"Vox Luminis" performs Italian Baroque music at the 2013 Israel Festival




The Belgian vocal ensemble “Vox Luminis” was formed in 2004; the chamber group specializes in the performance of music from the 16^th to 18^th centuries, most of its members having met at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.  Founded and directed by bass Lionel Meunier, the chamber vocal ensemble’s continuo section consists of Ricardo Rodriguez Miranda-viola da gamba, Masato Suzuki-organ and Jan Cizmar-theorbo. Vox Luminis performs throughout Europe and its recordings on the Ricercar label have won awards and much acclaim. The group’s performance of “Barocco Italiano” in the 2013 Israel Festival took place on June 8^th in the Mary Nathanial Golden Hall of Friendship of the Jerusalem International YMCA. It was Vox Luminis’ first Israeli Performance; indeed, it was its first performance outside of Europe.

The program opened with Domenico Scarlatti’s (1685-1727) “Te Deum”, composed in Lisbon where the composer was employed at the royal court as maestro di cappella in the  1720s, was probably first performed at the marriage service in 1729 that united the royal houses of Portugal and Spain. Although popularly known for his brilliant, original and witty harpsichord sonatas, Domenico Scarlatti clearly benefitted from the influences of the generation that followed Monteverdi through his father Alessandro. Scored for two four-part choirs with basso continuo, it makes a combination of the old style and the concertato style.  The composer uses the choirs antiphonally. Using the verbal text (and the composer’s markings) as guidelines to the elasticity of the work, the “Vox Luminis” artists gave a vivid, dynamic reading of it, from the joyful Sanctus movement to the delicate and languishing “The Father: of an infinite Majesty”, to the final words “Let me never be confounded” repeated at a slow tempo, then stopping dead on “non” to create a spine-chilling effect.

Following a transition played by organist Masato Suzuki, we heard Antonio Lotti’s (1667-1740) 8-part “Crucifixus”, a work on which Lotti’s fame mostly rests and which uses the harmonic language of the early 18^th century together with 16^th century prima prattica contrapuntalism. In this intense and angular work, the “Vox Luminis” singers created a growing sense of anguish as they leaned into its startling accumulation of pungent dissonances, the tension then subsiding and moving into a more peaceful and  resigned mode in “et sepultus est” (and was buried). The performance juxtaposed the ensemble’s masterful shaping, clarity of sound and intonation with its close association with the text.

Giacomo Carissimi’s (1605-1674) “Jephte” would have been one of the Old Testament oratorios performed during Lent at the Collegico Germanico in Rome (a Jesuit seminary training German-speaking priests) where Carissimi was maestro di cappella. Full of colorful depictions of battle, joy and sorrow, it focuses on Jephte’s war with the Ammonites and his pledge to God in exchange for victory – that Jephte sacrifice the first person to meet him on his return. This person ends up being his (nameless) daughter. Her fate is sealed. She asks for two months to mourn her fate in the mountains, where she implores all nature to lament that she will die a virgin, childless. With the oratorio moving forward swiftly and with a sense of urgency in small, effective and dramatic sections, we heard many of the “Vox Luminis” singers in solos, duets and trios. An interesting effect denoting distance was achieved by having some singers placed at the back of the stage:
‘Then Jephthah’s daughter went away to the mountains, and bewailed her virginity with her companions…’

Hungarian-born soprano Zsuzsi Tóth’s portrayal of the daughter changed with the plot, from her naïve and joyous, gently ornamented opening aria “Strike the timbrels and sound the cymbals!” to when her mood became pained, dejected, mournful and bitter: ‘Then tremble, you rocks, be astounded, you hills, vales and caves, resonate with horrible sound!’ Her final aria, sung sotto voce, displayed fine vocal control. Tenor Robert Buckland was energetic and highly convincing in portraying Jephte and the drama of his predicament. He totally immersed himself in the role, its pathos and its personal predicament. Choruses were vivid, bringing out both the narrative course and emotional reflection on different stages of the story. A chorus of six singers concluded the work with a superbly crafted performance of the final lament, spiraling into heart-rending vehemence, ending in the pianissimo abyss of despair:
‘Weep, you children of Israel,
Weep, all you virgins,
And for Jephthah’s only daughter,
Lament with songs of anguish.’

Domenico Scarlatti’s “Stabat Mater”, though written for ten voices and basso continuo,  doesn’t fall into the conventional late Renaissance format of two choirs; rather, all singers perform individual parts. French-born recorder player and bass Lionel Meunier actually established the “Vox Luminis” ensemble in order to perform this very piece; the outstanding performance we heard justified his decision! The singers bring to light how Scarlatti, through his use of tritones, other dissonances and violation of voice-leading, mirrors the deep emotional anguish experienced by the onlooker on viewing Christ on the cross. The "Vox Luminis" singers open with a seamless performance of the opening verse, the piece’s rich counterpoint crowned with pure soprano singing on the top. And so, throughout the work, the clean, powerful and unspoiled voices of these young singers weave the tragic tapestry of the text in vocal lines that are so individually shaped yet so blended that one is confronted with a multi-dimensional canvas that is overwhelmingly rich. Indeed, we were able to hear many wonderful voices, too many to mention here; one of the most commendable was Hungarian-born countertenor Barnabás Hegyi, with his combination of mellow timbre and intensiveness. And there was much attention by all to the verbal text, as shown in tempo changes, in sudden phrase endings, in moments of non-legato singing, in intimate utterances then well contrasted by compelling, highly colored soundscapes. In the final verse, with consonants used for punctuation, time stands still:
‘While my body here decays,
May my soul Thy goodness praise,
Safe in Paradise with Thee…’ 

Performing with little to no doubling of voices, “Vox Luminis” displays the dynamic beauty, freshness, vitality and spontaneity Baroque music reveals in such a setting!   Supported by fine instrumentalists, “Vox Luminis” sings without a conductor: eye contact is an all-important tool for this ensemble. Equipped with fine diction and superior musicianship, Meunier and his fellow musicians delve deeply into the meaning of polyphony – its teamwork and its individualism - resulting in performance that is exciting, profound and memorable.  

  

Encore! presents "The Secret Garden" in Jerusalem



Encore! Educational Theatre Company’s most recent production was “The Secret Garden”. Based on

the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the theatre production is by Marsha Norman (lyrics) and Lucy Simon (music). This writer attended the opening performance on May 29^th 2013 at the Hirsch Theatre, Beit Shmuel (Jerusalem). Robert Binder was stage director, with Paul Salter directing music. Choreography was by Judy Brown; stage design Roxane Goodkin-Levy. The New Savoy Orchestra (concertmaster: Lior Kaminetsky) provided the instrumental accompaniment.

Encore!  established in Jerusalem in 2006, stages well-known musicals as well as those less familiar to the public, also presenting concert programs on the lives of prominent Jewish composers and entertainers, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and more. Encore! is also involved in summer workshops to train children and youth in aspects of stagecraft.

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel “The Secret Garden”, originally a serial in 1910, was published in full 1911.  It is considered to be one of the best children’s books of the 20^th century. Several stage- and film versions have been made of it. Recently arrived from India at her rich uncle’s remote Yorkshire estate, Misselthwaite Manor, ten-year-old Mary Lennox, whose parents and nanny have all died of cholera, is spoiled, sickly and disgruntled. Archibald, her uncle and guardian offers her little consolation, having almost completely withdrawn into himself since his wife’s death. As she becomes stronger, Mary starts to take an interest in the outdoors. With the help of a friendly robin, she discovers the arched doorway into an overgrown walled garden, locked since the death of her aunt ten years earlier. Mary soon begins transforming it into a thing of beauty. There are two people who befriend Mary – the maid Martha and her brother Dickon. Dickon is unique in that he has the ability to talk to animals and is able to grow anything with a little bit of soil. The house also holds another secret, as Mary discovers at night. High in a dark room lies her bedridden cousin, Colin, a boy of her age, who is considered an incurable invalid and who believes he is becoming a hunchback (like his father). Colin has given up the will to live. Strong-willed Mary reprimands him and takes matters into her own hands. Mary’s plan is to convince Colin to love the secret garden as much as she does. By nursing the garden back to life, Mary somehow restores life to her grieving uncle and his sick son.

Once again, Encore! has brought together a large group of people of all ages, interested in being part of Jerusalem’s vibrant amateur English-language theatre scene. With children and adults from different English-speaking and non-English speaking backgrounds, some having more professional acting- and singing skills than others, Robert Binder has produced a performance that works well. Aviella Trapido, playing the gentle Lily Craven’s ghost, has a fine voice for this medium and gave a musical and competent performance. Adding warmth to the bleak Craven household, Barabara Blackston as the housekeeper, Mrs. Medlock, was convincing, as was Avital Sykora as Martha, the chambermaid. Dickon, Martha’s brother, was played by Hanan Leberman, a student of classical voice at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Leberman’s resonant voice and sunny stage personality made for an appealing portrayal of the kindly, simple moor boy whose personality is touched with magic. The role of Dr. Neville Craven, Colin’s uncle, and the physician treating the boy, was Robin Stamler’s Encore! debut; it was well handled, his duets more confident than his solos.  Archibald Craven was played by Michael Sacofsky. Craven suffers from ill health and acute depression; in fact he wants to see neither his house nor his son, as they remind him of his late wife. Although fairly new to the theatre stage, Sacofsky takes on this complex character convincingly.  Articulate, competent and involved, Sacofsky enlists emotion, articulacy and his well-endowed tenor voice to give weight to the major role. Of the two child lead roles, the imperious and gloomy Colin was played effectively by Sraya Goldstein, presenting the young invalid’s melancholy and the changes to his life and mood as brought about by Mary and the properties of the magic garden. Kudos also to Sapir Nachman, as the feisty and precocious Mary Lennox, for acting and singing bristling with personality, courage and real stage presence. It was refreshing to hear children singing beautifully and using their voices naturally.

There was much to commend the performance: stage sets were especially effective, with the cheerless Yorkshire moors nicely contrasted by the manor garden; the choreography (Judy Brown), though not over-challenging, worked well and uniformly. Especially impressive was the work done on accents, both Yorkshire-tainted and pure British, adding much charm to the roles depicting simpler Yorkshire folk. Choruses were lively. Crowd scenes, including people of all ages – from small children to middle-aged people – gave the performance authenticity, even if the story line lacks a little of that. The Indian- and English costumes made for a visually interesting mix. Hebrew surtitles were provided for non-English speakers. As usual, the New Savoy Orchestra, under Paul Salter’s baton, gave a highly satisfying, energetic and colorful performance, and this is no easy score to perform. Then, of course, deserving more than a mere mention, there are all the many, many people behind the scenes working together with those on stage for months at a time to put together a project of dedication, enjoyment and much togetherness. Encore’s contribution to Jerusalem’s cultural life is significant and commendable.

  

"Avital Meets Avital" at the 2013 Israel Festival



“Avital Meets Avital” was one of the more unique events of the 2013 Israel Festival. The idea all came about in September 2012, when mandolin-player Avi Avital received an invitation to perform at the Musikfest, an annual festival in Bremen, Germany. This is a classical music festival, but invariably includes one non-mainstream event they call a “surprise concert”. For this, they challenge a musician to do something he has never done before. Avi called his friend, double-bass and oud player Omer Avital. and they began working on the program we heard on May 23^rd 2013 in the Mary Nathaniel Golden Hall of Friendship of the Jerusalem International YMCA.  To complete the cross-genre ensemble, Avital and Avital were joined by pianist Omer Klein and percussionist Itamar Doari.

Avi Avital started learning the mandolin in Beersheba, his hometown. His teacher, Simcha Nathanson, was actually a violin teacher and he established a mandolin orchestra in the town. Following his army service, Avi Avital went to study with Hugo Orlandi in Padua, Italy. There, the young Israeli became steeped in the true nature of the mandolin. Today he performs Baroque- and contemporary classical works. Avner Dorman wrote his Mandolin Concerto for Avital; it includes references to bluegrass music, Middle Eastern tradition and Brazilian music. Performing with Klezmer musician Giora Feidman has also had a strong influence on Avital, and on many levels. Avital’s musical curiosity has opened up a wide vista of explorations into cross-genre music, these performances taking him to the great concert venues of the world to perform with many great names. My acquaintance with Avi Avital, however, was through his CD of works of J.S.Bach. I was now interested to hear him in a different setting.

Omer Avital was born in 1971 in Giv’atayim, Israel. Beginning his studies with classical guitar, he switched to acoustic bass and began studying- and arranging jazz. At age 17, he began performing with various bands. He moved to New York in 1992, collaborating with some of the greatest names in jazz and leading his own groups. Following the release of his debut album “Think with Your Heart” (2002), Avital returned to Israel for three years to study Composition, the oud and Arabic music theory at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. He returned to New York in 2005. Bringing in his rich legacy of oriental music, Avital continues to create works for his ensemble. Recent projects have been the “Debka Fantasia Cycle”, “Songs of Devotion” (Sephardic Jewish liturgical poems), a Concerto for Bass and Orchestra, and more. His works create a highly individual sound based on the musical traditions of Israeli ethnic groups.  

The music we heard at the Israel Festival concert was an interesting mix. Opening with a jazzy piece ,tinged with delicate, oriental timbres, we become aware of the music with which Omer Avital and Avi Avital have grown up. Then, for a different style: “Lonely Girl”, composed by Omer Avital, is nostalgic and sweetly sentimental, at times somewhat Greek in style, its melody moving sensitively among the artists. “Ana Maghrabi”, with Omer Avital’s skilful playing of the oud (and then the double bass), begins with him “inviting” his fellow players to join him. Octave melodies remind us of the music’s roots. The piece becomes spirited, inspiring fine solos. On the program, Avi Avital’s own original material spoke of strong rhythms, energy and oriental-styled melodies. As an ensemble instrumentalist, he was swept up into the storm of things; when soloing, he is poetic, sensitive and profound.  The inebriating oriental Hebrew song “Shedmati” was given delicate and imaginative treatment, with superb solo playing on the part of pianist Omer Klein. Klein’s quirky piece “España” bristled with modulations and ideas; the ensemble players were inspired by them and let their hair down, taking the audience with them! Omer Klein is a virtuoso pianist, bandleader and prolific composer. Born in Israel in 1982, he began playing- and composing music at age seven. He studied Jazz at the Thelma Yellin School of the Arts, playing concerts at age 16. In 2005, he moved to the USA, attending the New England Conservatory. Then centered in New York, he released several discs. He has also written music for theatre. Omer Klein’s inexhaustible flow of musical ideas sorts itself into articulate forms fired by a quick mind, superb technique and humor.

Then there was the piece composed by Omer Avital in memory of his father – intimate and heartfelt – with Avi Avital weaving its wistful mandolin melodies through the ensemble texture. Omer Avital’s “Morocco” began with mandolin alone, eventually, via humming, clapping and even some dancing, spiraling into an exuberant expression of unadulterated joy.  Omer Avital is a “natural”, unhindered by what seem to be the bass’s technical limitations. He strums, he rushes up and down the instrument’s neck like there were no tomorrow, he is all jazz one moment and all song the next. He is a passionate musician!

At age 17, Young Israeli-born percussionist Itamar Doari was already touring the world with some of Israel’s most renowned musicians. In recent years he has been touring and recording with bassist Avishai Cohen. Doari is a member of the “Yemen Blues” Band and has taken part in the Idan Raichel Project albums, his recordings, altogether, winning him high acclaim. Doari’s participation in “Avital Meets Avital” displayed a sensitive ear to each different item as well as good taste, clean gestures, restraint, joy and energy. Sitting on a cajón drum and surrounded by other drums, bells, cymbals etc., he quickly tuned into the mood of each piece. His solo piece was one of virtuosic flair and unbridled energy.

At 10 o’clock on a balmy Jerusalem evening, with the heat of a summer’s day well behind us, “Avital Meets Avital” brought four of Israel’s finest artists together to make music. This kind of event is fine festival fare. The audience enjoyed every moment of it.

Amir Katz performs Beethoven sonatas in Tel Aviv



On May 25^th 2013, Amir Katz performed three Beethoven sonatas at the Enav Cultural Center in Tel Aviv. The recital was one of a series presenting Beethoven sonatas the pianist is performing throughout Europe. His previous Israeli concert of the Beethoven series in Israel took place December 22^nd, 2012.

Born in Israel in 1973, Amir Katz began his piano studies with Chana Shalgi at age 11,  soloing with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra at age 15. He is the winner of several international competitions and has received a number of scholarships. Among his teachers were Sulamita Aronovsky, Elisso Wirssaladze, Michael Schäfer and Leon Fleisher. Currently living in Germany, Katz performs widely in Europe, Asia and North America; his recordings have won him glowing reviews.

  

The program opened with L. van Beethoven’s Sonata no.27 in e minor opus 90; composed in 1814 (the composer’s late middle period), it is one of Beethoven’s shorter sonatas, however, forward-looking in its technical- and emotional demands. The fact that the composer was now penning tempo markings in German, rather than Italian, already stamps the work with the uniquely personal approach present in his late sonatas.  Consisting of two movements, the work is a mosaic of forthright gestures, intensive moments, of impulsiveness, of mysterious- and personal inferences. There is not one gesture that passes by Katz as, with his characteristic individual approach to each fragment, he allows for a slight flexing of tempo to suit each one. In the second movement, marked “Not too fast, and highly songful”, Katz creates its melodiousness in a warm, rich yet fragile sound not devoid of contrasts. He presents each modulation as one would think Beethoven intended it - as a transition within the soul. It is not coincidental that the composer had thought of titling the sonata “Struggle between Head and Heart”.

In Sonata no.28 in A major opus 101 (1816), the first of Beethoven’s late period, Katz takes the audience with him into Beethoven’s introspective mindset where all proves to be transitory. The composer himself referred to the first movement of this sonata as a “series of impressions and reveries”. Amir Katz approaches it with subtlety, he “plays” with its motifs, coloring its ruminations with the sense of spontaneity and improvisation that does away with some of the movement’s bar-lines. With the more energetic, happier, mostly tranquil second movement’s soundscape created by clean fingerwork and a sense of weightlessness, fleeting moments of urgency never sound “technical” or muddy. Katz’ playing of this sonata illuminates the function of transitions in Beethoven's music, of their strategic timing and, most importantly, to where they each lead. The third movement is marked “Slowly and longingly”. Here, Katz allows its subdued fantasy to unravel at a serene pace; control is everything here. In the finale, musical ideas collect in capricious abundance and voices are at play. Even in its intense moments, Katz never produces thick, ungainly textures; the brilliant, many-dimensional fugue travels an exciting course as it builds up to each entry; and, ultimately, as layers are pared down, Beethoven’s vulnerability and sense of gloom show through. The pianist’s performance of the work was enormously satisfying.

Performance of Beethoven’s Sonata no. 29 opus 106 in B flat major “Hammerklavier” occupied the second half of the Tel Aviv concert. Composed 1817-1818, Beethoven was in his late 40s (totally deaf) and feeling comfortable with using large forms. The sonata spreads before the listener an expansive canvas of grand gestures, radical artistic statements and new piano idiom.  It is little wonder that few pianists took on its performance before the last decades of the 19^th century. Amir Katz cuts no corners in his deep enquiry into the work, daunting as it is in  technical demands, yet even more so in its narrative, its uncompromising struggle and depiction of suffering. Once again, the pianist allows the flow of individual gestures to emerge, fashioning their incongruence into a meaningful whole. From volatile outbursts to bewitching dream sequences, from naiveté to the multi-headed monster of the 4^th movement fugue, Katz has examined it all under his own personal magnifying glass. His fine memory, superb technique (including much fast, clean pedaling) and rich dynamic palette breathe palpable life into the mammoth sonata, setting before the audience the workings of one of music’s most perplexed and enigmatic minds.  Amir Katz is insightful. He must surely be one of today’s most interesting Beethoven exponents.

Handel's oratorio "Esther" in the 2013 Israel Festival

Maestro David Stern (Photo:Sergei Bermeniev)

On May 24^th 2013, Georg Frideric Händel’s oratorio “Esther” was presented in the Henry Crown Auditorium of the Jerusalem Theatre as one of the events of the 2013 Israel Festival. Performing under the baton of Maestro David Stern, we heard the Israeli Vocal Ensemble, the Barrocade Collective and soloists Claire Meghnagi-soprano, Alon Harari-countertenor, tenors Jeffrey Francis and David Nortman and bass-baritone Oded Reich. David Stern (b.1863, New York) is presently director of the Israeli Opera and the Opera Fuoco Ensemble (Paris).

Although its origins are somewhat obscure, Händel’s “Esther”, composed between 1718 and 1720, commonly referred to as the “first English oratorio”, was written for private performance at the residence of Händel’s patron James Brydges (later to become the Duke of Chandos), with the dramatic presentation of a biblical story being unfeasible for public performance in London of 1718.  (The Bishop of London would not permit a biblical subject to be presented in the theatre by such morally questionable characters as professional singers.) Originally a masque (on a biblical subject!), it contained dance, spectacle and visual effects, paying homage to English theatre. Originally titled “The Oratorium”, it went through two versions. The libretto, based on Racine’s play of the same name, is attributed to Alexander Pope and John Arbuthnot and presents most of the elements of the Esther story but with some inconsistencies.

Händel’s shortest and most intimate oratorio, it nevertheless offers singers many solos. In the Israel Festival performance, soloists entered and exited the stage. Short solos were performed by choir members; Tali Ketzef’s singing of “Praise the Lord with cheerful noise” was energetic and easeful.  Countertenor Alon Harari changed timbre, mood and volume from role to role, his mellifluous singing of “Tune your harps”, intertwined with the serene beauty of the oboe obbligato (Amir Backman), contrasted with the impactful “How have our sins provk’d the Lord!” In the centerpiece “O Jordan, Jordan, sacred tide”, with the violins evoking the ripples of the river and the sadness of mood, Harari’s glittering intensity gave expression to the aria’s underlying dejection. In the role of Esther, Claire Meghnagi gave a very forthright and convincing reading of the texts, her voice rich in coloratura luster. In “Flatt’ring tongue, no more I hear thee!” she was regal, assertive wily and defiant, her competent performance producing fine drama. In the extended aria of “Tears assist me”, her singing was empathic, creamy and well shaped. Jeffrey Francis’ (USA) expansive, well anchored tenor voice and strong connection with the text lent authority and depth of character to the role of Ahasuerus. In “O beauteous queen”, bristling with dance rhythms, he sings into key words, creating its theatrical substance, its ardor and intensiveness, together with tenderness. The superbly crafted duet “Who calls my parting soul from death?” he shared with Meghnagi gave expression to the story’s passion and warmth.  Mordecai (David Nortman), Esther’s cousin, is the oratorio’s voice of moral conscience, however commanding less authority in the Händel version than in the biblical Book of Esther. Nortman cuts a sympathetic- rather than a stern image; in his aria “Dread not, righteous queen, the danger” the violins leap in playful off-beat figures around Nortman’s imploring, cantabile singing. As the scheming Haman, Oded Reich’s well-endowed vocal sound was as pleasing as it was gripping. In the feisty “Pluck root and branch from out of the land”, with its punchy dotted rhythms adding potency to the text, he used consonants to underline the character’s villainous personality. The tables are turned on him in his heart-rending singing of “Turn not, O queen, thy face away” (introduced by the pathos of the orchestra’s falling intervals) and in his portrayal of the condemned man in “How art thou fall’n from thy height!” with the vocal line demanding a series of plunging leaps.

Providing constant interest and textual update, singers of the Israeli Vocal Ensemble (director: Yuval Benozer) gave meaning and much beautiful choral beauty to each chorus. Their fine diction and attention to each subject addressed kept the audience eager to hear each new utterance: their fiery mirroring of Haman’s text in “Shall we the God of Israel fear?”, the plaintive “Ye sons of Israel mourn”, the incisive and dramatic “Save us O Lord, And blunt the wrathful sword”, the explicit empathy in the chorus of Israelites’ “Virtue, truth and innocence”, followed by their vehement handling of words in the climactic “He comes, He comes to end our woes”. The IVE goes from strength to strength.

A seldom performed work, “Esther” is of major significance, marking the beginning of the illustrious English oratorio tradition, with the emergence of the Händelian dramatic chorus. It features harmonic interest and imaginative orchestration as well as some of Händel’s finest arias and, as we heard, superb choruses. Here was a fine opportunity to get to know the work, with Stern and the Barrocade Ensemble performing it with articulacy, involvement and with a sensitive ear to the soloists. Including a Baroque trumpet would have made for that specific Händelian textural gleam; the obbligato players, however, did a fine job. Commendable were oboists Amir Backman and Shira Ben Yehoshua; bassoonist Inbar Navot was outstanding. Eitan Hoffer’s theorbo playing added silvery delicacy to the performance.

  

The "Profeti della Quinta" ensemble at the May 2013 Abu Gosh Festival




One of the closing events of the May 2013 Abu Gosh Festival on May 18^th was by the “Profeti della Quinta” vocal ensemble in a concert titled “Behold, thou art fair, my love” in the Kiryat Yearim Church of the Ark of the Covenant in the village of Abu Gosh (Jerusalem environs). Members of the ensemble are Doron Schleifer and David Feldman-countertenors, Dino Lüthy and Dan Dunkelblum-tenors and Elam Rotem-bass, harpsichordist. Joining them was their lutenist Ori Harmelin. The program focused on the subject of love.

The “Profeti della Quinta” ensemble was originally established in the Galilee region of Israel by Elam Rotem.  Currently based in Switzerland, where all members have been studying at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the group focuses on repertoire of the 16^th and early 17^th centuries, basing interpretation on research into performance practice of the time – on temperament, diminution, ornamentation and on playing from facsimile editions. The singers perform a-cappella, also collaborating with instrumentalists and additional singers, when required.

Prior to moving to Basel, Elam Rotem (b.1984) graduated from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance where he studied harpsichord under Dr. David Shemer. At the Basel Schola Cantorum, he furthered his studies in early musical style and performance practice. Rotem is presently researching early Italian opera in a collaboratary PhD program of the Schola Cantorum and the University of Würzburg.

The Profeti della Quinta group have performed and recorded works by the Mantuan Jewish singer, violinist and composer Salamone Rossi (1570-1630) – the first Jewish musician to compose, perform and publish polyphonic settings of synagogue liturgy for mixed choir - and have been involved in a film on him by Joseph Rochlitz – “The Search for Salamone Rossi”(2012). At the Abu Gosh concert, the ensemble performed a number of Rossi works, both sacred and secular. The composer’s sacred works “Hashirim Asher Lishlomo” (The Songs of Solomon), using Hebrew texts, consist of 33 a-cappella motets, including Psalms, hymns and prayers for the Sabbath, holyday services, concerts and for one wedding; they were published in 1622. Departing from the ancient tradition of Jewish chants, Rossi, however, brought harmony and polyphony into the synagogue, composing in the current styles of European music but in a more homophonic manner in order to give the verbal text prominence. The Abu Gosh Festival program opened with Rossi’s setting of Psalm 128, in which there was much bandying of key words, its last section joyful and quite contrapuntal. Following a richly dynamic reading of Psalm 100, we heard the ever-popular Rossi piece “Halleluja” (Psalm 146) in a silky-timbred, well shaped performance, its sweeping melodic lines gently ornamented. Rossi’s “Kaddish”, composed to an unexpected triple-time dance rhythm, was dynamic and mellifluous in timbre. The Profeti singers performed Rossi’s sacred pieces in a strong, totally secure, intelligible style and with the understanding that comes from careful scholarship and familiarity with Hebrew biblical texts. The group’s signature brightness of timbre is always energizing, their reading- and interpretation of the pieces bristling with interest. One could claim that, performing these works with only men singers (and without instruments when performed in the synagogue), as would have been done by Rossi, their effect is indeed authentic. 

Although considered a conservative composer, Rossi was the first to publish madrigals with basso continuo parts; composed for the Gonzaga court, they are also groundbreaking in the elaboration he infuses into the chittarone parts.   Opening with a wonderfully colored performance of the composer’s madrigal to Ottavio Rinuccini’s “Sfogava con le stele” (One who was lovesick), the Profeti della Quinta singers performed settings of secular texts. From Rossi’s First Book of Madrigals we heard two songs to texts by Giovanni Battista Guarini: “Tirsi mio, caro Tirsi” (My Tirsi, dear Tirsi) opened with countertenor Doron Schleifer (singing of an abandoned woman) and Ori Harmelin in dialogue. Accompanied by Rotem (harpsichord) and Harmelin in “Pargoletta che non sai” (Little one, you do not know), Schleifer, Feldman, Lüthy and Dunkelblum, adding a little theatrical content and much humor to the concert, portrayed two couples confronting love’s tribulations. 

Claudio Monteverdi’s (1567-1643) “Filli cara e amata” (Dear, beloved Filli) presents a bucolic setting and the innocent games of nymphs and shepherds. In contrast, “Rimanti in pace” (Remain in peace), a feast of vocal sound, timbral colors and emotion, in the hands of the Profeti singers, is the heartbreaking plaint of the wounded and dying Tirsi as he laments with his sorrowful Fillida. We hear individual utterances, astonishing harmonic effects and a fine play of bass timbres. In “Zefiro torna e il bel tempo rimena", a dramatic, narrative piece with some homophonic blocks.  Singers and audience reveled in the piece’s rhythmic changes and daring final dissonances, the latter explained by the final line of Petrarca's text:

'Zephyr returns and with him fair weather,
And the fowers and grass, his sweet family,
And Procne's warbling and Philomel's plangent song,
And spring in all its white display.

The meadows laugh, the sky is serene;
Jove delights in watching his daughter;
Air and sea and earth are full of love;
Every beast tells itself to find a mate.

Yet for me, alas, return those heaviest of sighs,
Drawn from the depths of my heart
By she who has taken its keys to heaven;
And despite birdsong and fields of flowers
And the honest, gentle acts of fair maidens
I am but a desert surrounded by savage beasts.'

Ori Harmelin (b. Haifa, 1982) began his musical training at age 15, studying classical guitar and composition. He later studied lute with Isidoro Roitman and composition with Arie Shapira. In 2003, Harmelin moved to Germany to study lute with Professor Rolf Lislevand at the Trossingen Music Academy. Providing the Abu Gosh concert with a poignant instrumental interlude on the chitarrone, Harmelin performed a Passacaglia by the illustrious Italian lutenist and composer Alessandro Piccinini (1566-c.1638). Despite its gentle sound, Harmelin has a flowing command of the instrument; in playing that was forthright, his melodic lines were expressive, singing and articulate. His playing of this complex material revealed its deep beauty and grace. 

Moving more than 300 years forward in time, yet remaining in the same style, we heard the premiering of some of Elam Rotem’s most recent compositions. Rotem himself preferred to describe the event as a pre-premiering! Since completing his “Joseph and His Brothers” (to be issued on CD in 2014 on the Pan Classics label), a work using the biblical Hebrew text, that has  impressed and moved audiences in Europe and Israel, Rotem is now in the process of setting some new shorter texts, several of them from the “Song of Songs”. These recent pieces will exist both as separate songs and as a group. In his opinion, “Samson and Delilah”, also heard for the first time at the Abu Gosh concert, its text focusing on love and on dialogue, will fit in well with the pieces from the “Song of Songs”. Whereas the idea of “Joseph and His Brothers” was that of early Italian opera, here the style deals more to love songs and madrigals; in both styles, the composer has aimed to integrate the beauty of biblical texts with the musical language of 1600. As to instrumental scoring for the new works, Rotem sees this as somewhat flexible…according to what players he has at hand. Elam Rotem’s settings of the “Song of Songs” reflect the fantasy, fragrance, freedom of expression and sensuousness of this poetry; they are fresh, rich in contrasting sections, solos, fine shaping and effects. “Samson and Delilah” (not the complete story) bristled with fast exchange between singers, with drama and urgency. Elam Rotem is leaving his mark on this highly specialized style of composition.

The Profeti della Quinta singers perform with informed- and polished assurance as an ensemble and as soloists. Theirs is artistry at its finest. Having occasion to talk to Elam Rotem, I asked him how he goes about composing; his answer was simple - “at the harpsichord, with a pencil and the Bible”. 

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

Maarten Engeltjes and Israel Golani (photo:Martin Nota)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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