Pianist Shir Semmel joins the Tel Aviv Wind Quintet in a varied program of European chamber music at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Jerusalem

Shir Semmel (www.jamd.ac.il)

 

Tel Aviv Wind Quintet Ⓒ Dan Erez

A flying musical visit to Europe via works spanning from the Baroque to the 20th century was the fare for a concert in The Best of Chamber Music series at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Jerusalem, on January 25th 2025. Joining the Tel Aviv Wind Quintet - Hagar Shahal (flute), Nir Gavrieli (oboe, guest artist), Danny Erdman (clarinet), Itamar Leshem (horn) and Nadav Cohen (bassoon) - was pianist Shir Semmel.

 

The program opened with Mordechai Rechtman's setting of J.S.Bach's Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 for wind quintet. One of Bach's most popular organ fugues, it was written early in the composer's career, probably when he was serving as organist in Arnstadt c.1707. Early editors of Bach's work referred to it as the "Little Fugue" to distinguish it from the later Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542. Principal bassoonist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra from 1946 to 1991, Rechtman was also an acclaimed arranger. His more-than 200 arrangements for wind ensembles have been performed around the world, often under his own direction. Distributing the upbeat somewhat Italianate fugue's four voices among five instruments gives freedom to spread its polyphonic play among different timbral colour combinations, to provide "comments" and create pared-down- and denser textures. Rechtman has written several arrangements for the TLVWQ. 

 

A member of Les Six, Darius Milhaud was intensely involved in contemporary French stylistic musical development, as well as in music for theatre. "La cheminée du roi René" (its title alluding to a Provençal proverb playing on words for "fireplace", "chimney" and "promenade") is one of the cornerstones of wind quintet repertoire. Written for the film "Cavalcade d'amour", it tells of King René, a 15th century ruler of Milhaud's native city, Aix-en-Provence, who devoted himself to the well-being of his subjects, to chivalry, to legendary tournaments and to cultivation of the arts. Milhaud, a prolific composer, worked in a wide variety of styles, but this work stands apart, being pastoral in flavour and infinitely simpler in texture. In each of the small vignettes, the players created charming depictions of activities of the court-Cortege - a procession, a morning serenade, jugglers, jousting, hunting, etc. - in which some Renaissance ornamentation could be heard, with Classical elements present in the restful nocturnal madrigal, which brings the work to a somewhat melancholy close.

 

And, on the subject of music for entertainment, W.A.Mozart wrote much music that was not intended for the concert hall, theatre or church, but as an agreeable background to eating, drinking and conversation on festive- or other social occasions, these often being outdoor events.  Most of this music dates from the earlier part of his career, when the composer was based in his native city of Salzburg. From the Five Divertimentos, K. 439b, originally scored for three basset horns, we heard Divertimento No.4 in F major played by Gavrieli, Erdman and Cohen. Their diligent, vivid playing of this clever, miniature masterpiece by the 27-year-old Mozart called attention to its contrasts, wit and charm.

 

Works for or with wind instruments (then referred to as "Harmonie”) were a highly popular genre on the Viennese Classical concert scene. L.van Beethoven's Piano Quintet Op.16 in E flat major (1796) is one such work. Featuring clarinet, oboe, horn and bassoon alongside the piano, it was written when Beethoven was pushing the boundaries of his early Classical style to bolder and more expressive writing, yet still embracing the elegance and refinement of the time. The artists' reading of the work was tasteful, delicate and articulate, as they balanced its unique blend of piano and wind instruments meticulously, allowing for the diverse range of timbres and gestures to create a rich and dynamic soundscape. Introspective and lyrical, the 2nd movement (Andante) was especially beautiful, with its array of wind solos alongside the splendid integration of all the instruments. I enjoyed Shir Semmel's understated, Classical-styled performance throughout, her clean fingerwork and playing unburdened by excessive use of the sustaining pedal.

 

The Fantasiestücke Op 73 come from one of the happier periods in Robert Schumann’s career. Penned hastily in Dresden in February 1849, with the clarinet in mind, Schumann originally called the work “Soiréestücke” (Soirée Pieces) before settling on "Fantasiestücke". The pieces were first performed by his wife Clara and clarinettist Johann Gottlieb Kotte. Making allowances for the burgeoning domestic market, Schumann indicated that the Fantasiestücke might also be played by violin or 'cello, (nowadays heard in several more configurations.) Playing them in their originally-intended instrumental setting, Danny Erdman and Shir Semmel's performance of one of the most poetic examples of Schumann’s lyrical writing was spontaneous and communicative, indeed, rapt, showcasing the work's creative vigour, its idyllic character, its Romantic longing and emotional expressiveness. The artists connected with Schumann's capacity of capturing deep and intimate feelings through each gesture and changing moment.

 

A new work in the TLVWQ's repertoire, and probably new to most of the audience, was Dutch Jewish pianist/composer Leo Smit's Piano Sextet. Dedicated to the Concertgebouw, the score was (fortunately) retrieved from a rubbish heap after the Second World War. Written in 1932 and premiered in 1933, the sextet is Classical in form and comprises three movements. Shir Semmel and the wind players presented the audience with a fine concert piece whose canvas is lyrical, witty, biting and rhythmically compelling. Their playing of the outer movements revealed the influence of Stravinsky's melodic angularity, with Smit's writing - urbane, blithe, energetic, lush and threaded with extended harmonies - altogether reflecting the composer's interest in jazz and other popular styles. The work strongly recalls the eclecticism of the Paris musical world. (Smit lived and worked in Paris from 1927 to 1936, and was greatly influenced by French composers, including Les Six.) As to the 2nd movement (Lento), Nir Gavrieli gave voice to its sentimental and hauntingly beautiful oboe solo. Skilfully scored, the Piano Sextet's style is bold and complex, yet accessible to the listener. Leo Smit (1900-1943) perished in the Sobibor extermination camp.

 

This was Shir Semmel's first collaboration with the Tel Aviv Wind Quintet.

Hallelujah - Philippe Pierlot conducts the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, the Israeli Vocal Ensemble and soloists in a program of works by two friends - Handel and Telemann

Maestro Philippe Pierlot © Yoel Levy

 

No new face to the Israeli concert scene, Belgian conductor Philippe Pierlot directed "Hallelujah", the third concert of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra's 36th season. In a program of music by two German Baroque composers, JBO instrumentalists were joined by members of the Israeli Vocal Ensemble (director: Yuval Benozer) and soloists Nitzan Alon (alto), Daniel Portnoy (tenor), Roi Witz (bass), Noam Schuss (violin), Idit Shemer (flute) and Aviad Gershoni (oboe). This writer attended the event at the Jerusalem International YMCA on January 19th, 2025.

 

The program included three anthems of George Frideric Handel, all to Psalm texts, all representative of the composer's embarking on- and grand entrance into the English church music tradition. Handel spent two years (1717–1718) as resident composer at Cannons, the opulent mansion of James Brydges (later known as the Duke of Chandos), during which time the composer wrote nearly a dozen anthems, all composed for strings and solo wind instruments. Though each is written for a small group of singers and instrumentalists, they are conceived on a grand scale. The Jerusalem concert opened with "As Pants the Hart" HWV 251e, its moving text extracted from Psalm 42. This anthem, featuring solo oboe, quickly became the most popular of the Chandos collection. Opening with a dramatic two-part Sinfonia, Pierlot and the artists' fresh, inspired reading of the work brought out the text's natural images, rendering them analogous to its religious meaning. In "Why so full of grief", a duet remarkable both for its beautiful characterization of sorrow and disquietude, and for the way in which the two voice parts weave through each other, alto (Nitzan Alon) and young tenor (Daniel Portnoy) were deftly juxtaposed with the dueting violin and oboe - Noam Schuss and Aviad Gershoni. Another Chandos anthem "I will magnify thee, O God", HWV 250a, emerged bright and celebratory, abundant in layering yet transparent to the listener. The performance gave prominence to promising young bass Roi Witz' resonant singing and fine English pronunciation and to the lustrous colours of Alon's upper alto range, with duets presenting independence of agenda and much interest. Again, there was much beautiful, expressive playing on the part of Gershoni.

 

On October 11th 1727, George II was crowned at Westminster Abbey. Handel was commissioned to compose four anthems for the ceremony. The composer had long served the monarch's family since his time in Hanover, his music much loved by George II and Queen Caroline. Despite Handel receiving the title of Composer of Music for His Majesty’s Chapel Royal in 1723, as a foreign composer he would not have been eligible to write music for such an occasion. However, one of George I's final gestures was to grant Handel British citizenship. "Let thy hand be strengthened" HWV 259 was the first anthem to be performed at the coronation ceremony and the only one to have no vocal soloists, trumpets or drums. Based on Psalm 89, its initial message endorses recognition of the king as the rightful ruler. Throughout the piece's three movements, the Israeli Vocal Ensemble's singing was informed, precise and forthright, the singers underscoring the contrasts between movements, preserving the anthem's tension, its introspective moments and subtlety, highlighting such key words as "justice" and engaging in some sparing ornamentation. Not frequently heard on these shores, here was a fine opportunity to hear and appreciate these splendid Handel anthems.

 

Introducing the two instrumental works of Georg Philipp Telemann on the program, JBO founder/music director Prof. David Shemer spoke of the connection between Telemann and Handel. They were German teenagers when they first met, but life separated them thereafter, Handel becoming the legend of London’s concert scene while Telemann was Hamburg’s all-round musical luminary. But they retained a robust correspondence, discussing and exchanging works, each influencing the other. (It is known that they both shared a liking for exotic plants!) In 1718, Telemann wrote that the concerto genre did not appeal to him, a statement that might be interpreted as a distaste for the ostentatious display of virtuosity typical of some Italian concertos. Indeed, Telemann's interest lay in innovation of scoring, style and structure. The oboe occupies an important place in his oeuvre, which numbers ten concertos for the oboe and three for the oboe d'amore.  Aviad Gershoni was soloist in Telemann's Oboe Concerto in E minor, TWV 51:e1, a work in the composer's preferred (pre-Vivaldian) four-movement, sonata da chiesa form. Remembered as a virtuoso recorder player, we are reminded here that Telemann was also a skilled oboist. Placing its cantabile, poignant movements alongside the two more dazzling, zesty movements, Gershoni's playing was subtly shaped and personal, his performance offering the audience another opportunity to enjoy his signature agility and expressiveness on the Baroque oboe. 

 

Remaining in the same key, we heard Telemann's Concerto in E minor for flute and violin in E minor, TWV 250b, with two prominent JBO players as soloists - Idit Shemer (flute) and concertmaster Noam Schuss. One of the concertos featuring unconventional combinations of solo instruments (one of the less extreme cases) transverse flute and Baroque violin present different sound worlds and different personalities. The work is in five movements. In the second movement, a lyrical Adagio, there was much refined melodic interplay between Shemer and Schuss, as each soloist added her own ornamentation, here and there to meet on a meticulously synchronized embellishment. The most unusual movement is the third, which is entirely for violin, with Schuss engaging in some virtuosic playing (not typical of Telemann's writing or conviction!)

 

In this concert, supported by the fine-spun  playing of the JBO instrumentalists and featuring much home-grown talent, Maestro Pierlot brought together singers and instrumentalists in a sparkling evening of excellent performance and uplifting music.

At the Brigham Young University Center for Near Eastern Studies, baritone Oded Reich performs Schubert's "Winterreise" to Andrew Middleton's setting for wind quintet

Oded Reich (Courtesy Israeli Opera)

 

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was a prolific composer. He worked fast whenever and wherever inspiration struck. Sadly, he died young. During the first months of 1827, Schubert was 30 years old, with less than two years remaining of his life. It was then that he began to compose "Winterreise" (A Winter's Journey) for male voice and piano, 24 songs to poems of Wilhelm Müller, an equally short-lived contemporary. It seems the two never met. In fact, Müller died just as Schubert was beginning work on "Winterreise". The first 12 songs were published early in 1828. In November of the same year, Schubert, on his deathbed, corrected proofs of the second part. The song cycle sets to music a collection of 24 poems which, on the surface, create a narrative common to German literary Romanticism: a jilted lover undertakes a literal and/or psychological journey, which usually ends in madness or death. Composing "Winterreise" was possibly Schubert's reckoning with his own death.

 

The piano part, in collaboration with the vocal line, is integral to the work, adding depth to the sombre narrative. Singer and pianist collaborate closely and heedfully, creating the musical and emotional canvas. Indeed, there are times when the piano assumes the upper hand, becoming the protagonist (with the voice accompanying, so to speak), commenting and even answering questions asked or adding information unbeknown to the wanderer.  Additionally, the piano adds an impressive richness to the poems' depictions related to nature. For whoever probes this song cycle's depths, it is a life-changing work. There is no room here to mention all the outstanding singers and pianists who have taken upon themselves to perform Schubert's "Winter's Journey". In their profound reading into the work, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore were an unforgettable duo, but there have been many more.  There have, however, been several new arrangements made of the work; to mention just a few - moving the piano part to string quartet, one arrangement using the trombone as a vocal replacement, a setting for piano trio with oboe and bassoon (in which the oboe takes the melodic line), a setting for two guitars, arranger Andreas Höricht's selection of 12 of the songs with intermezzo pieces interspersed between them and an arrangement for soloist and choir, with a minimal instrumental accompaniment on two accordions. Then there is the imaginative performance of German tenor Julian Prégardien (and his father Christoph) setting Hans Zender’s controversial arrangement of Schubert’s piano part for a small orchestra of classical instruments, with the addition of accordion, saxophone, xylophone and wind machine!! In 2019, I attended a performance of "Winterreise" arranged for three female singers and piano at the Tel Aviv Opera. 

 

Enter Andrew Middleton - flautist, composer, arranger/orchestrator and educator based in the North East of England. Middleton is an artist with a passion for composing and arranging for wind ensembles. The Israeli premiere of his version of "Winterreise" for baritone and winds, took place in the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies' Sunday evening concert series on January 5th, 2025. It was performed by baritone Oded Reich and a chamber quintet consisting of Adi Menczel (flute), Hila Zabari Peleg (oboe), Keren Dvir-Steckler (clarinet), Ido Diga (bassoon) and Sharon Polyak (horn). All fine instrumentalists, their playing was dedicated - competent, tasteful, well integrated and timbrally very pleasing. The full, reedy ensemble sound right for the more intense songs, creating the winter squalls in several of them, for example, and the unsettling moments in "Frühlingstraum" (Dream of Spring), these nicely contrasted with the springtime freshness evoked by the flute. We certainly experienced the bold galloping of horses in "Die Post" (The Post) and the protagonist's cheerless realization of "Der greise Kopf" (The Grey Head), in which, seeing his head looking grey with its covering of snow, briefly imagines he may have rapidly aged and rejoices in the prospect of imminent death. I enjoyed Middleton's dainty solo instrumental comments and exchanges scattered throughout. The Crow in "Die Krähe", was wonderfully airborne, then, following the word "Grabe" (grave) sung (enigmatically) on the highest note of the piece, descending down grave-wards, to the singer's request. But I was missing the textures of the hammered instrument in certain of the songs, as in "Rückblick" (On Looking Back), evoking the protagonist's frantic steps as he runs in one direction and then another, stopping short each time.

 

Oded Reich, today one of Israel's foremost baritones, sings opera, oratorio and art song repertoire. This was his first venture into singing the whole of "Winterreise" in German. Meeting its mammoth challenges, his stable, substantial voice gave compelling expression to the work's emotional course, its smatterings of optimism and its heavy dose of despair. His personal connection to- and deep enquiry into it served to draw the listener into its content. Reich's German is articulate and well enunciated and his powerful voice stood up well to the sturdy wind quintet sound. I felt this instrumentation, however, deprived him of the opportunity to create the pared-down, gossamer sounds of the more intimate songs, indeed, of the song cycle's unique, disquieting, cheerless (sometimes naive) and otherworldly moments. And I missed hearing the piano accompaniment in "Der Lindenbaum" (The Linden Tree). The epitome of Romantic salon music, the piano role in this Lied would seem indispensable to its style, to its charmingly sentimental Austrian songfulness and to the rendition of its storm scene. The performance concluded with the artists' aptly spine-chilling enactment of "Der Leiermann" (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man), with horn and bassoon bearing the drone, a song whose bleak message defies words.

 

I look forward to hearing Oded Reich performing Schubert's "Winterreise" with piano or, even better, with an early 19th-century fortepiano.

"All-Night Vigil" - the Israeli Vocal Ensemble (music director: Yuval Benozer) performs works of Samuel Barber, John Tavener, Hugo Wolf and Sergei Rachmaninov at St. Andrew's Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem

Maestro Yuval Benozer (ivocal.co.il)

 

The all-night vigil is a service of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches, consisting of the combination of Vespers and Matins within one service, the combination of these two services bringing those attending the vigil from night into the day. In ancient times, “vigil” referred to time spent on guard duty, or ‘keeping watch’. In the Church, it means time spent in attentive preparation and "waiting on God". Because of its great length, the all-night vigil is commonly celebrated in monasteries. “All-Night Vigil" was the title of an a-cappella concert of sacred music performed by the Israeli Vocal Ensemble, conducted by its founder/music director Yuval Benozer. This writer attended the event at St Andrew's Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem, on December 30th, 2024.

 

The program opened with Samuel Barber's "Agnus Dei", the composer's 1967 transcription for 8-part choir of his own "Adagio for Strings". Barber's "Adagio" has been associated in the public imagination with elegiac mourning, nostalgia, love and passion. In transcribing it for voices, using the “Lamb of God” text from the Mass, Barber adds to the piece a dimension of spirituality, the Latin text of the "Agnus Dei" splendidly meeting the melodic contours of the Adagio. In their flowing, dignified reading of the work, the IVE singers propel the rhapsodic section to a climax of scintillating choral timbres, this intensity then falling away, creating an arch form, with the work concluding on a hushed dominant chord.

 

English composer John Tavener's short carol "The Lamb" (1982), a setting of the first section of William Blake’s "Songs of Innocence and Experience" (1789), presents its own unique challenges to conductor, performer and listener. Homophonic and homorhythmic, it bears no time signature, adding extra bar lines at the end of stanzas to create poignant endings. The music is built of a simple melodic idea, however, using real inversion to create sharp dissonances between vocal parts, explaining why the motet shifts between dissonant sections (as in the opening duet of two sopranos) and those of lush, tender harmonies, then to add some unison singing towards the end. Benozer and the 17 singers engaged in precision, control and the subtle use of dynamics to create the piece's sense of mystery and wonder, capturing the Christian notion of a small child ruling the universe through love. 

 

In 1881, Hugo Wolf composed the "Sechs geistliche Lieder" (Sacred Songs) to texts of Joseph von Eichendorff, the poems dealing with death, farewell and resignation to God’s will. At about the time Wolf was composing the work, his fiancée expressed her wish to break off their engagement. Song No.2 "Einklang" (Agreement) may have been a reference to his resulting heartbreak. Indeed, Wolf’s attitude towards religion was ambiguous, leading one to surmise that the longing and loss present in Wolf’s settings of these texts may have been of a nature more personal than spiritual. Displaying fine German enunciation and well-shaped, sensitive performance, and drawing on their rich palette of dynamics, the IVE singers conveyed Wolf's luxuriant Romantic harmonic language, his originality and personal style of expression. One highlight was the ensemble's eloquent rendition of "Ergebung" (Resignation), performed at Wolf’s own funeral in 1903.

 

The program concluded with several movements from Sergei Rachmaninov's "Vespers" (All-Night Vigil), Op.37 (1915), (from which the concert takes its title). Rachmaninov dedicated the work to the memory of Stepan Vasilevich Smolensky, who had introduced him to sacred repertoire at the Moscow Conservatory. The “Vespers” are based on traditional Orthodox chants, including some of the ancient Znamenny chants as well as more recent Greek and Kievian chants. Indeed, Rachmaninov keeps to the strict demands of the liturgical tradition, those including a ban on musical instruments and the rhythmic supremacy of the text. A masterpiece from a composer at the peak of his creative powers, Rachmaninov's Op.37 is considered one of the most challenging pieces of the a-cappella repertoire. It makes huge demands on singers’ intonation and breath control, dictating a vivid spectrum of dynamic gradations and requiring wholehearted engagement with the texts. The score only offers sparse tempo directions, Rachmaninov having assumed that his performers would be familiar with the manner in which its various liturgical hymns were traditionally sung. To complicate matters more, the language sung is not conversational Russian but Church Slavonic, the liturgical language for all non-Greek churches in the Orthodox tradition. From the ardent, festive utterance of the opening chorus, Benozer and his singers give fine expression to the work's content - its praise, meditation, penitence and its final proclamation - the choir sounding warm and richly-toned in the (sometimes overly) generous resonance of the Scottish Church. Throughout, via Rachmaninov's wonderfully strange blending of melodic- and harmonic elements, the IVE's singing glows with a strong sense of cumulative drama and with an awestruck quality, as, for example, in the lush dynamic blooming and the exultant "Alleluias" of "Blessed is the Man" (No.3). The ensemble, relatively small but well balanced, has an excellent complement of low basses. Few as they are, the basses meet the requirement of singing at "subterranean" depths, so natural to their Russian counterparts, infusing the choral sound with the mellow, dark, well-grounded richness, an integral element of an Orthodox choir. In the palpable joy of "Blessed Art Thou, O Lord" (Nr. 8), a Znamenny chant carrying a number of drones, Daniel Portnoy gave an impressive performance of the tenor solo.

 

  

 

"On Wings of Song" - the Israel Camerata Jerusalem hosts soprano Daniela Skorka and Maestro Alexandre Bloch (France). Works by Thierry Escaich, Luciano Berio, Joseph Canteloube and Beethoven

Daniela Skorka (Michael Pavia)

 

Maestro Alexandre Bloch (alexandrebloch.com)

When it comes to interesting programming, the Israel Camerata Jerusalem (music director: Avner Biron) is always at the forefront. "On Wings of Song", Concert No.3 of the Camerata's 41st season, was no exception. This writer attended the concert in the Henry Crown Auditorium of the Jerusalem Theatre on December 24th, 2024. Conducting the concert was Alexandre Bloch (France). Soprano Daniela Skorka (Israel) was soloist.

 

Composer/organist/improvisor Thierry Escaich (b.1965) is a distinctive figure on the contemporary music scene and one of the most important French composers of his generation. A virtuosic performer, he is known to combine works from musical repertoire with his own pieces and improvisations in the same recital. In 2024, he was appointed titular organist of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. The Jerusalem concert opened with "Baroque Song" (2007), an instrumental work of three movements, with Bloch wasting no time in summoning the audience to join him and the orchestra for a high-energy, unpredictable musical journey, the work's Bach quotations always ending up derailed and engulfed by massive dissonant brass- or string utterances. Escaich's orchestration is thrilling and imaginative as he evokes moods from the bombastic to the otherworldly. Solo melodies are interlaced throughout - flute, cor anglais, etc. - the central 'cello solo, contemplative, insistent and brooding, handled splendidly by Zvi Orliansky. Maestro Bloch and the Camerata players gave it their all!

 

Luciano Berio's "Folk Songs", appearing in 1964 for female voice and small ensemble (in 1973 for voice and symphony orchestra), were created specifically for the composer's then-wife, mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian (1928-1983), a pioneer in the devising and employment of extended vocal techniques. The title of the collection is somewhat misleading: the first two songs, “Black Is the color” and “I wonder as I wander” were, in fact, written by singer/ folklorist John Jacob Niles (1892-1980), while songs Nos. 6 and 7 are settings by Berio himself of traditional Italian lyrics. Taking her cue from the melancholy motif played on viola (Netanel Lavsky) issuing in the work, Daniela Skorka launches into the songs, presenting the content and character of each - no small feat, with texts sung in English, Armenian, various French- and Italian dialects and in Azerbaijani. Following her articulate, pure rendition of the two American songs, we hear Skorka's tender, gently rubato singing of “Loosin yelav” (composed in honour of Berberian’s Armenian heritage), the words describing the rising of the moon over the top of a hill. Songs from France - the appealing, modal "Rossignol du bois" (Nightingale of the Woods), rendered in fine French enunciation, and two songs from Auvergne (taken by Berio from Joseph Canteloube’s collection "Songs of the Auvergne") - “Malurous qu’o uno fenno” -“Wretched is he who has a wife, wretched is he who has not" -  graced with  beautiful flute playing (Esti  Rofé) and Skorka's coquettish presentation of “La fiolaire,” now with the original viola motif sounding on the 'cello (Zvi Orliansky), the song telling of the girl at her spinning wheel who gives two kisses to the shepherd who has asked for only one. From Italy, “A la femminisca” (Sicily), sung in an earthy, folksy manner, is followed by Skorka's return to the operatic style of singing in “La donna ideale,” the text listing what a man should seek in a wife — a good family, good manners, good figure, good dowry.  “Ballo” (Sicily), unrestrained and vehement, portrays the lover as a fool, then “Motettu de tristura” (Sardinia), another nightingale song but, this time, with a sorrowing theme — “Sing this song when I am buried.” Vivacious and communicative, Skorka shifts from the wistful to the exuberant, from cantabile singing to rapid-fire patter, concluding with the dancelike Azerbaijan love song, which she performs with relish, her small, suspenseful pauses adding a playful touch. Performing hand in glove, Bloch and Skorka produce exciting music. The ensemble's attentive and committed playing highlighted Berio's scintillating instrumental writing.

 

Auvergne is France’s most rural and least populated region. Composer Marie-Joseph Cantaloube de Malaret was born there in 1879. From his childhood, he was familiar with the dance couplets in the villages, the songs and pastoral melodies of the region. Canteloube took more than thirty years (1924-1955) to complete the compilation of "Chants d'Auvergne", his most famous work, its texts in Occitan, the local language and one of the Latin-based dialects spoken in medieval France. To Canteloube's lush, richly-varied orchestration, Daniela Skorka performed three of the songs, all flirty, teasing dialogues between rustic characters. In the third, "Lou Boussu", the instrumental score's humour underscores Skorka's performance of the cheeky Janette! For her encore, Daniela Skorka performed “Tonada de luna llena” (Full Moon Tune), bold and unaccompanied, by Venezuelan singer/actor/composer Simón Díaz.

 

The concert concluded with Ludwig Van Beethoven's Symphony No.1 in C major, Op.21. Maestro Bloch's fresh approach and attention to the smallest of details, all expressed in his intuitive, pizzazzy conducting language, invited the audience to revisit the symphony, to appreciate its forthright moments, its surprises, its suspense, its charm, Beethoven's idiosyncrasies and his good humour. Following the symphony's premiere on April 2, 1800 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, the critic of the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung wrote that "the winds were overused, so that it was music for band rather than for the orchestra."  Indeed, Beethoven here creates a different orchestral balance from that of his predecessors, giving the wind instruments far greater parity with the strings. Here was an opportunity to enjoy the crisp, high-quality playing of the Camerata's wind sections.

 

 

 

 

 

"Out of the Depths" - a concert of Baroque music of the Nazareth Liturgical Festival at the Jerusalem International YMCA. Conductor: Saleem Aboud Ashkar, the Israel Vocal Ensemble, vocal and instrumental soloists

Yuval Nuri Shem-Tov, Maestro Saleem Aboud Ashkar,Nassif Francis,Michal Beck (Yoel Levy)

 

Nour Darwish,Doreen Sassine,Saleem Aboud Ashkar,Eitan Drori,Oded Reich (Yoel Levy)

Taking place on December 20th 2024, "Out of the Depths" was one of the events of the Nazareth Liturgical Festival. Due to security concerns, the sixth annual Nazareth Liturgical Festival (musical director/founder Nabeel Aboud Ashkar), was held December 20th-24th at the historic YMCA compound in Jerusalem, offering concerts of chamber- and liturgical music, art, and a Christmas market. The Galilee Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Vocal Ensemble and vocal- and instrumental soloists were conducted by Saleem Aboud Ashkar. They were joined by Aviad Stier (harpsichord/organ.) Opening the evening's event, Prof. Bassila Bawardi, a member of the board of directors of Polyphony Education, spoke of performing music together as a common language between Jews and Arabs. Nabeel Aboud Ashkar, the executive director of Polyphony Education, refers to the organization’s mission as bridging the divide between Arab and Jewish communities in Israel through music, serving as a worldwide model for cooperation based on cultural exchange, dialogue and partnership.

 

 

"Out of the Depths" opened with Concerto Grosso No.11, Op.3 of Antonio Vivaldi. Joining the small string ensemble with continuo (Stier on harpsichord), the concertino consisted of violinists Yuval Nuri Shem-Tov and Nassif Francis and 'cellist Michal Beck. Energy, boldness and attention to fine detail characterised the performance, as, following the introduction of short segments, the opening Allegro presented a canonic dialogue between the two solo violins, a vivacious episode for solo 'cello and continuo, a brief recitative and a fiery fugue. Following the gently lilting and subtly ornamented playing of the siciliano-styled Adagio e spiccato ("spiccato" here suggesting a manner of separated playing rather than the bouncing of the bow), the combative mood of the last movement, much like that of the first, was sustained with intensity. Indeed, the twelve concertos of Vivaldi's L'Estro Armonico, Op. 3, created a huge sensation when they were published in Amsterdam in 1711, the 11th of the set causing the biggest stir of all! The Galilee Orchestra and the young soloists' exhilarating, involved performance reflected the vitality and freshness of Vivaldi’s invention, the young members of the concertino’s playing brimming with brilliance and dramatic flair.

 

 

A few more players then filled out the ensemble on stage. They were joined by the Israeli Vocal Ensemble (music director Yuval Ben Ozer) and vocal soloists  Nour Darwish (soprano), Doreen Sassine (alto), Eitan Drori (tenor) and Oded Reich (baritone) for the performance of J.S.Bach's Cantata BWV 131 "Aus der Tiefen" (Out of the Depths). The earliest major work by Bach to survive in manuscript, a work from the very beginning of Bach’s career as organist in Mühlhausen (1707-8), this cantata draws its text from two different sources - Psalm 130 and the chorale “Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut” (Lord Jesus Christ, you highest good) by Bartholomäus Ringwaldt.  It has been assumed that Bach wrote the cantata as part of a penitential memorial for the 1707 fire that devastated Mühlhausen. Via the rich imagery of the music, the text's deep despair emerged with a sense of urgency, the interweaving of different texts beautifully implemented by young, richly timbred voices of Oded Reich and Nour Darwish in Movement 2. Following the IVE's finely delineated and well-shaped singing of "Ich harre des Herrn" (I await the Lord), the mood begins to change. In a shift to a more hopeful spirit, Eitan Drori gave meaning to the longing expressed in the tenor aria. In the duet of Movement 4, Drori's bright tenor voice and Doreen Sassine's true alto timbre created an interesting (somewhat acute) contrast. With elegance and subtle balance, Maestro Aboud Ashkar gave expression to the 22-year-old Bach's skilful use of text, the composer’s multi-faceted canvas and its contrasts, all endorsed by fine, tasteful instrumental performance, with some splendid oboe playing.

 

 

The concert concluded with J.S.Bach's Cantata BWV 140 "Wachet auf! ruft uns die Stimme (Awake! the voice calls to us), deservedly recognised as one of Bach's best-known and loved pieces. The opening chorus, a stately chorale fantasia of imposing writing, provided another opportunity to appreciate the Israel Vocal Ensemble's artistry, the sopranos' smooth, floating singing of the chorale melody uncluttered by vibrato. In the famous middle movement, setting the second verse of the chorale, with unison violins and viola playing an independent melodic line, three IVE tenors presenting the chorale melody might have benefitted from a fourth voice. Following Drori's articulate story-telling in the tenor recitative, "Er kommt" (He comes), the Movement 3 duet, with violin obbligato (concert master), displayed Darwish's fine vocal and emotional presence and Reich's marvellous vocal colours and the convincing way in which he shapes words into musical sounds and meaning. In Movement 6, their splendid dueting was joined by expressive oboe playing. The work concluded with the third and last verse of the chorale text, a majestic Gloria in a simple four-voice harmonization.

 

 

An evening of enjoyment and excellent performance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benjamin Britten's War Requiem staged at the Tel Aviv Opera. The Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, the Israeli Opera Chorus, the Moran Children's Choir, vocal soloists. Conductor: Alexander Joel. Director: Ido Ricklin.

 

Photo: Yossi Zwecker

The first performance of the War Requiem by Benjamin Britten took place at the dedication of the new St. Michael’s Cathedral, Coventry (UK) on May 30, 1962, the edifice built to replace the basilica destroyed in an air raid on the night of November 14-15, 1940. At the premiere, Britten himself conducted the chamber orchestra. The Israeli premiere of Britten’s War Requiem took place at the Tel Aviv Opera on December 6th 2024. Conducting the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion was British-born Alexander Joel. Directing the production was Ido Ricklin, Ula Shevtsov was stage/costume designer, lighting design was by Nadav Barnea, movement design - Nophar Levinger. Vocal soloists were sopranos Shaked Strul and Alla Vasilevitsky, tenors Aaron Blake (UK), Anthony Webb (USA) and Peter Wedd (UK) and baritones Eric Greene (USA), Yair Polishook and Oded Reich, as well as soloists from the Israel Opera Chorus (chorus master: Etay Berkovitch). The Moran Children's Choir was conducted by Carmel Antopolsky Amit. The English- and Hebrew surtitles were translated by Ido Ricklin and edited by Israel Ouval.

 

Marking the composer’s readiness to treat the topic of war explicitly, rather than as a parable or in symbolic form, Britten interspersed the traditional Latin Missa pro Defunctis with settings of the chillingly evocative and pessimistic anti-war poetry “from the trenches” of the British soldier-poet Wilfred Owen (a compositional strategy distressful to the strongholds of tradition of the time.) Owen's poetry is remarkable not only for its content, but also for its use of half rhyme and assonance instead of full rhyme, a style that he is credited with popularizing. His rejection of traditional poetic form and reaction to the horrors of World War I are textbook examples of modernism in poetry. Owen, regarded by many as the greatest poet of the First World War, died in battle in France at age 25 just one week before the end of World War I. Britten produced a powerful, uncompromising coupling of the two texts, their contrasts and ironies, the result being a score of striking originality, one combining the apocalyptic visions of destruction, suffering, and, ultimately, of the eternal (but, from Britten’s pen, unquiet) peace of the Mass for the Dead. Indeed, Britten renders the music of the two texts subtly and disquietingly interrelated through his use of the tritone (known from the late Middle Ages as "diabolus in musica") an element pervading almost every page of the work. He divides the musical forces into three groups - the soprano soloist (here two) and choir accompanied by the full orchestra, the baritone and tenor soloists accompanied by the chamber orchestra and the boys' choir (here, the Moran Children's Choir) accompanied on a small portative organ. (Following one appearance on stage in the opening scene, the children's choir then performed from one of the balconies.) If the War Requiem expresses Britten's passionate statement on the futility of war, Ido Ricklin's production takes it a step further, reinforcing this message through the power of the visual and the theatrical, the production's intensity clearly fueled by the current events of warfare. With the opera choir placed behind them, the soloists performed on the front of the stage. Ricklin also added a (non-singing) child actor (Daniel Cohen). Present on the stage throughout, the boy symbolizes the children who have perished in war. 

 

Ricklin divides the parts of the two male singers among six men. Taking on the roles of both soldiers and civilians, they add a broader dramatic sweep to the concert version. (Eric Greene, for example, takes on the role of a grave digger.) The male singers portrayed Owen's dark texts with involvement and articulate diction; to mention some items sung by them: "Be slowly lifted up" (Yair Polishook), "Bugles sang" (Eric Greene), "Move him" (Peter Wedd), "What passing bells" (Anthony Webb) and "After the blast" (Oded Reich). One of the work's most unheralded and moving moments occurs in the setting of a poem Owen titled "Strange Meeting", in which, in a dark, irreverent afterlife, a puzzled young soldier, either dying or dead, meets a soldier from the enemy “side”, to bring about a poignant, understated reconciliation: “I am the enemy you killed, my friend." (Aaron Blake, Oded Reich). As to Britten's single soprano role, Ricklin engages two singers, creating two very different roles: clad in white, the angel, representing compassion, was performed superbly by Alla Vasilevtsky, a singer of strong stage presence. Her singing of the Lacrimosa was as fragile as it was heart-rending. No less impressive, Shaked Strul, portraying the wretched status of the female war victim, gave an impassioned performance, spending much of the time grovelling on the floor before finally dying. Her treatment of the ominous Libera me solo was gripping and disturbing. 

 

The Tel Aviv Opera Hall was plunged into darkness. Lighting effects were apt, never excessive. As the performance proceeded, six graves opened up on stage - a chilling sight - as each, in turn, claimed its victim. At one point, via the aisle in the choir area, a corpse, covered with a white sheet, was wheeled through to the front of the stage. Was this shocking sight one gesture too many? Taking on the merging of the great liturgy and the personal anguish of one poet-soldier, Maestro Alexander Joel, in his Israeli Opera debut, brought all the forces together with conviction and impressive articulacy. Britten's marvellous orchestration resounded in all its timbral interest, symbolism, fantasy and impact. The Israeli Opera chorus gave precise and powerful expression to the work's stark soundscape. As to the young members of the Moran Children's Choir, they met the score's challenges admirably, singing with clarity and competence. Spatially and emotionally removed from the intensity of the work's other agendas, producing a very strange, distant sound, they presented their texts with the naivete of children untouched by earthly grief, guilt or fear. Yet, at its conclusion, we are left with the discomfort of the War Requiem's dual ending, as the children sing the tritone and the choir resolves it with an F- major chord.

 

At the head of his score Britten quotes the words with which Owen prefaced his poems:

"My subject is War, and the pity of War.
       The poetry is in the pity.
       All a poet can do is warn."

 

 

Ido Ricklin (israeli-opera.co.il)