.
Flautist Marta Klempner began her studies in Israel, receiving Bachelor and Masters degrees in Performance (modern flute and Baroque flute) and Musicology from Indiana University, Bloomington, continuing her studies at the Royal College of Music (London). Since returning to Israel, Klempner has played with orchestras and performed in chamber music concerts.
Hans Gal (1890-1987) was born near Vienna but fled to Britain in 1938, where he eventually took up a lectureship at the University of Edinburgh. His Three Intermezzi opus 103 (1974) are a set of mood pieces of transparent, delicate textures, a fine mix of contrapuntal- and harmonic interest, humor and gentle mood changes. Vinik and Ziv-Li’s reading of them is attentive and interesting in its fine detail, their playing in keeping with Gal’s unflagging sense of good taste. Hans Ulrich Staeps’ (1909-1988) Sonata in E flat major for Recorder and Piano strikes a very different note. This is the Austrian educator and performer’s first composition. Staeps’ work, somewhat reminiscent of Hindemith’s style, defies bar-lines and tonal stability and presents a feisty canvas of long, inventive melodic lines, jaunty rhythmical ideas and provocative textural motifs which, as in the sonata’s third movement, then transcend into lyrical, intimate moments. Ziv-Li and Vinik take on board the many challenging facets of this work, handling its technical challenges and tricky temperament with aplomb.
German conductor, flautist and baritone Hans-Martin Linde, (b.Germany, 1930) has spent much of his professional life teaching in the Music Academy of Basel; he, himself, is a virtuoso player on both recorder and flute. His Trio for Alto Recorder, Flute and Piano (1960) balances and juxtaposes the timbres of recorder, flute and piano in five short, sinewy movements. Joining Vinik and Ziv-Li is outstanding flautist Marta Klempner. Linde creates a fine blend of timbres from this blatantly unconventional scoring; the three artists’ thorough reading of the musical text, together with their accuracy and purposefulness, makes for high quality performance.
Peter Farago’s (b.1932) Hommage a Bela Bartok – Rondo for Soprano Recorder and Piano was composed in 1989. Farago, born in Germany, moved to Hungary with his family in 1935. Constructed from short, varied sections, this piece is peppered with Hungarian-style folk dances and songs, tempo changes, eastern European modes and asymmetrical rhythmic motifs. Ziv-Li and Vinik meet the technical and stylistic challenges of the piece, resulting in the use of energy and color that make for interesting listening.
One of the highlights of the disc is surely British composer John Graves’ (1916-1997) Divertimento, with the dedication “For Fiona”, for alto recorder and piano. Composed in 1964, this small gem, created in five short movements, boasts superb writing for both recorder and piano, opening with the Prelude with its vivacious onset, rapid harmonic changes and rhythmic displacements, then moving into the wistful, songful Air, sketched in autumnal hues and more securely anchored in stable tonality. The third movement – Festivo – suggesting a jolly country celebration complete with little dances, in which the recorder adds small comments, is charming, whereas, in the Soliloquy, the recorder adopts a pensive, soul-searching mood. The coquettish Finale ends the work with a dash of good humour. Vinik and Ziv-Li’s playing certainly does justice to the musical text.
And to the 21st century. Dr. Hagar Kadima’s (b.Israel, 1957) chamber works have been performed internationally in concerts and festivals. She is the founder of the Israel Women Composer’s forum and teaches in Tel Aviv. “Glimpse of a Question from a Distant Desert” (2007) ties in with the composer’s fascination for desert landscapes and is in keeping with the musical direction in which Kadima’s writing has been taking her over recent years. Clear in form, the work is built around a tonal centre – moving away to view it from afar and eventually returning to it; the score demands enormous dynamic change on the part of the recorder, certainly a tall order from an early instrument. Opening with a section wherein piano and recorder pace together, the piece takes the listener off into the measureless distance of the desert and of one’s mind. Ziv-Li and Vinik have read deeply into the layers of the piece, producing an impressive, thought-provoking and moving performance.
Vinik and Ziv-Li’s collaboration has produced a disc that will interest the music-loving public and recorder players in particular. The two artists’ working of each style and piece has been painstaking and profound. This is performance at its best.
The disc comes with a highly informative and detailed disc sleeve. Included in the box is a DVD created by Leora Vinik, beautifully filmed by Avny Manes (ARTV Communications Ltd., Tel Aviv) and edited by Orit Dembsky, in which five of the works on the disc are joined by other art forms. We are witness to artist Mirjam Walter’s painting of an abstract canvas to Vinik’s performance of Hans Ulrich Staeps’ Sonata in E flat major. Soothing blues and burnished reds prevail. Each movement begins with a short viewing of the written text; the visual play of both Vinik’s- and Walter’s hands is an interesting one. The opening scene for the Pastorale from Hans-Martin Linde’s Trio for Alto Recorder, Flute and Piano is an azure sky, soon to be alive with the movement and poetry of formation of storks and water.
Hagar Kadima’s Glimpse of a Question from a Distant Desert joins the hands of potter Talma Tamari, in which the mesmerizing spinning of the potter’s wheel is initially shown in grays and beiges, with some superimposed images of desert, birds and camels. Only at the end does the scene take on a brighter, pastel coloring.
The Air from John Graves’ Divertimento is the inspiration for a scene depicting the sound and movement of the sea, whereas the Soliloquy features dancer Shimrit Golan hazily and subtly moving in and out of a leafy background.
A collage of the people and inner life of Jerusalem’s Old City is viewed together with Peter Farago’s Hommage a Bela Bartok. Artistically photographed, the film shows the skyline, colors, the Jerusalem stone and the birds of the Old City depicted together with the vibrant activity and spiritual traditions of all three monotheistic faiths represented within its walls. This piece carries a significant message from Vinik.
The question of how connected or relevant the visual- and musical aspects in this DVD presentation are to each other is left to the viewer to answer. Do you focus on the visuals or is your ear busy with the sound? Do they become one multi-faceted art form or does each hold onto its identity? Much thought has been invested into these pieces and they definitely throw light on the many possibilities offered within the milieu of multi-media.
To order the CD:vinik@Netvision.net.il
Israeli-born recorder player Leora Vinik received a B.A. with honors in Music and Bible Studies from Tel Aviv University, continuing her studies in recorder with Marion Verbruggen (Holland) to graduate with an Artist’s Diploma in Performance. Vinik divides her time between solo performance, recording, instructing music students and teachers, tutoring adults in recorder ensembles and much work in the field of music education for children in Israel. She has also been involved in the writing of performance practice manuals and of guided listening texts to accompany the Youth Concert Series of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In “Modern Music for Recorder and Piano” Vinik plays on a Moeck Rottenburgh model soprano recorder and a boxwood alto recorder made by Israeli recorder-builder Yoav Ran.
Pianist Liora Ziv-Li, born in Israel, graduated from the Tel Aviv Academy of Music (piano, harpsichord) proceeding to studies at the Royal College of Music (London). She is the recipient of a number of awards, winning prizes in international competitions. Ziv-Li’s professional engagements include performing with orchestras and recitals; she has played on radio and television in Israel and overseas.
Flautist Marta Klempner began her studies in Israel, receiving Bachelor and Masters degrees in Performance (modern flute and Baroque flute) and Musicology from Indiana University, Bloomington, continuing her studies at the Royal College of Music (London). Since returning to Israel, Klempner has played with orchestras and performed in chamber music concerts.
Hans Gal (1890-1987) was born near Vienna but fled to Britain in 1938, where he eventually took up a lectureship at the University of Edinburgh. His Three Intermezzi opus 103 (1974) are a set of mood pieces of transparent, delicate textures, a fine mix of contrapuntal- and harmonic interest, humor and gentle mood changes. Vinik and Ziv-Li’s reading of them is attentive and interesting in its fine detail, their playing in keeping with Gal’s unflagging sense of good taste. Hans Ulrich Staeps’ (1909-1988) Sonata in E flat major for Recorder and Piano strikes a very different note. This is the Austrian educator and performer’s first composition. Staeps’ work, somewhat reminiscent of Hindemith’s style, defies bar-lines and tonal stability and presents a feisty canvas of long, inventive melodic lines, jaunty rhythmical ideas and provocative textural motifs which, as in the sonata’s third movement, then transcend into lyrical, intimate moments. Ziv-Li and Vinik take on board the many challenging facets of this work, handling its technical challenges and tricky temperament with aplomb.
German conductor, flautist and baritone Hans-Martin Linde, (b.Germany, 1930) has spent much of his professional life teaching in the Music Academy of Basel; he, himself, is a virtuoso player on both recorder and flute. His Trio for Alto Recorder, Flute and Piano (1960) balances and juxtaposes the timbres of recorder, flute and piano in five short, sinewy movements. Joining Vinik and Ziv-Li is outstanding flautist Marta Klempner. Linde creates a fine blend of timbres from this blatantly unconventional scoring; the three artists’ thorough reading of the musical text, together with their accuracy and purposefulness, makes for high quality performance.
Peter Farago’s (b.1932) Hommage a Bela Bartok – Rondo for Soprano Recorder and Piano was composed in 1989. Farago, born in Germany, moved to Hungary with his family in 1935. Constructed from short, varied sections, this piece is peppered with Hungarian-style folk dances and songs, tempo changes, eastern European modes and asymmetrical rhythmic motifs. Ziv-Li and Vinik meet the technical and stylistic challenges of the piece, resulting in the use of energy and color that make for interesting listening.
One of the highlights of the disc is surely British composer John Graves’ (1916-1997) Divertimento, with the dedication “For Fiona”, for alto recorder and piano. Composed in 1964, this small gem, created in five short movements, boasts superb writing for both recorder and piano, opening with the Prelude with its vivacious onset, rapid harmonic changes and rhythmic displacements, then moving into the wistful, songful Air, sketched in autumnal hues and more securely anchored in stable tonality. The third movement – Festivo – suggesting a jolly country celebration complete with little dances, in which the recorder adds small comments, is charming, whereas, in the Soliloquy, the recorder adopts a pensive, soul-searching mood. The coquettish Finale ends the work with a dash of good humour. Vinik and Ziv-Li’s playing certainly does justice to the musical text.
And to the 21st century. Dr. Hagar Kadima’s (b.Israel, 1957) chamber works have been performed internationally in concerts and festivals. She is the founder of the Israel Women Composer’s forum and teaches in Tel Aviv. “Glimpse of a Question from a Distant Desert” (2007) ties in with the composer’s fascination for desert landscapes and is in keeping with the musical direction in which Kadima’s writing has been taking her over recent years. Clear in form, the work is built around a tonal centre – moving away to view it from afar and eventually returning to it; the score demands enormous dynamic change on the part of the recorder, certainly a tall order from an early instrument. Opening with a section wherein piano and recorder pace together, the piece takes the listener off into the measureless distance of the desert and of one’s mind. Ziv-Li and Vinik have read deeply into the layers of the piece, producing an impressive, thought-provoking and moving performance.
Vinik and Ziv-Li’s collaboration has produced a disc that will interest the music-loving public and recorder players in particular. The two artists’ working of each style and piece has been painstaking and profound. This is performance at its best.
The disc comes with a highly informative and detailed disc sleeve. Included in the box is a DVD created by Leora Vinik, beautifully filmed by Avny Manes (ARTV Communications Ltd., Tel Aviv) and edited by Orit Dembsky, in which five of the works on the disc are joined by other art forms. We are witness to artist Mirjam Walter’s painting of an abstract canvas to Vinik’s performance of Hans Ulrich Staeps’ Sonata in E flat major. Soothing blues and burnished reds prevail. Each movement begins with a short viewing of the written text; the visual play of both Vinik’s- and Walter’s hands is an interesting one. The opening scene for the Pastorale from Hans-Martin Linde’s Trio for Alto Recorder, Flute and Piano is an azure sky, soon to be alive with the movement and poetry of formation of storks and water.
Hagar Kadima’s Glimpse of a Question from a Distant Desert joins the hands of potter Talma Tamari, in which the mesmerizing spinning of the potter’s wheel is initially shown in grays and beiges, with some superimposed images of desert, birds and camels. Only at the end does the scene take on a brighter, pastel coloring.
The Air from John Graves’ Divertimento is the inspiration for a scene depicting the sound and movement of the sea, whereas the Soliloquy features dancer Shimrit Golan hazily and subtly moving in and out of a leafy background.
A collage of the people and inner life of Jerusalem’s Old City is viewed together with Peter Farago’s Hommage a Bela Bartok. Artistically photographed, the film shows the skyline, colors, the Jerusalem stone and the birds of the Old City depicted together with the vibrant activity and spiritual traditions of all three monotheistic faiths represented within its walls. This piece carries a significant message from Vinik.
The question of how connected or relevant the visual- and musical aspects in this DVD presentation are to each other is left to the viewer to answer. Do you focus on the visuals or is your ear busy with the sound? Do they become one multi-faceted art form or does each hold onto its identity? Much thought has been invested into these pieces and they definitely throw light on the many possibilities offered within the milieu of multi-media.
To order the CD:vinik@Netvision.net.il
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
An evening in Tel Aviv to remember Israeli pianist Varda Nishri
On April 7th 2010 an evening of words and music was held at the Felicja Blumental Music Center (Tel Aviv) in memory of pianist Varda Nishri, who died 15 years ago. The evening was organized by Nishri’s daughter, Natalia Paruz, herself a musician. Born in Israel, Varda Nishri began giving concerts at age eight, studying with Dinu Lipatti, Claudio Arrau and other great artists. Her studies later included the History of Renaissance Art (Florence University), Musicology (Sorbonne University) and Philosophy (Bar Ilan University). She directed the Israel Bach Center and was considered an expert on J.S.Bach, made deep studies of Mozart’s works and was an authoritative interpreter of Olivier Messiaen’s music.
The evening opened with a recording of Nishri’s playing of the first movement of Paul Ben Haim’s (1897-1984) Music for Piano - 1957, opus 53, a work composed for her.
Israeli composer and teacher Professor Tzvi Avni (b. 1927, Germany) spoke of Varda Nishri’s wide field of interests, those including the plastic arts, literature and Jewish mysticism. He referred to her seriousness and humor - the play of “light and dark” in her personality - both of which were constantly reflected in her playing. Avni spoke of Nishri’s interest in a piano piece he was composing in the 1970’s; it was she who gave it its title –“Epitaph”. “Epitaph” – Piano Sonata no. 2 (1979), a musical tribute to Reb Nachman of Bratslav, was performed in this program by Zecharia Plavin. An intimate, compelling, contemplative, atonal work bristling with interesting pianistic sonorities, Plavin brought out the pain and vehemence expressed in the piece. He paced it carefully, setting out each gesture clearly, his minimal use of the sustaining pedal never blurring the motif at hand. Above all, Plavin’s impressive performance presented the deeply personal and moving message of the work.
American composer Scott R. Munson was present at the event. “Ars longa, vita brevis” (Art is long, life is fleeting) is part of a quotation from the writings of Hippocrates. Munson composed his work of this title in memory of Varda Nishri; it was premiered at this concert. Scored for string quartet and musical saw, we heard it performed by the Israel Contemporary String Quartet – violinists Hadas Fabrikant and Andrea Helm, violist Katya Polin, ‘cellist Ira Givol – with Natalia Paruz joining the quartet with the expressive, floating timbre of the saw. Munson’s work is an atonal kaleidoscope of textures, its humorous moments contrasted by more nostalgic ones. The four string players infused the work with youthful energy, Paruz’s contrasting role sounding almost vocal in timbre.
Another of Munson’s works, “Bend”, also scored for string quartet and saw, presented a busy, syncopated Ragtime scene depicted by the strings, with the saw contrasting in a more flamboyantly melodic manner.
Composer, arranger, orchestrator and vibraphonist Scott Munson graduated from Rutgers University in composition, percussion, jazz theory and jazz improvisation. In 2000, Munson was composer in residence with the Goliard Chamber Ensemble. He has written works for ballet and was recently commissioned by the NYC Musical Saw Festival to compose two works for saw and string quartet. His works are performed in concert halls throughout the world, on radio and television and he is the recipient of several awards. Munson’s newly formed ten-piece band AmeriKlectic will begin performances in the summer of 2010.
Paruz began her music education at the age of five with recorder lessons, taking piano lessons and ear-training with her mother from age six, studying voice, theory and guitar in her teen years However, as a child, Paruz was convinced that one musician in the family was enough and she turned her focus to dance, graduating from the Bat Dor School of Dance and dancing with the Bat Sheva Two Dance Company, both in Israel. Paruz went to New York to become a trainee in the Martha Graham Dance Company, but was hit by a taxi there one day, this accident putting an end to her career in dance. On a trip to Austria with her parents, she heard a saw player performing in a show for tourists. She was fascinated by his playing and asked him to teach her. He refused, explaining that saw players must teach themselves. In her work on the saw, Paruz has developed her own technique. This, coupled with her outgoing, communicative personality, gives her performances vitality. Paruz aims at preserving the art of playing the saw and encourages contemporary composers to write works for it. To that end, she has brought the sounds of the musical saw to the concert hall, to radio and television; Paruz plays the saw in the New York subway, offering passing travelers the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the instrument. She also organizes the NYC Music Saw Festival, which is in its eighth year.
Israeli composer, arranger, pianist and educator Eyal Bat was no stranger to Varda Nishri. They met when Natalia and he won first prize in a competition for writing French songs and Nishri had then watched Bat develop his art into a fine musical career. Bat’s nostalgically emotional piece “1905 for Piano and Saw” really “sings” . (1905 refers to the year the building in which the building where Paruz lives nowadays in New York was built.)
Bat’s “Canticle of Angels” for two musical saws and piano was premiered in New York in July 2009. This charming miniature, appealing in its use of the cantabile qualities of the saw, was performed at this concert, however on saw and recorder, with Katya Polin on recorder. Polin’s fine musicianship on both viola and recorder lends versatility to her concert work. Another unusual item on the program was a duet written by Scott Munson for musical saw and music box. The music box had been a present to Nishri from a Japanese pupil of hers.
Speaking of his relationship with Varda Nishri, Bat mentioned the inspiration and support he had received from her. Three weeks before her death, he played her a new piano piece of his – “Aliya” - the title referring to the rising up of the soul, a concept taken from Jewish mysticism. Bat performed the piece at this concert. With associations to eastern European Jewish scales, the work is richly harmonic and melodic. Broken chords in the left hand give rise to a fantasy of caressing melodies in the right hand. Bat’s mellifluous phrases are long and sweeping. Bat’s musical canvases are characterized by good taste and a sense of well-being.
Nishri had lived in France and French culture became very much a part of her artistic palette. Paruz and ‘cellist Ira Givol performed a piece from the 1991 French film “Delicatessen”, in which a young woman ‘cellist plays duets with a man who plays the saw. In the concert at the Blumental Center, roles were reversed; however, both artists addressed every melodic phrase and each other in this charming and sweetly sentimental piece of musical, non-verbal wooing.
Retired director of the Givatayim Conservatory of Music, Aharon Shefi talked of Nishri’s founding of the Israel Bach Centre and Nishri’s sister spoke of Varda as a person, drawing together the threads of a varied and colorful event at the Felicja Blumental Music Center.
The evening opened with a recording of Nishri’s playing of the first movement of Paul Ben Haim’s (1897-1984) Music for Piano - 1957, opus 53, a work composed for her.
Israeli composer and teacher Professor Tzvi Avni (b. 1927, Germany) spoke of Varda Nishri’s wide field of interests, those including the plastic arts, literature and Jewish mysticism. He referred to her seriousness and humor - the play of “light and dark” in her personality - both of which were constantly reflected in her playing. Avni spoke of Nishri’s interest in a piano piece he was composing in the 1970’s; it was she who gave it its title –“Epitaph”. “Epitaph” – Piano Sonata no. 2 (1979), a musical tribute to Reb Nachman of Bratslav, was performed in this program by Zecharia Plavin. An intimate, compelling, contemplative, atonal work bristling with interesting pianistic sonorities, Plavin brought out the pain and vehemence expressed in the piece. He paced it carefully, setting out each gesture clearly, his minimal use of the sustaining pedal never blurring the motif at hand. Above all, Plavin’s impressive performance presented the deeply personal and moving message of the work.
American composer Scott R. Munson was present at the event. “Ars longa, vita brevis” (Art is long, life is fleeting) is part of a quotation from the writings of Hippocrates. Munson composed his work of this title in memory of Varda Nishri; it was premiered at this concert. Scored for string quartet and musical saw, we heard it performed by the Israel Contemporary String Quartet – violinists Hadas Fabrikant and Andrea Helm, violist Katya Polin, ‘cellist Ira Givol – with Natalia Paruz joining the quartet with the expressive, floating timbre of the saw. Munson’s work is an atonal kaleidoscope of textures, its humorous moments contrasted by more nostalgic ones. The four string players infused the work with youthful energy, Paruz’s contrasting role sounding almost vocal in timbre.
Another of Munson’s works, “Bend”, also scored for string quartet and saw, presented a busy, syncopated Ragtime scene depicted by the strings, with the saw contrasting in a more flamboyantly melodic manner.
Composer, arranger, orchestrator and vibraphonist Scott Munson graduated from Rutgers University in composition, percussion, jazz theory and jazz improvisation. In 2000, Munson was composer in residence with the Goliard Chamber Ensemble. He has written works for ballet and was recently commissioned by the NYC Musical Saw Festival to compose two works for saw and string quartet. His works are performed in concert halls throughout the world, on radio and television and he is the recipient of several awards. Munson’s newly formed ten-piece band AmeriKlectic will begin performances in the summer of 2010.
Paruz began her music education at the age of five with recorder lessons, taking piano lessons and ear-training with her mother from age six, studying voice, theory and guitar in her teen years However, as a child, Paruz was convinced that one musician in the family was enough and she turned her focus to dance, graduating from the Bat Dor School of Dance and dancing with the Bat Sheva Two Dance Company, both in Israel. Paruz went to New York to become a trainee in the Martha Graham Dance Company, but was hit by a taxi there one day, this accident putting an end to her career in dance. On a trip to Austria with her parents, she heard a saw player performing in a show for tourists. She was fascinated by his playing and asked him to teach her. He refused, explaining that saw players must teach themselves. In her work on the saw, Paruz has developed her own technique. This, coupled with her outgoing, communicative personality, gives her performances vitality. Paruz aims at preserving the art of playing the saw and encourages contemporary composers to write works for it. To that end, she has brought the sounds of the musical saw to the concert hall, to radio and television; Paruz plays the saw in the New York subway, offering passing travelers the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the instrument. She also organizes the NYC Music Saw Festival, which is in its eighth year.
Israeli composer, arranger, pianist and educator Eyal Bat was no stranger to Varda Nishri. They met when Natalia and he won first prize in a competition for writing French songs and Nishri had then watched Bat develop his art into a fine musical career. Bat’s nostalgically emotional piece “1905 for Piano and Saw” really “sings” . (1905 refers to the year the building in which the building where Paruz lives nowadays in New York was built.)
Bat’s “Canticle of Angels” for two musical saws and piano was premiered in New York in July 2009. This charming miniature, appealing in its use of the cantabile qualities of the saw, was performed at this concert, however on saw and recorder, with Katya Polin on recorder. Polin’s fine musicianship on both viola and recorder lends versatility to her concert work. Another unusual item on the program was a duet written by Scott Munson for musical saw and music box. The music box had been a present to Nishri from a Japanese pupil of hers.
Speaking of his relationship with Varda Nishri, Bat mentioned the inspiration and support he had received from her. Three weeks before her death, he played her a new piano piece of his – “Aliya” - the title referring to the rising up of the soul, a concept taken from Jewish mysticism. Bat performed the piece at this concert. With associations to eastern European Jewish scales, the work is richly harmonic and melodic. Broken chords in the left hand give rise to a fantasy of caressing melodies in the right hand. Bat’s mellifluous phrases are long and sweeping. Bat’s musical canvases are characterized by good taste and a sense of well-being.
Nishri had lived in France and French culture became very much a part of her artistic palette. Paruz and ‘cellist Ira Givol performed a piece from the 1991 French film “Delicatessen”, in which a young woman ‘cellist plays duets with a man who plays the saw. In the concert at the Blumental Center, roles were reversed; however, both artists addressed every melodic phrase and each other in this charming and sweetly sentimental piece of musical, non-verbal wooing.
Retired director of the Givatayim Conservatory of Music, Aharon Shefi talked of Nishri’s founding of the Israel Bach Centre and Nishri’s sister spoke of Varda as a person, drawing together the threads of a varied and colorful event at the Felicja Blumental Music Center.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Leipziger Synagogalchor (Leipzig Synagogue Choir) in Israel
The Leipziger Synagogalchor (Leipzig Synagogue Choir) was founded in 1962 by Werner Sander. As of 1972, ‘cellist and opera tenor Helmut Klotz has been its musical director. Having sung in the role the Evangelist in J.S.Bach’s Passions, Klotz was now taking on the role of cantor of the Jewish synagogue. The mission of the choir is to preserve German synagogue- and Jewish music of the 19th- and 20th centuries; its repertoire also includes Yiddish- and Hebrew songs and works of contemporary Jewish composers. The choir performs in Germany and has toured Israel, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Brazil, Sweden , Poland and the USA. The ensemble numbers some 30 members, all non- professional singers, most of whom have vocal training; they are joined by professional soloists – singers from opera houses in Leipzig, Berlin and Zurich - all members are non-Jewish. The personal commitment and idealism of Klotz and all his singers contribute to the success and uniqueness of the Leipziger Synagogalchor. In its performance of the old synagogue repertoire, the choir sings in the specific Ashkenazi pronunciation customary in German synagogues before the Holocaust. The choir has received awards and is supported by the City of Leipzig and State of Saxony.
The Leipziger Synagogalchor toured Israel in March 2010, performing in Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Kibbutz Kfar Hachoresh and Jerusalem. Informative program notes were compiled by Professor Eliyahu Schleifer, who was among those who introduced the choir and program of the concert in the synagogue of Yad Vashem (Jerusalem). Soloists were Helmut Klotz himself, alto Ulrike Helzel and baritone Egbert Junghans, with Clemens Posselt at the piano.
Typical of 19th century German synagogue music was Samuel Lampel’s (1884-1942) Ma tauwo/Ma Tovu (How goodly are your tents, O Jacob) for solo baritone, choir and piano, this work serving as the festive opening to Sabbath and holyday services. Singing the solo was baritone Egbert Junghans, an opera singer, concert soloist and Lied interpreter. Samuel Lampel was the last cantor of the Leipzig Great Synagogue before the Holocaust. He perished in Auschwitz. Samuel Naumbourg (1815-1880), born in Bavaria, began his musical life as a choirboy in the synagogue in Munich and spent much of his professional life as chief cantor and musical director of the Great Synagogue of Paris. Ez chajim/Etz chayim (The Torah is the tree of life) for choir and piano is sung as the Torah scroll is being returned to the Ark after the reading on Sabbath and holydays. Naumbourg’s work brings together traditional cantorial style, folk melody and contemporary musical style (Naumbourg knew Meyerbeer and Halevy.) A program of this music would not have been complete without a piece by Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894), the most important composer of this genre of the 19th century. Born in Posen (then Poland), he emigrated to Germany at age 13. For many years he served as musical director of the New Synagogue in Berlin. The choir sang his Taurass Adaunoj/Torat Adonai (The Law of the Lord is perfect.) All the above choral works are decidedly central European in style, a reminder of how assimilated German Jewry had been in the 19th century. The Leipziger Synagogalchor’s performance of them was in keeping with their style, each vocal section well blended, the overall effect noble and balanced.
Yosef Dorfman (1940-2006) was born in Russia and immigrated to Israel in 1973. Two of his Yiddish settings – “Di Nacht” (after the melody of Aharon Domnitz, text Michael Gelbart) and “Ghetto Varsha” (after a melody of Leon Weiner, text Shmerl Katcherginski) – describe the horrors of the Holocaust. These works are more Eastern European in their musical concept and were sung in Yiddish. The choir’s rendering of “Ghetto Varsha” was heart-rending, the audience in the Yad Vashem synagogue left deep in thought on its conclusion, choosing silence rather than applause.
Professor Schleifer told the story of “Shtiler, Shtiler”, a song composed by Alexander Wolkowiski and arranged by Bonia Shur. A competition to write music had been held in the Vilna Ghetto. Eleven-year-old Alexander Wolkowiski wrote this Yiddish song, winning second prize. The song remained a hymn of the Holocaust thereafter. The composer of the song is none other than Jerusalem pianist Professor Alexander Tamir. Mezzo-soprano Ulrike Helzel’s solo above the choir was moving. Helzel, born in Magdeburg Germany, performs in opera and oratorio throughout Europe.
The Leipziger Synagogalchor is impressive in its careful working of fine voices, treatment of texts and fine musicianship, its humility and respect for Jewish tradition. Hearing the choir was, indeed, thought-provoking and uplifting.
The Leipziger Synagogalchor toured Israel in March 2010, performing in Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Kibbutz Kfar Hachoresh and Jerusalem. Informative program notes were compiled by Professor Eliyahu Schleifer, who was among those who introduced the choir and program of the concert in the synagogue of Yad Vashem (Jerusalem). Soloists were Helmut Klotz himself, alto Ulrike Helzel and baritone Egbert Junghans, with Clemens Posselt at the piano.
Typical of 19th century German synagogue music was Samuel Lampel’s (1884-1942) Ma tauwo/Ma Tovu (How goodly are your tents, O Jacob) for solo baritone, choir and piano, this work serving as the festive opening to Sabbath and holyday services. Singing the solo was baritone Egbert Junghans, an opera singer, concert soloist and Lied interpreter. Samuel Lampel was the last cantor of the Leipzig Great Synagogue before the Holocaust. He perished in Auschwitz. Samuel Naumbourg (1815-1880), born in Bavaria, began his musical life as a choirboy in the synagogue in Munich and spent much of his professional life as chief cantor and musical director of the Great Synagogue of Paris. Ez chajim/Etz chayim (The Torah is the tree of life) for choir and piano is sung as the Torah scroll is being returned to the Ark after the reading on Sabbath and holydays. Naumbourg’s work brings together traditional cantorial style, folk melody and contemporary musical style (Naumbourg knew Meyerbeer and Halevy.) A program of this music would not have been complete without a piece by Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894), the most important composer of this genre of the 19th century. Born in Posen (then Poland), he emigrated to Germany at age 13. For many years he served as musical director of the New Synagogue in Berlin. The choir sang his Taurass Adaunoj/Torat Adonai (The Law of the Lord is perfect.) All the above choral works are decidedly central European in style, a reminder of how assimilated German Jewry had been in the 19th century. The Leipziger Synagogalchor’s performance of them was in keeping with their style, each vocal section well blended, the overall effect noble and balanced.
Yosef Dorfman (1940-2006) was born in Russia and immigrated to Israel in 1973. Two of his Yiddish settings – “Di Nacht” (after the melody of Aharon Domnitz, text Michael Gelbart) and “Ghetto Varsha” (after a melody of Leon Weiner, text Shmerl Katcherginski) – describe the horrors of the Holocaust. These works are more Eastern European in their musical concept and were sung in Yiddish. The choir’s rendering of “Ghetto Varsha” was heart-rending, the audience in the Yad Vashem synagogue left deep in thought on its conclusion, choosing silence rather than applause.
Professor Schleifer told the story of “Shtiler, Shtiler”, a song composed by Alexander Wolkowiski and arranged by Bonia Shur. A competition to write music had been held in the Vilna Ghetto. Eleven-year-old Alexander Wolkowiski wrote this Yiddish song, winning second prize. The song remained a hymn of the Holocaust thereafter. The composer of the song is none other than Jerusalem pianist Professor Alexander Tamir. Mezzo-soprano Ulrike Helzel’s solo above the choir was moving. Helzel, born in Magdeburg Germany, performs in opera and oratorio throughout Europe.
The Leipziger Synagogalchor is impressive in its careful working of fine voices, treatment of texts and fine musicianship, its humility and respect for Jewish tradition. Hearing the choir was, indeed, thought-provoking and uplifting.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra in a program of Bach and Vivaldi
The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra’s fifth concert for the 2009-2010 season - “Vivaldi, Bach and Harpsichord” – took place March 23rd 2010 at the Mary Nathaniel Golden Hall of Friendship of the Jerusalem YMCA. It focused on works by Vivaldi, J.S.Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. In his program notes, Dr. David Shemer, founder and musical director of the JBO, speaks of Vivaldi’s profound influence “characterized by order, coherence and proportion” on J.S.Bach, this having been related by the latter’s second son, Carl Philipp Bach, to Nicolaus Forkel, the first J.S.Bach biographer.
Harpsichordist Shalev Ad-El was one of the three soloists, conducting the string orchestra from the harpsichord. Ad-El (born Israel, 1968) leads a busy international professional schedule of conducting, performing, teaching and recording.
The concert opened with C.P.E.Bach’s (1714-1788) Symphony in C major, Wq 182 No.3. One of a set of six string symphonies composed in Hamburg in 1773, Ad-El addresses the Sturm and Drang style of this music, presenting its richly cantabile melodies in juxtaposition to strong, dramatic themes and startling harmonic changes.
J.S.Bach’s Concerto in A major for Harpsichord and Strings, BWV 1055 (1738) was (as all his harpsichord concertos) a rewriting of an existing work of his, possibly a concerto for oboe d’amore, now lost. Exploring the possibilities of the harpsichord, the work entails much complex passagework, although not all of the detail sounded above the orchestra. Ad-El’s playing of expressive filigree melodies against the repetitive motif of the Larghetto movement was effectives, as were his elegantly shaped phrase endings throughout.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) composed over 500 concertos, his Opus 10, published 1729-1730 in Amsterdam, being a collection of six flute concertos. They were the first flute concertos ever published. Most of the Vivaldi Opus 10 concertos were given descriptive titles, most are based on earlier versions of concertos and all are scored for flute and strings. Unlike the modern concerto, the flute also joins in tutti sections. Vivaldi’s Concerto in G minor “La Notte” (Night) for Flute and Strings opus 10 No.2 RV 439 originally existed as a chamber concerto for flute (or violin), two violins and bassoon. Unusually, it has six movements, two bearing titles - “Fantasmi” (Phantoms) and “Il Sonno” (Sleep.) Belgian flautist Jan de Winne (b.1962) is affiliated with a number of European ensembles, serves as artistic director of the Passacaille label and also builds replicas of 18th- and 19th century traverso flutes. His performance in this somewhat mysterious Vivaldi concerto was both virtuosic and commanding, moving the spirit and working in sensitively with Ad-El’s exciting play of colors and textures.
This was followed by Vivaldi’s Sinfonia “Al Santo Sepolcro” RV 169, its title possibly referring to a so-named chapel in Verallo, Italy, which was built as a scaled-down version of the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem. A short piece in two movements, the work belongs to the Baroque “Passion music” style, depicting Christ’s pain and suffering, hence the use of chromaticism, sharp dissonances and harmonic instability. Ad-El gives it an emotional, flexible reading, infusing expression into its uncompromising message, making for interesting listening.
The concert ended with J.S.Bach’s Concerto in A minor for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord and Strings, BWV 1044. Joining the soloists in this work was Israeli violinist Dafna Ravid, a chamber music player and a JBO soloist as well as one of its principal violinists. The concerto, freely based on two of Bach’s keyboard pieces ( Prelude and Fugue in A minor for Harpsichord BWV 894 and Organ Sonata in D minor BWV 527), is supposed to have been composed between 1730 and 1735. Following the opening Allegro movement, in which Ad-El’s passagework boasts energy and articulate brilliance, with flute and violin commenting in melodic fragments, the second movement – Adagio, ma non tanto, e dolce – presents a new soundscape, in which the harpsichord moves to lute register, inviting flute and violin to engage in pastoral dialogue. Ravid and De Winne communicate well, creating balance colored with individuality. In the final movement, to which Bach gives the harpsichord the upper hand once more, the audience enjoyed the JBO’s warm sound and fine blend spiced with interesting melodic expression and textures.
Harpsichordist Shalev Ad-El was one of the three soloists, conducting the string orchestra from the harpsichord. Ad-El (born Israel, 1968) leads a busy international professional schedule of conducting, performing, teaching and recording.
The concert opened with C.P.E.Bach’s (1714-1788) Symphony in C major, Wq 182 No.3. One of a set of six string symphonies composed in Hamburg in 1773, Ad-El addresses the Sturm and Drang style of this music, presenting its richly cantabile melodies in juxtaposition to strong, dramatic themes and startling harmonic changes.
J.S.Bach’s Concerto in A major for Harpsichord and Strings, BWV 1055 (1738) was (as all his harpsichord concertos) a rewriting of an existing work of his, possibly a concerto for oboe d’amore, now lost. Exploring the possibilities of the harpsichord, the work entails much complex passagework, although not all of the detail sounded above the orchestra. Ad-El’s playing of expressive filigree melodies against the repetitive motif of the Larghetto movement was effectives, as were his elegantly shaped phrase endings throughout.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) composed over 500 concertos, his Opus 10, published 1729-1730 in Amsterdam, being a collection of six flute concertos. They were the first flute concertos ever published. Most of the Vivaldi Opus 10 concertos were given descriptive titles, most are based on earlier versions of concertos and all are scored for flute and strings. Unlike the modern concerto, the flute also joins in tutti sections. Vivaldi’s Concerto in G minor “La Notte” (Night) for Flute and Strings opus 10 No.2 RV 439 originally existed as a chamber concerto for flute (or violin), two violins and bassoon. Unusually, it has six movements, two bearing titles - “Fantasmi” (Phantoms) and “Il Sonno” (Sleep.) Belgian flautist Jan de Winne (b.1962) is affiliated with a number of European ensembles, serves as artistic director of the Passacaille label and also builds replicas of 18th- and 19th century traverso flutes. His performance in this somewhat mysterious Vivaldi concerto was both virtuosic and commanding, moving the spirit and working in sensitively with Ad-El’s exciting play of colors and textures.
This was followed by Vivaldi’s Sinfonia “Al Santo Sepolcro” RV 169, its title possibly referring to a so-named chapel in Verallo, Italy, which was built as a scaled-down version of the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem. A short piece in two movements, the work belongs to the Baroque “Passion music” style, depicting Christ’s pain and suffering, hence the use of chromaticism, sharp dissonances and harmonic instability. Ad-El gives it an emotional, flexible reading, infusing expression into its uncompromising message, making for interesting listening.
The concert ended with J.S.Bach’s Concerto in A minor for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord and Strings, BWV 1044. Joining the soloists in this work was Israeli violinist Dafna Ravid, a chamber music player and a JBO soloist as well as one of its principal violinists. The concerto, freely based on two of Bach’s keyboard pieces ( Prelude and Fugue in A minor for Harpsichord BWV 894 and Organ Sonata in D minor BWV 527), is supposed to have been composed between 1730 and 1735. Following the opening Allegro movement, in which Ad-El’s passagework boasts energy and articulate brilliance, with flute and violin commenting in melodic fragments, the second movement – Adagio, ma non tanto, e dolce – presents a new soundscape, in which the harpsichord moves to lute register, inviting flute and violin to engage in pastoral dialogue. Ravid and De Winne communicate well, creating balance colored with individuality. In the final movement, to which Bach gives the harpsichord the upper hand once more, the audience enjoyed the JBO’s warm sound and fine blend spiced with interesting melodic expression and textures.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
American piano master gives master classes in Jerusalem
Following his solo recital in the Henry Crown Auditorium of the Jerusalem Theatre March 6th 2010, American pianist Richard Goode conducted five days of master classes for pianists at the Jerusalem Music Centre and at the Edward Aldwell Center for Piano Performance and Musicianship (Jerusalem.) Pianists taking part ranged from age 12 upwards, the more senior players being students of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (Tel Aviv).
On March 8th, I spent some time auditing Goode’s master class at the Jerusalem Music Centre. His work with the students centred around the gestures and meaning of works they had chosen to play. Discussing Mozart’s Sonata in A minor K.310 with young pianist, Yishai Rubin, a student of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Goode talked about the sonata’s first subject being unusual, a little crude in fact, and the very different “other world” of the second subject where “defiance” is followed by “a sorrowful plea”. The maestro reminds us that in Mozart’s music “opera is never very far away”. Goode drew attention to changing dissonances and talked about how to get the right effect of “calando”. He suggested Rubin use the sustaining pedal sparingly….only where strictly necessary. Regarding the second movement – Andante – Goode stressed the importance of giving it a “kind of swing” and of its opening phrases that serve as a kind of “invitation”. He talked of the noble octaves in the left hand to be played in strict rhythm, with the melodic right exercising a little more freedom. Also, on the subject of expression, Goode commented that “the composer’s markings are more drastic and surprising than our feelings”.
Gili Loftus, a student of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, chose to play Schubert’s Sonata in A major, D.664. Goode placed emphasis on the gentle character of the opening and giving the major section a little more warmth, on playing into the key note of a phrase, on making repeated notes “float”, “meditating as if time stops”.
In his discussion of the second movement, Goode talked of Schubert’s lightness which the composer ennobles, of the hands playing independently and of the fact that Schubert is fonder of pianissimo than most other composers. “Piano is a dangerous dynamic”, he reminds Gili, “but it does have its more piercing moments”. Goode talks of the importance of Schubert’s harmonies and of addressing all the dissonances in the sonata.
Richard Goode is a softly-spoken person. The young pianists were focused and relaxed in his company. They enjoyed trying out the maestro’s suggestions. The audience, comprising of students, piano teachers and other people, was presented with a wealth of artistic ideas and much food for thought.
On March 8th, I spent some time auditing Goode’s master class at the Jerusalem Music Centre. His work with the students centred around the gestures and meaning of works they had chosen to play. Discussing Mozart’s Sonata in A minor K.310 with young pianist, Yishai Rubin, a student of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Goode talked about the sonata’s first subject being unusual, a little crude in fact, and the very different “other world” of the second subject where “defiance” is followed by “a sorrowful plea”. The maestro reminds us that in Mozart’s music “opera is never very far away”. Goode drew attention to changing dissonances and talked about how to get the right effect of “calando”. He suggested Rubin use the sustaining pedal sparingly….only where strictly necessary. Regarding the second movement – Andante – Goode stressed the importance of giving it a “kind of swing” and of its opening phrases that serve as a kind of “invitation”. He talked of the noble octaves in the left hand to be played in strict rhythm, with the melodic right exercising a little more freedom. Also, on the subject of expression, Goode commented that “the composer’s markings are more drastic and surprising than our feelings”.
Gili Loftus, a student of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, chose to play Schubert’s Sonata in A major, D.664. Goode placed emphasis on the gentle character of the opening and giving the major section a little more warmth, on playing into the key note of a phrase, on making repeated notes “float”, “meditating as if time stops”.
In his discussion of the second movement, Goode talked of Schubert’s lightness which the composer ennobles, of the hands playing independently and of the fact that Schubert is fonder of pianissimo than most other composers. “Piano is a dangerous dynamic”, he reminds Gili, “but it does have its more piercing moments”. Goode talks of the importance of Schubert’s harmonies and of addressing all the dissonances in the sonata.
Richard Goode is a softly-spoken person. The young pianists were focused and relaxed in his company. They enjoyed trying out the maestro’s suggestions. The audience, comprising of students, piano teachers and other people, was presented with a wealth of artistic ideas and much food for thought.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
American pianist Richard Goode gives his first Israei recital in Jerusalem
American pianist Richard Goode gave his first Israeli recital March 6th 2010 in the Henry Crown Auditorium of the Jerusalem Theatre. Proceeds of the recital were generously donated by the artist towards the Aldwell Center’s program which nurtures young Israeli pianists. Maestro Goode followed the recital with master classes in conjunction with the Edward Aldwell International Center, the Jerusalem Music Centre, the Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society and the Conservatory of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.
Born in New York, Goode has a varied schedule - he performs, teaches and records extensively. One of today’s leading- and most daring interpreters of Beethoven’s music, Goode has recorded the complete Beethoven Sonata cycle and ,recently in 2009, he recorded all five Beethoven piano concertos.
The Henry Crown Auditorium was alive with excitement and curiosity in anticipation of the recital. The program began with an item that was decidedly unusual for a piano recital –William Byrd’s (1543-1623) second- and third Pavan and Galliard from “My Ladye Nevells Booke” (1591), a collection of 42 keyboard pieces for the virginal. (Lady Nevell, possibly a pupil of Byrd, was Francis Bacon’s half-sister and the third wife of Sir Henry Nevell of Billingbere.) Placing emphasis on the majestic boldness of the pavans, Goode arpeggiates and ornaments them profusely, still, however, addressing the importance of perfect intervals and clean lines. He lets go in the galliards, presenting the vitality of the faster court dance as well as its hemiolas and abandon. A daring choice, but certainly well thought-out and interesting.
J.S.Bach’s (1685-1750) Partita no.6 in E minor BWV 830, composed some time between 1725 and 1730 and published in 1731, is grand both in length and in its profound expression. Goode’s reading of the opening lengthy Toccata is contemplative and spontaneous and, in his playing of it, he prepares his audience for the runs and ornamental passagework with which he is to spice his playing of the entire suite. Throughout the work, we are a witness to the artist’s amazing agility and lightness of touch, as in the Corrente, where Goode’s swift, brilliant, feather-light playing underlines key notes and syncopations. Altogether, he identifies with Bach’s taste for unusual shapes that ignore bar-lines, and his playing is intellectual and virtuosic. The relaxed and clean lines of the court dance were not of high priority.
Although leaving his native Poland at age 19, Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) began his composing with a Polonaise and ended it with a Mazurka. He composed 58 Mazurkas, bringing them to the concert stage as finely crafted miniatures that reflect his background and originality, inviting the performer to play along with their moods, modes, dissonances and textures. performing four Chopin Mazurkas, Goode’s reading of them is delicate, flexible, his attention to motifs and Slavic scales combined with spontaneity. In Mazurka Opus 50 no.4 in C sharp minor, Goode’s rich palette colors the dance with nostalgia, the various dance episodes each different in concept. He guides the listener through a texture fashioned of folk rhythms, counterpoint, modal harmonies and chromatic writing, laying bare phrases written as a single melodic line, presenting Chopin’s richness of ideas through his own magical touch.
Goode then played Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy Opus 61 ( published 1846). Giving this demanding and emotional “rollercoaster” a vivid and intense reading, Goode punctuates complex sections with sensitive, cantabile melodic moments that are intensely human. The Chopin content of the recital surely ties in with 2010 as the World Chopin Year.
The recital ended with the artist’s performance of Robert Schumann’s (1810-1856) “Kreisleriana” Opus 16, completed by the composer within four days in April of 1838. The title refers to the fictitious Johannes Kreisler, a brilliant and eccentric conductor, characterized in the works of E.T.A Hoffmann, but it may also refer to his future wife Clara Wieck, who had created some of the motifs used by Schumann throughout the work.. Goode’s masterful and imaginative treatment of the eight fantasias combines the typically Schumannesque stormy- and vulnerable sides; weaving weakness and strength into languishing, contemplative moments, Goode “orchestrates” the piano in a soundscape of mixed harmonies and multiple textures, his careful timing adding to the meaning of the work. His many-faceted performance of “Kreisleriana” thrilled the audience.
Born in New York, Goode has a varied schedule - he performs, teaches and records extensively. One of today’s leading- and most daring interpreters of Beethoven’s music, Goode has recorded the complete Beethoven Sonata cycle and ,recently in 2009, he recorded all five Beethoven piano concertos.
The Henry Crown Auditorium was alive with excitement and curiosity in anticipation of the recital. The program began with an item that was decidedly unusual for a piano recital –William Byrd’s (1543-1623) second- and third Pavan and Galliard from “My Ladye Nevells Booke” (1591), a collection of 42 keyboard pieces for the virginal. (Lady Nevell, possibly a pupil of Byrd, was Francis Bacon’s half-sister and the third wife of Sir Henry Nevell of Billingbere.) Placing emphasis on the majestic boldness of the pavans, Goode arpeggiates and ornaments them profusely, still, however, addressing the importance of perfect intervals and clean lines. He lets go in the galliards, presenting the vitality of the faster court dance as well as its hemiolas and abandon. A daring choice, but certainly well thought-out and interesting.
J.S.Bach’s (1685-1750) Partita no.6 in E minor BWV 830, composed some time between 1725 and 1730 and published in 1731, is grand both in length and in its profound expression. Goode’s reading of the opening lengthy Toccata is contemplative and spontaneous and, in his playing of it, he prepares his audience for the runs and ornamental passagework with which he is to spice his playing of the entire suite. Throughout the work, we are a witness to the artist’s amazing agility and lightness of touch, as in the Corrente, where Goode’s swift, brilliant, feather-light playing underlines key notes and syncopations. Altogether, he identifies with Bach’s taste for unusual shapes that ignore bar-lines, and his playing is intellectual and virtuosic. The relaxed and clean lines of the court dance were not of high priority.
Although leaving his native Poland at age 19, Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) began his composing with a Polonaise and ended it with a Mazurka. He composed 58 Mazurkas, bringing them to the concert stage as finely crafted miniatures that reflect his background and originality, inviting the performer to play along with their moods, modes, dissonances and textures. performing four Chopin Mazurkas, Goode’s reading of them is delicate, flexible, his attention to motifs and Slavic scales combined with spontaneity. In Mazurka Opus 50 no.4 in C sharp minor, Goode’s rich palette colors the dance with nostalgia, the various dance episodes each different in concept. He guides the listener through a texture fashioned of folk rhythms, counterpoint, modal harmonies and chromatic writing, laying bare phrases written as a single melodic line, presenting Chopin’s richness of ideas through his own magical touch.
Goode then played Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy Opus 61 ( published 1846). Giving this demanding and emotional “rollercoaster” a vivid and intense reading, Goode punctuates complex sections with sensitive, cantabile melodic moments that are intensely human. The Chopin content of the recital surely ties in with 2010 as the World Chopin Year.
The recital ended with the artist’s performance of Robert Schumann’s (1810-1856) “Kreisleriana” Opus 16, completed by the composer within four days in April of 1838. The title refers to the fictitious Johannes Kreisler, a brilliant and eccentric conductor, characterized in the works of E.T.A Hoffmann, but it may also refer to his future wife Clara Wieck, who had created some of the motifs used by Schumann throughout the work.. Goode’s masterful and imaginative treatment of the eight fantasias combines the typically Schumannesque stormy- and vulnerable sides; weaving weakness and strength into languishing, contemplative moments, Goode “orchestrates” the piano in a soundscape of mixed harmonies and multiple textures, his careful timing adding to the meaning of the work. His many-faceted performance of “Kreisleriana” thrilled the audience.
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