The "Sounding Jerusalem" Festival 2017 - concert at the Dormition Abbey, Jerusalem

Photo: Dr. Michael Borchard

Established in 2006, the “Sounding Jerusalem” Festival was back again after a hiatus of six years, presenting concerts in Jerusalem’s Old City and one in Jericho. Founded, developed and led by Austrian ‘cellist Erich Oskar Huetter, the festival has always aimed to offer musical experiences to people living in Jerusalem and the surroundings, irrespective of their ethnic-, social - or religious affiliations, its musical agenda of classical and innovative chamber music constituting a dialogue between European- and Middle-Eastern musicians. “About Possibilities” is the theme of the 2017 festival, inviting the listener to reflect on life’s perspectives, options and opportunities. This writer attended “Icons of Chamber Music” at the Dormition Abbey, Mount Zion, Jerusalem, on August 28th, 2017.

Welcoming guests to the concert, pastor of the abbey Fr. Nicodemus reminded those assembled that August 28th was the feast day of St. Augustine. Nicodemus drew parallels between the many spheres St. Augustine touched and the diversity of emotions in the music of Franz Schubert, whose String Quintet in C-major D.956 would be performed at the concert. Fr. Nicodemus recommended we listen to it “with emotional ears”.

The program opened with a seldom-heard and curious work - G.F.Händel’s Suite in D for trumpet and strings (or organ?) HWV 341. Referred to as “Mr. Händel’s Celebrated Water Piece”, the work is actually an anonymous hybrid arrangement of dances, incorporating some bits of Händel’s music. It was probably written in 1715, prior to the grander Water Music Suite of 1717. In its chamber arrangement (minus timpani), we heard violinists Eszter Haffner (Austria) and Suyeon Kang (Australia), violist Vicki Powell (USA) and ‘cellist Paolo Bonomini (Italy), with  Rainer Auerbach (Germany) in the solo trumpet role. As to the sections representing Händel’s writing, the Overture comes straight from his Water Music, with the stately March, the Suite’s final movement, taken from “Partenope”, one of the composer’s more obscure operas.The event’s highly international ensemble gave the work a fresh, buoyant and festive reading, its up-front agenda presented with articulacy. Auerbach’s splendid playing was characterized by dynamic variety and his rich timbre, and enhanced by some tasteful Baroque-style ornaments.

The core work of the concert was Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C-major D.956, referred to by Huetter as “living a whole life”. Composed in September 1828, two months prior to Schubert’s death, it perhaps represents the composer’s summing up of his all-too-short life. What is unique to his final instrumental composition is its configuration for two ‘cellos, whether to cater to the particular string players present at his brother Ferdinand’s house or to add a sense of intensity and mellowness to the work’s gestures. From the very opening chords of the first movement, the players transported the listener into the work’s profound world of contemplation and emotions, its melodiousness, its delight and delicacy, its urgency and its kaleidoscope of moods, as the artists engaged in the uncompromising,  bold shaping of phrases. In the Adagio, its plaintive, otherworldly opening was highlighted by first violinist Eszter Haffner’s heart-rending gestures, the movement’s mood then abruptly becoming a frenetic scene of dramatic action. The artists conveyed the return of the introspective section, its dialogue between first violin and second ‘cello so human, with even more poignancy than in its original statement. Issued in with a fanfare, the boisterous, high-spirited Scherzo, whisking away any memory of the soul-searching Adagio, never fails to surprise and confound many listeners, but, for the Trio, the artists colored it with melancholy as a reminder of the profoundly sad feeling never far away in the quintet, with the Scherzo’s return reestablishing the work’s life-affirming statement, as does the final Allegretto, which was performed with charm, presenting its appealing Hungarian dance music and perhaps making reference to the lively Viennese cafe scene. The artists’ performance of the work gave expression to Schubert’s daring and revolutionary “orchestral” approach to writing for the small string ensemble, as they recreated its vast contrasts of light and color as well as Schubert’s serenity, eloquence and poetry, still enigmatically a vital element of the style of the dying composer now plagued by ill health and disappointment.

For their encore, Huetter decided that Austrian composer Joseph Lanner’s “Styrian Dances” opus 165 would tie in with the dances of the last movement of the Schubert Quintet. Joseph Lanner (1801-1843) and Johann Strauss Sr. were the original “waltz kings”. Sadly today, outside of Vienna, Lanner’s music is now forgotten. Dating from 1841, the “Styrian Dances” are based on folk melodies from the province of Steyermark (southwest of Vienna) and constitute one of Lanner’s most popular compositions. Once again, Eszter Haffner led the players with consummate skill, steering the sweetly sentimental music with rubato, variety, surprises and with the wink of an eye!

 

Festive concerts and two operas performed by participants in the 2017 International Masterclasses of Vocal Arts & Žamboki Awards

Cast of Viva la Mamma (Courtesy Jessie Fong Chung Tse)

From July 26th to August 6th 2017, the International Masterclasses of Vocal Arts & Žamboki Awards, Jerusalem, took place for the third consecutive year. From its modest start in 2015, the project has grown into a multi-faceted program, enriching its students from many countries with high-quality tuition, offering them a fulfilling experience on both artistic and personal levels and, for those at the outset of a career, providing a springboard into the opera world. The project been made possible through the generosity of Ruth and Josef Žamboki. Serbian-born engineer Josef Žamboki.and his sister were the only survivors of their family after World War II. In building musical ties between aspiring- and established musicians, the project celebrates the memory of the man who saved Josef in the Holocaust . Since its inception, sought-after international singer and vocal arts teacher Rona Israel-Kolatt has directed the summer course. In her words of welcome, Ms. Israel Kolatt writes: “We place emphasis on performance of works of contemporary composers. This year, we are presenting two premieres. Once again, we are  hosting some of the world’s the finest teachers and performers and are privileged to receive the generous support of the Goethe Cultural Institute and the Anni Eisler-Lehmann Foundation (Mainz, Germany), the latter working to further careers of Jewish singers in Germany.”

The IMVAJ’s Festive Orchestral Gala took place at the Israeli Center for Excellence through Education (Jerusalem) on July 30th, 2017. Under the baton of Maestro Barak Tal, the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra accompanied the many and various vocal solos, duets and ensembles, setting the scene for the opening section of Mozart opera numbers with a performance of the Overture to Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro”.  Israeli and overseas soloists Roi Sarouk, Marco Ostojic, Ognjen Milivojsa, Yarden Kiperman, Shai Terry, Christian Wagner, Esther Alayev Kopel, Jessie Fong Chung Tse, Iris Brill and Yael Sayag conjured up the magic and drama of  opera repertoire from Handel to Puccini in outstanding solo performances. Duets and ensembles were presented with brio and competence. To mention just a few of the evening’s highlights - baritone Marco Ostojic’s intense, dramatic performance of “Tutto è disposto...Aprite un po'quegli occhi” (“Marriage of Figaro”, Mozart), baritone Ognjen Milovojsa’s informed, free and theatrical singing of “Madamina, il catalogo è questo” (“Don Giovanni”, Mozart), soprano Yarden Kiperman’s fine vocal control and intense emotion in “Svegliatevi nel core" (“Giulio Cesare”, Handel), Shai Terry as an evocative, bold Carmen in “Les tringles des sistres tintaient” (“Carmen”, Bizet), soprano Esther Allayev Kopel’s powerful and dynamic reading of "Otchego eto prezhde ne znala" (Iolanta, Tchaikovsky), the fresh, honeyed voice, superb technique and musicality of soprano Jessica Tse in “Caro nome” (“Rigoletto”, Verdi), mezzo-soprano Iris Brill’s gripping and tragic singing of “O don fatale” (“Don Carlos”, Verdi) and soprano Yael Sayag’s fine acting and despair in “Tu, tu piccolo Iddio” (“Madama Butterfly”, Puccini). The high quality performance of the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra added elegance and colour to the festive evening.

In “Sonorities Round the World”, taking place in the Ran Baron Hall of the Israeli Conservatory of Music, Tel Aviv, on August 1st, we heard the IMVAJ participants who had been working on Lieder and opera arias under the guidance of Prof. Claudia Eder (Germany). Singers taking part  in the concert ranged from high school students to experienced, established artists. Of the fine line-up of artists, baritone (pianist and conductor) Stefan Zekic’s singing  radiated impactful presence and feeling. Russian-born tenor Sasha Rozbizev performed pieces of both A.Scarlatti and Mahler, delving convincingly into the emotional agenda of each. Mezzo-soprano Iphigenie Worbes displayed vivacity, flexibility and good stage presence. Another young mezzo-soprano, Anna Tetruashvili, presents a large focused sound; her singing of Handel was delicately ornamented, her reading of Marc Lavry’s “Dark am I”, meaningful. Jerusalem Academy of Music student Maya Golan’s performance of Paul Ben-Haim’s setting of a poem of the poetess Rachel was profound and poignant. Her fellow student, Tal Malkinson, a soprano with fine vocal control and communicative skills, gave a moving rendition of Mordechai Zeira’s “Those Were Nights” (Lyrics: Yaakov Orland).Of the two youngest members of the class, Shir Ben Meir is showing musical versatility; high school graduate soprano Shira Ziv’s singing reveals confidence, ease and agility. American Laura Snyderman is a soprano with a “strong, heroic voice”, excellent control and technique. She chose to sing her countryman John Duke’s (1899-1984) “The Bird”. Seeing the evening out was soprano Shirelle Dashevsky’s masterful and engrossing  performance of “Leah’s Aria” from Yaakov Weinberg’s opera “The Pioneers” (1924), the first folk opera in Hebrew. The intimate, wood-panelled Ran Baron Hall was the perfect venue for such an event.  Adding to the event’s level of excellence were Chaim Tukachinsky’s artistic piano accompaniments.

August 2nd saw the Israeli premiere of Gaetano Donizetti’s two-act dramma giocoso  “Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali” (Conventions and Inconveniences of the Stage) or “Viva La Mamma” (libretto: Domenico Gilardoni). The performance took place at the Israeli Center for Excellence through Education (Jerusalem). Serbian-born Aleksander Nikolić took on both stage direction and design, conductor was Israeli-born Jonathan Spandorf, pianist - Tohar Gil, lighting - Sasha Sorin and costumes - Varda Rubinstein and Nikolić. Donizetti’s farce revolves around the “convenienze” of  any 19th century opera house -  the ranking of singers, number of scenes, arias, etc. A  third-rate opera company is rehearsing “Romulus and Ersilia”, the prima donna (Jessie Fong Chung Tse) is refusing to take direction, the other principals are not much better and the lead tenor (Marc Shaimer) does not have the ability to sing his part. Mamma Agata (Ognjen Milivoja) the mother of the second donna appears on the scene, demanding that her daughter (Marianna Blinova) be given an aria; the company loses half its cast, leaving the way open for Donna II to make her debut alongside the prima donna’s husband (Christian Wagner). With the production becoming a fiasco and no money to pay back the investors, the troupe solves all these problems by fleeing the town at night. “Viva la Mamma” is a laugh a minute! First performed in 1827, the opera has a female baritone role - Donna Agata - quite rare for the genre. Milojovsa carries it off well and the costume designers make capital of the cross-dressing role, especially in his/her second somewhat risqué outfit. Jessie Fong Chung Tse plays the drama queen with relish, Marc Sheimer proves that he can be a hopeless tenor if necessary and all hell breaks loose. Iris Brill (the impresario) in a role that demands more speech than singing, does a very nice job of updating Hebrew-speaking audience members on the increasingly chaotic situation. And there are many whimsical touches: with a multilingual cast on stage, we hear jocular snatches of speech in different languages. The stage is alive with movement, much of it comical and, to the surprise of all who have come to hear a Donizetti opera, there is the versatile Shirelle Dashevsky (Dorothea) suddenly singing a jazzy piece (no text), partnered by the pianist!  With its timeless theme of jealousy and one-upmanship in the theatre, “Viva la Mamma” is one of Donizetti’s more obscure works, yet, despite the anarchy on stage, the music still works out, and it actually includes several very challenging passages for the chorus. Considering the minimal time available for preparation and rehearsals, the IMVAJ team and singers gave of their all, delighting in the opera’s boisterous fun and pulling out all the plugs. And, as the audience shifted from a chuckle to a belly laugh and back again, there were constant reminders of the fact that that Donizetti can write a good melody!.

Another significant event of the workshop was the world- and Israeli premiere of “Albert”, a one-act opera composed by Moshe Zorman to a Hebrew libretto by Oded Liphshitz (b.1981). Sivan Handelsman undertook the stage direction, stage design and costumes, Dor Magen was  conductor, with Elisha Krawets at the piano. This writer attended the performance at Tzavta, Tel Aviv on August 6th.

The libretto for “Albert” was adapted from Liphshitz’ play of the same name, a work that won the playwright the Bernstein Prize for Literature in 2012. Middle-aged Albert is is diagnosed as having an enlarged libido for a man of his age and an uncontrolled passion for women. After visiting his doctor, he attempts to find a solution to his burning desires. Albert’s search leads him to the library, to the world of Zen in the Far East and to other places. Every pursuit  leads to a new even more challenging problem. When all fails, the doctor turns to more desperate measures. Albert cries out to God,  the devil appears and Albert looks on as faces from the past appear. In the role of Albert, baritone Roi Sarouk’s finely timbred voice and musicality did justice to the highly melodious score, his clarity of diction faultless. Albert was not portrayed as a flirtatious, confident macho man but as a somewhat pathetic figure, dependent on the dominant figure of the doctor (Yarden Kiperman in a pants role) to help him solve his problem. Shai Terry, as Albert’s sister Mika, made for an empathic, supportive character. Dressed in white, the “four girls” (Inbar Livne,Yael Manor Danler, Anna Tetruashvili, Dalia Bespozvany) formed a kind of all-purpose Greek chorus, dancing, singing, moving props, setting the scene visually and musically for each situation and location. The props themselves consisted largely of hospital screens, there to remind the audience that Albert’s state is indeed a clinical problem. Zorman’s music, attractive, articulate, never overloaded and gently poised on the border between tonal- and atonal writing, reflects Albert’s dejected state. The is much melody for the singers. Elisha Krawets (also dressed in a surgical coat) played the piano score, one utilizing motifs and occasional quotes, with good taste and refinement. Of his oeuvre of some 100 works, Israeli composer, conductor and pianist Moshe Zorman (b. 1952) has composed ten operas to date. His music defies any one specific style, his writing comfortably blurring the borders between classical- and light music, and with a touch of whimsy.

Kudos to Rona Israel Kolatt and her team for the inspiration and energy they invested in making the workshop one of value and excellence.  

Rona Israel Kolatt (photo:Michal Harduf  Raz)

 

Violinist Fabrizio Longo (Italy) and Opera Qvinta in a recent recording of works by Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli

Fabrizio Longo (photo: Alessandro Ruggeri)

A new disc recorded by Opera Qvinto, led and directed by violinist and musicologist Fabrizio Longo, has brought to light more of the restricted surviving oeuvre of Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli, namely the “Sonate, Roma 1669”. The little that is known of the enigmatic violinist and composer, who was born in Tuscany in 1624 and died either in Madrid or Rome in 1687, is that he received his training in the chapel of San Marco, Venice, then from 1660 to 1669 serving as one of the chamber virtuosos at the court of Anna de’ Medici in Innsbruck. His surviving opuses 3 and 4 date from 1660, their brilliant writing finding its notable place at the beginning of the first great and influential Italian and Austrian schools of violin-playing. Some recordings of these two opuses exist. The 1669 Trio Sonatas, (Sonate Cio Balletti), bearing no opus number however, have received less attention. In 1978, Willi Apel was perhaps the first to note that these sonatas had remained almost completely unnoticed by modern scholars and performers. In his liner notes, Fabrizio Longo, an authoritative scholar of Pandolfi Mealli and his music, we learn of the dramatic events of the composer’s life: that he was later employed in the Cathedral Chapel of Messina (Sicily). It was there in the Duomo that the composer-priest murdered the Roman castrato Giovanni Marquett, consequently fleeing to France, and finally settling in Spain, where he was employed in the court of the Spanish Habsburgs. All of Pandolfi Mealli’s surviving works are preserved in the Civic Museum of Bologna.

The 1669  Sonatas were published in Rome by Amadeo Belmonte. The title page defines them as “Sonate cioé Balletti, Sarabande, Correnti, Passacagli, Capriccetti, e una Trombetta, a uno, e dui Violini, con la terza parte della Viola a Beneplacito”. they are generally associated with Messina, as the title page lists Pandolfi Mealli as a violinist in that city and also due to the fact that the sonatas are dedicated to eighteen musicians (as was his practice in opuses 3 and 4) who were known to have been employed at the Messina Cathedral. Longo mentions an anonymous and decidedly witty pasquinade (satire written and posted in a public place) appearing in Messina in 1666 that alludes to the persons inspiring each of the pieces, most of which are in the form of suites.

Take, for example, “Il Cara Capriccetto Quinto”. In Longo’s liner notes, we learn that this work refers to Placido Cara, to whom it was suggested that he abandon orchestra direction and return to his own playing. The small, well balanced suite opens with a noble processional, the imposing presence of the bass drum adding to its grandeur. The following Corrente, its dotted agenda rich in echoes and asides, is not taken at breakneck pace. Tambourine jingles add to its skipping, dance-like charm. The work concludes with a Sarabanda, its smooth, serious course devoid of percussion, offering the listener a deeper glimpse into its subtle timbral variety. The advice offered to singer Pietro Maurizio, the artist inspiring ”Il Maruritio, Capricett à violino solo”, was that, despite being complimented on his voice, he should avoid forays into its higher registers, lest his fate be that of Icarus! Here, we hear Fabrizio Longo soloing in the four miniature movements, his playing personal, flexed and spontaneous. Each movement emerges as a separate vignette, from the thoughtful playing of the Largo, to the Presto variations, to the semplice melody from which the Allegro unfolds, to the notes inégales infusing energy into the final movement.A curious connection to the composer’s own life events is the exquisite suite titled “Il Marquetto”, the work associated with the counter tenor whose life Pandolfi Mealli would take, its solemn, downhearted opening Adagio to a ground accompanied by the funereal sounds of the bass drum, followed by a plaintive, cantabile Arietta most sensitively played and ornamented. Impatient to make its entrance, the ensuing Brando (Italian version of the bransle), festooned with percussion, speaks of energy and ebullience.

A painful episode of Sicily’s history, the conflicts arising from Spanish presence, present in much art of the time, is referred to in “La Spata Fora”, a work dedicated to Prince Spatafora but also possibly to a trumpeter in the chapel by the name of Spatafora. Here, straightforward functional harmonies give rise to plangent melodies, contrasted by intense drum utterances and a sense of urgency, calling to mind the source of the suite.  Another point of interest in the disc is the instrumentation chosen by Longo. In addition to strings, theorbo, harpsichord and drum, he makes a point of engaging the traditional instrumental variety of Messina of the 1660s, for example, in the two “La Domenga” Sarabands: in the first, there is substantial use of the Jew’s harp, common in Sicilian folk music and referred to there as the "marranzanu"; in the second, the triple flute is played in its characteristic folk style.

Recorded on period instruments for the TACTUS label (2017), these mid-Baroque works, although influenced by the “stylus fantasticus”, are presented in balanced, suave, sensitive and articulate playing, its virtuosity employed as a means of expression.  Each small gem is delivered within its own context. Fabrizio Longo’s liner notes provide much valuable information on Pandolfi Mealli and his extraordinary music.

 

The NFM Choir (Poland) performs a concert of Polish a-cappella liturgical and secular music in Jerusalem

Photo: Maxim Reider

On July 13th 2017, the National Forum of Music Choir (Wrocław, Poland) artistic director Agnieszka Frankow-Żelazny, the visiting choir of the Choral Fantasy Festival, performed a concert of Polish music at St. Andrews Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem. The 20 singers were conducted by their artistic director Agnieszka Frankow-Żelazny.
 

The first part of the program featured sacred Polish music by composers born in- or writing in the 20th century. Texts were sung in Latin, Polish , with one work in Russian. The choir brought out the synthesis of early traditional influences and modern compositional styles apparent in this new surge of liturgical music, with its predilection for sonority - tone color. A bold example of this was Andrzej Koszewski’s (1922-2015) setting of the “Miserere”, in which the work’s development follows that of the text, opening with low, dark clusters which then brighten, soaring into vibrant intensity. “Beatus vir” of Miłosz  Bembinow (b.1978) opens with the choir’s splendid timbral blend of autumnal harmonies, concluding with a pure octave. Bembinow’s use of  the Polish text, with its distinctive consonant combinations,forms an integral element of the work’s soundscape. In Michal Zieliński’s (b.1965) modal-based “Laudate Dominum” for soprano and choir (2002), words are used as somewhat percussive rhythmic devices. Another highlight was  Marcin Tadeusz Łukaszewski’s  (b.1972) “De Profundis” (Psalm 130), its spine-chilling dark agenda and vehement moments, wrought in huge dynamic contrasts, wonderfully evoked by choir and soloist. The section of liturgical music concluded with Krzysztof Penderecki’s (b.1933) “O gloriosa Virginum” (2009), its style of passing dissonances within an otherwise diatonic/modal framework not atypical of  music of the past 20 years or so. Its antiphonal style ended with an imposing dramatic tutti declamation.

 

Following the intermission, the atmosphere in the hall changed from sacred to profane, as the male singers filed in singing a drone in a style that just might have been overtone singing. The song was Jacek Sykulski’s (1964) “Ice on the Prosna River”. Sykulski is a composer who constantly experiments with innovative and creative forms of expression, setting new trends in choral singing in Poland and internationally. The work has a distinctively folk-like sound, both in the singers’ vocal production and its early modal melodies, the latter supported by newer harmonies. The ensuing pieces, rich in nature descriptions, painted whimsical, playful, sometimes sad, sometimes unabashedly rough pictures of country people, of carefree leisure pastimes bristling with flirtation. Each, a small, lightweight theatrical piece, was polished and effectively performed, making for fine entertainment.

 Ms. Agnieszka Frankow-Żelazny’s direction brings together beauty of sound and precision in performance that is stylish and interesting. Her singers are all soloists, but they understand the art of vocal balance and blending. The NFM Choir’s program of Polish music, repertoire not known here, was inspiring.

The Haifa Studio Theatre premieres Aviram Freiberg's two chamber operas based on stories of S.Y Agnon

Ayelet Cohen,Alexamder Yagudin (photo:Sabrina da Rita)

The Studio Theatre (Haifa) has just premiered two chamber operas based on short stories of S.Y.Agnon - “The Lady and the Peddler” and “Splendour”. Aviram Freiberg adapted the texts and wrote the music for both. Jonathan Szwarc was stage director, with Tavor Gochman serving as musical director and pianist. Singers taking part were soprano Ayelet Cohen, tenor Alexander Yagudin and alto Liat Rockberger. This writer attended the performance on July 18th 2017 at the Jerusalem Khan Theatre.

“The Lady and the Peddler” (1966) tells of a Christian woman (Helena) who lives in isolation in the woods. A Jewish peddler (Joseph) stumbles upon her house, is ensnared by her charms, moves in and has carnal relations with her, only to discover that she has devoured her previous mates. Gradually, Joseph realizes that Helena intends to kill him, eat his flesh and drink his blood, as she hints she has done to her previous "husbands". She tries to kill him but fails, then killing herself. The story ends with Joseph leaving her house, with Helena’s frozen body left on the roof to be devoured by her own birds of prey. This horror story is laden with symbolism on all levels. In his interpretation, Freiberg focuses the relationship between the person dominating and the one who is dominated, attacker and attacked, the host and the parasite, the woman and the man. For the role of Joseph, he chooses to have him sung by a tenor singing in his low (and inconvenient) register to convey the uncomfortable (indeed threatening) situation in which Joseph finds himself. An interesting development is that Helena loses interest in killing and eating Joseph, while he is unaware of this change. In order to create integration of text and music, Freiberg chooses to use leitmotivs to suggest people, objects and ideas. The stage set consists of a table, serving as a house, a bed, roof etc., and a large length of red cloth whose final use is that of a shroud. Freiberg’s engaging but uncluttered musical score of clean, intelligible melodic lines invites the audience to follow the plot and its two characters with ease. Ayelet Cohen’s technical assurance, her creamy voice, easeful and richly colored in all registers, coupled well with her convincing enquiry into the role, her body- and facial language. Tenor Alexander (Sasha) Yagudin’s warm vocal timbre, musicality and comfortable stage presence gave credence to his portrayal of Joseph. Tavor Gochman’s musical direction and keyboard playing (in both operas) were vital, sensitive and strategic in timing.

Agnon wrote “Tehilla” in the 1950s. The story  is centred on a righteous old woman whom the narrator meets in Jerusalem’s Old City in the 1920s during the British mandate period. Tehilla herself personifies kindness and good deeds but has suffered tragedy in her life, which becomes apparent as the story unfolds. The narrator who is also a writer becomes involved in her story about sin, suffering, repentance and forgiveness. In the program notes, both Aviram Freiberg and Jonathan Szwarc relate to the characters and how they wish to portray them, hence Freiberg’s choice of a soprano (Ayelet Cohen) for the role of Tehilla and a contralto (Liat Rockberger) for the rabbi’s wife. Alexander Yagudin was the narrator. With the story deeply entrenched in Jewish tradition and thought, Freiberg’s score, guided by Agnon’s musically oriented language, included many associations of Jewish music. He also chose to use speech in different forms as a means of highlighting meaningful moments of the story’s development. The bleak stage set gave spine-chilling focus to the three personalities and what qualities each represented as did moments when the music played on and the characters were silent. On this shadowy, eerie background, singers and pianist convincingly unearthed the story’s horrifying family secrets and their results, nevertheless bringing Agnon’s story to its more positive outcome of forgiveness.

 

The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, the NFM Choir (Poland) and soloists perform Handel's "Messiah" in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

Photo: Maxim Reider

The 2017 Vocal Fantasy, hosted by the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, followed the vision of the late Shimon Bigelman, who founded the festival in 2012. The six concerts, a celebration of choirs and voices taking place from July 12th to15th 2017 and with the endorsement of the Jerusalem Development Authority, was dedicated to Shimon Bigelman’s memory.

The event opening the festival (Jerusalem July 12th and closing it in Tel Aviv July 15th) was Georg Frideric Händel’s “Messiah”. Handel wrote the original version of “Messiah” in three to four weeks. Premiered in Dublin to an audience of 700 people on April 13th 1742, women were requested to wear dresses without hoops and men to leave swords at home in order to “make room for more company”. Conducting the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, the NFM Choir (Wrocław, Poland; artistic director Agnieszka Frankow-Żelazny) and soloists was JBO founder and musical director Maestro David Shemer. The festival’s visiting choir from Poland, singing in clear, British English, offered a careful blend of rich, well-anchored voices, coloring and contrasted gestures, highlighting key words, responding to orchestral textures and giving pleasing articulacy to the complexities of fugal sections as it propelled the work forward with impact and its uplifting messages.  Characterizing tenor Eitan Drori’s performance were his acute awareness of each shade of meaning, his timing and word-painting, as he found new expression for each turn of the text and its emotions. His is a large, lustrous tenor voice, maneuvered however with tenderness in the opening “Comfort ye”, then with hurtling fire to “laugh them to scorn” or “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel”. Bristling with presence and descriptiveness, authority and contrast, bass-baritone Assaf Levitin presented his arias in definite colours, lending a keen sense of contrast to such passages as “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light” and triumph and joyousness in “The trumpet shall sound”, in which he was joined by Yuval Shapira’s fine handling of the natural trumpet. Soprano Hadas Faran Asia gave convincing balance to the solo soprano’s richly varied role of recounting the story and of emotional response to it - joyous and lyrical responses and the sense of awe of Händel’s own faith, as in her gently ornamented and dynamically varied singing of “I know that my Redeemer liveth”. Zlata Hershberg, her lower register occasionally obscured by the orchestra, wove peace and melodiousness into idyllic texts, whipping up the drama and tension as she sang of Jesus who “hid not His face from shame and spitting” in “He was despised”.

There was much buoyant- and beautifully shaped playing on the part of the instrumentalists and plenty of close communication between them and choir and soloists. With its drones, the sweetly bucolic and dreamy "Pastoral Symphony" (entitled Pifa) set the scene for the shepherds’ arrival in the fields. First violinist Noam Schuss delighted audiences with her ever well-spoken, lucid- and unmannered obligato playing.

And to the pinnacle of Händel’s “Messiah”, the Hallelujah Chorus, (for which audiences in some locations still rise to their feet in honour of this musical credo). On completing his writing of the piece which would take its place in history as the "Hallelujah Chorus", the composer, with tears streaming down his face cried out to his servant "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself." The festival audiences in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv remained seated for the Hallelujah Chorus, but they certainly rose to their feet, shouted and whistled in appreciation at the conclusion of the majestic and exciting performance. The fact remains that this epic masterpiece is as fresh and inspiring as ever, still awing listeners 250 years after the composer’s death.

 

"The Symphonic Piano" - Ron Trachtman, Dror Semmel and Michael Zertsekel perform works on one, two and three pianos

M. Zertsekel,R.Trachtman,D. Semmel (Shmuel Semmel)

Referring to a recent concert of the Eden-Tamir Music Center (Ein Kerem, Jerusalem) as “The Symphonic Piano” was no play on words. The recital took place on July 8th 2017 in the magical setting of the Music Center. No new faces to the series, pianists Michael Zertsekel, Dror Semmel and Ron Trachtman performed works on one, two and three pianos. Introducing the program, Eden-Tamir musical director Alexander Tamir spoke of piano music for four and more hands as being one of the most popular genres of the 19th century. From the days before the wax cylinder, and in lieu of attending concerts, arrangements of orchestral music were often played by competent home pianists of the rising middle classes. Composers and music publishers quickly capitalized on this situation. Brahms, a fairly astute businessman, made sure to arrange all his symphonies for four hands, publishing the arrangements before the orchestral premieres, resulting in the fact that some of his audience would have been well familiar with the works by the time they attended the public concert.

The program opened with Ron Trachtman and Dror Semmel performing the two-piano setting of Brahms’ Symphony No.3. Certainly challenging to the artists, hearing the work on pianos challenges the listener no less - here is the most “Brahmsian” symphony -  the least under the cloud of Beethoven and the most concentrated in texture - but without his palette of orchestral timbres. Yet the piano setting proved to be no “ poor relation” of the orchestral score. In playing that was crisp, transparent and articulate, Trachtman and Semmel invited the audience to listen perhaps more actively than it might at a symphony concert to the character of each gesture, to mood and intensity. Intimate moments and large, intense tutti were all present as the two pianists gave subtle shaping to each utterance. Their long, surging Romantic melodic lines (as in the 3rd movement) drew the listener in via the senses, with Brahms’ characteristic longing and searching emerging in the performance. And for the intellect, the artists presented the composer’s brilliant contrapuntal technique, a technique not far removed from that of Bach. It was a mammoth undertaking and certainly most satisfying.

Paul Pabst (1854-1897) was a child prodigy, first performing in public at age 11. He studied with Rubinstein and Liszt, and by 1878 the Prussian pianist was appointed to the staff at the Moscow Conservatory, where he taught many famous pianists, including Rachmaninoff. He was a renowned pianist himself and his transcriptions were highly regarded. Michael Zertsekel performed Pabst’s Concert Paraphrase on themes from Tchaikovsky’s opera “Eugene Onegin” op.81. (Pabst and Tchaikovsky actually knew each other. Tchaikovsky greatly admired Pabst, referring to him as  "a pianist of divine elegance" and "a pianist from God".) A concert piece sometimes referred to negatively by critics and often performed as a cheap show of muscular virtuosity, Zertsekel shows us that the end result of opus 81 indeed depends on whose hands the paraphrase comes under! In its assemblage of well-loved melodies, Zertsekel shapes the piece with delicacy, artistry and freshness, presenting its changing moods, its hearty- and its nostalgic moments. Yes, it may be a compendium of piano techniques there to be performed by the virtuoso player, but Zertsekel chooses to take the listener into its richly colored-musical canvas. Treating us to some delightful scintillating fingerwork, his well-delineated playing gave expression to the many-layered texture of the work, as in the superb counterpoint of Lensky’s aria played in the left hand, with fragments of the waltz  floating dreamily above it in the right hand.  

Michael Zertsekel and Ron Trachtman then performed J.S.Bach’s Concerto for two Harpsichords in C-major BWV 1061 on two pianos. A work frequently heard with orchestral accompaniment (the latter not written by Bach), a mostly light and transparent addition, the autograph, in Bach’s hand, presents only the roles of the two keyboards. Zertsekel and Trachtman address the work’s fine detail as they engage in its dialogue, highlighting Bach’s multi-layered textures. Some brisk ornamenting gave expression to the concerto’s Baroque mindset, the artists’ bold playing of the fugue (3rd movement) following their pleasing, intimate reading of the  slow (2nd) movement. Bach invented the harpsichord concerto mostly for concerts at the local coffee house, Zimmermann’s. Zimmermann’s had two rooms, the largest, about 26’ x 32’, the size of a very ample living room. This is where the harpsichord concertos of Bach were premiered. The size, resonance and ambience of the Eden-Tamir Music Center’s hall seemed well suited to the work’s genesis.

The concert concluded with Michael Zertsekel’s arrangement for three pianos of the opening  movement (Molto Allegro) of Mozart’s Symphony No.40 in G-minor, K.550. Composed in 1788,  with the composer plagued by a constant lack of money and when Viennese audiences were only interested in light music for entertainment, having little love for Mozart’s challenging music, it was, nevertheless, an extremely productive period for the composer. In light of these circumstances, the Molto Allegro makes much of plaintive sighs, though gentle graceful melodies also appear and even occasional bursts of jubilation.  Charles Rosen (“The Classical Style”) has called the symphony "a work of passion, violence, and grief."  Zertsekel takes into account Mozart’s scoring - flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, strings but no trumpets and no timpani, hence the splendidly opulent and velvety tutti, with Mozart’s melodies and gestures shining through the texture together with his charm and Sturm und Drang references.

Here was another of Michael Zertsekel, Dror Semmel and Ron Trachtman’s programs offering interest and performance unique and uncompromising in quality.