The Gloriana Ensemble performs "Though Amaryllis Dance in Green" at St. Andrew's Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem

“Though Amaryllis Dance in Green”, the Gloriana Ensemble’s recent concert, took place on December 20th 2014 at St. Andrews Scots Memorial Church, Jerusalem. Established in 2010, the group today, consisting of five singers – Lucie Bloch-soprano, Noar Lee Naggan-countertenor, Hillel Sherman-tenor, Yoram Bar Akiva-baritone and Joel Sivan-bass - specializes in performing sacred and secular polyphonic music from the Renaissance and Baroque.

Apart from one Spanish- and two French pieces, the ensemble’s new program is made up of a-cappella works from England and Italy, the connection between the two briefly outlined by Hillel Sherman, who introduced works on the program, providing some background about each. When King Henry VIII sent his agents to Venice to engage for his court the best wind and viol players Europe had to offer, the stage was set for English music to be transformed. The music at Queen Elizabeth I’s court took Italian music to its heart, blending it with the inherited glories of earlier English music to produce one of the richest and most evocative repertoires in musical history.

Showing the genre’s sometime connection with Italy, the concert opened with the paradigm of the Renaissance English madrigal, Thomas Morley’s ebullient and effervescent ballett of 1596 “Now Is the Month of Maying” (based on a canzonet of Orazio Vecchi), the English spring freshness and humor of its words only marginally masking its risqué text. The Gloriana Ensemble’s flexible, bright and engaging singing of it promised an evening of pleasurable listening. In William Byrd’s “Is Love a Boy?” (1589), the text’s enigmatic and troubling questions came thick and fast from each voice, emerging with individuality and a sense of urgency, highlighted by Byrd’s sophisticated writing and a play of dynamics. The singers presented the dense contrapuntal texture of Byrd’s “Though Amaryllis Dance in Green”, from which the Gloriana Ensemble’s program takes its name, making incisive use of consonants Then, to one of the many vivid early English market-place street-sellers’ songs: to play out all the levels of meaning in John Dowland’s “Fine Knacks for Ladies” (1600), with its descriptive detail, its teasing syncopations and courtly puns, the singers gave much attention to each word, to timbral colors, to detached phrases as against more legato moments, finally leading to the song’s message – that love remains true in the heart more so than any pretty trinkets for sale. Performing these pieces depends greatly on fine diction and the flavor of British English; the Gloriana singers did not disappoint.

Still in the realm of secular music, but leaving England, we heard three light-hearted songs. In “Le Chant des Oiseaux” by Clement Janequin (c.1485-1568), one of Paris’s foremost chanson composers, the four men dealt admirably with the song’s tricky, onomatopoeic text, its comical patter and descriptive calls of thrushes, robins, nightingales and cuckoos. The singers then delivered an upbeat, witty reading of 16th century Spanish composer Juan del Encina’s “Cucu,cucu”, a song more about adultery than ornithology. In Pierre Passereau’s “Il est bel et bon”, in which two country women brag about their husbands, the singers combined the chanson’s grace and lightness with its hints of rustic directness and double entendres.


The young man singing to his lady-love in Orlando di Lasso’s “Matona mia cara” is a German, probably a soldier; the song, a parody of how Germans spoke in broken Italian, With much animation, the singers conveyed the young man’s infatuation and the lack of subtlety of his intentions! Even more curious is “Allala pia calia”, one of six “moresches” composed by Lasso in a dialect influenced by Moors living in Renaissance Italy. Enjoying the theatrical antics of this flamboyant, unabashedly bawdy villanella, the Gloriana singers took on board its rhythmic and syllabic effects, allowing for an imaginative and richly dynamic performance.
The program presented a number of sacred works. In Orlando di Lasso’s luminous motet “Justorum Animae”, the singers presented the piece’s rich texture, its unique tenderness and hope. Lasso’s curious motet “Super Flumina Babylonis” Psalm 136 (137), speaking of the Hebrews in captivity in Babylon, saw the singers lending whimsy to the game Lasso plays with syllables and the comical spelling out of letters and words in his strange form of humor. A pivotal work in sacred section of the program was (some of) Venetian composer Giovanni Croce’s “Nove Lamentatione”, a lofty, spiritual piece sung to texts from the Book of Lamentations. In the program notes, Dr. Alon Schab (Haifa University) wrote about this mysteriously unknown work, whose original parts are in the Münster Regional Ecumenical Library (Germany). With Hillel Sherman reading the text of each section, the male singers, conducted by Joel Sivan, took listeners into the pious and mournful mood of Lamentations, allowing time to place phrases strategically, these phrase endings carefully shaped. On a lighter note, the quintet performed Mantuan Jewish violinist and composer Salamone Rossi’s “Hallelujah” (Psalm 146) from the composer’s 1622 groundbreaking collection of Hebrew motets, always a crowd-pleaser and for good reasons!

William Byrd’s wonderfully contemplative and stately “Confirma Hoc Deus” boasts two superb soprano magical parts, here, not entirely matched in timbre by Noar Lee Naggan’s reedy countertenor sound and Lucie Bloch’s delicate, slimmer soprano voice. This was followed by Thomas Tallis’ small anthem “O Nata Lux”, suitably bathed in “light”, its homophonic texture colored with cross-rhythms harmonic dicords to evoke the suffering conveyed in its text.

With a new line-up of singers, Ensemble Gloriana has much to offer its audience in the way of polished, well-informed performance, fine intonation, excellent diction and interesting repertoire. Some singers are more communicative with the audience than others. Pieces conducted by Joel Sivan fared better than those not; his warm, blending voice provides the ideal bass line for Renaissance and Baroque music. Noar Lee Naggan's sturdy countertenor voice adds body to the general sound Lucie Bloch’s creamy, delicate voice and Noar Lee Naggan’s pithy vocal timbre do not always find a meeting point. But the group's performance is stylish, delving into the profound and spiritual mood of scacred music and reaching out generously to the insouciance inherent in secular vocal repertoire of the time.

In "Owlos on Strings", the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra is joined by the New Israeli Recorder Quartet

For “Owlos on Strings”, the second subscription concert of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra’s 2014-2015 season, on December 4th 2014 at the Jerusalem International YMCA, the JBO took its audience on a different musical journey –a Baroque musical journey, but one of a different kind. Directed by its founder and musical director David Shemer, the string section of the JBO was joined by the Owlos Recorder Quartet – Drora Bruck, Alon Schab, Idit Paz and Idit Shemer. Established in 2012, the New Israel Recorder Quartet performs in concerts and festivals; the ensemble is presently working on locating Israeli works rarely or not performed by professional musicians, and bringing them back to the public’s attention in the concert hall and on recordings.

Several of the works on the program were antiphonal, a style originating in Venice, in which separate choirs (vocal or instrumental) were placed in different parts of the Basilica of San Marco, Venice, for which composers wrote in a polychoral style evoking imitative and echoing effects. Such was Canzon XXXI à 8 of the (almost anonymous) early 17th century Italian composer Sabastiano Chilese, who flourished in Venice around 1608, with the two mixed instrumental “choirs” placed on either side of the stage. This was followed by two pieces by one of the greatest representatives of the Venetian School and principal organist of St. Mark’s Basilica, Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612). Both works come from a collection from 1608. Performed on strings and harpsichord, with violinist Noam Schuss’s ever secure and richly-fashioned leading, Canzon Prima “La Spiritata” à 4 was given a mellifluous and poetic reading, its fluid sections well contrasted in keeping with the composer’s interest in dynamics. With Canzon “Vigesimaottava” à 8, we were back to antiphonal music, this time with one choir of strings and the second of recorders, in playing that was fresh and indicative of G.Gabrieli’s rhythmically daring originality.

The works of Massimiliano Neri (c.1623-1673), an organist in Venetian churches, one of them being the Basilica of San Marco, represent an attempt to merge the Gabrieli tradition with the “stile moderno”. In the double-choir Sonata decima à 8, Neri’s scoring calls for a first choir of three violins and theorbo and a second choir of three recorders and theorbo. Apart from presenting different instrumental combinations, the first movement of the work boasted some highly attractive solos and duets, played without interruption –violin (Noam Schuss), harpsichord (David Shemer) together with theorbo (Eliav Lavi), ‘cello (Orit Messer-Jacobi) and more.

With the rich scoring of Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber’s (1644-1704) Sonata pro Tabula à 10, here was dinner music for a sumptuous feast in 17th century northern Europe, a work abounding in colorful folk music associations assimilated into a sonata with suite elements. Remaining in the same region, we heard Concerto in C major, one of German composer and theorist Johann David Heinichen’s (1683-1729) Dresden Concerti. From the vivacity and variety in this work of the “Gruppenkonzert” (group concerto) genre common to the region, the style employing a variety of solo instruments, much instrumental color and alternating “choirs”, one must suppose that the Dresden court orchestra was an excellent ensemble of players. The JBO string players and their Owlos guests entertained the audience well with this music, which is joyful and elaborate, also elegant, and light without being banal, the predilection for wind instruments at the Dresden court adding the sweetness and virtuosity of the flauto dolce to the orchestral timbre of a composer fairly obscure till recent times.

Continuing the series of Baroque oboist Bruce Haines’ New Brandenburg Concertos, six concertos made up mostly of movements from J.S.Bach cantatas, and numbered from seven to twelve, the JBO performed No. 10 in D minor. The idea for these works was based on the fact that Bach himself was a champion recycler and that the original Brandenburgs are, in fact, merely a part of the composer’s large corpus of instrumental music written for the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig, some of which is probably lost. Haynes’ works adhere to Bach’s variety of scoring: as are the original Brandenburg Concertos each colored with different instrumentations, so are those of Haynes. With Haynes’ Concerto no.10 in D minor calling for a number of wind instruments, the Owlos recorder players were in the right place at the right time. For this work we were presented with one choir of recorders and one of strings, with much civilized chamber-music-like conversation held between them and some superbly polished solo-playing on the part of ‘cellist Orit Messer-Jacobi. If Haynes’ arrangements were referred to by him as “speculative trials”, these appealing pieces have set JBO audiences thinking, disgussing and weighing up opinions…also ready in anticipation for the next.

With a change of atmosphere, we heard violinists Noam Schuss, Rephael Negri, Dafna Ravid and Nahara Carmel performing G.Ph.Telemann’s Concerto à 4 Violini in G major TWV 40:201, one of Telemann’s very many chamber works, 80 or so being composed without basso continuo, of which three were for four violins, written possibly to provide court-employed violinists with some challenging but enjoyable drill and in which the composer may very well have played. Concise and concentrated, the G major Concerto, offering moments to remind the listener that this was indeed a program built around antiphonal music, was a highlight of the evening. In playing that was subtle, personal and profound, the four players showed the listener through Telemann’s score of rich, moving harmonies, his daring use of dissonances, motifs of sharp profile, fugal ideas, folk idiom and humor, as they concluded it with a Vivace movement of jolly fanfares.

The evening’s program ended back in Italy, where it had begun, with Antonio Vivaldi’s (1678-1741) Concerto in due Cori con flauti obbligati, RV 585 (c.1708), a work for solo violin (Noam Schuss) and antiphonal orchestra, with each of the “due cori” consisting of two violins and two recorders, the second also including keyboard. This would probably have been performed by the orphaned girls of the Ospedale della Pieta, who, it should be known, played not only violin but recorders, and, in fact, a host of other instruments. Vivaldi’s employment there as music master inspired him to explore the many possibilities inherent in the concerto, heard here in imaginative textural combinations of instrumental sonorities, his writing for violas (Daniel Tanchelson, Tami Borenstein) forming a formidable textural and flexible element. In this concert, the recorders function as orchestral instruments. In the solo violin role, Noam Schuss gave an outstandingly gripping solo performance once again, the work also peppered with such treats as an intricate harpsichord solo (David Shemer) and a touching violin duet for violin and theorbo (Schuss, Lavi).

Audiences showed much interest in this unique concert, enjoying the high quality playing of four of Israel's finest recorder players with the JBO's suave string orchestra, stepping out of the realm of mainstream Baroque concert repertoire performed in this country to be rewarded with a fresh, new listening experience.

The Mendi Rodan Symphony Orchestra of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance opens the 2014-2015 season

The Mendi Rodan Symphony Orchestra of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, under the


baton of its musical director Professor Eitan Globerson, will open its 2014-2015 concert season in the Mary Nathaniel Golden Hall of Friendship of the Jerusalem International YMCA at 20:00, December 22nd 2014. In 2012, the orchestra was named in memory of Professor Mendi Rodan, the Israel Prize laureate for music in 2006, who taught conducting at the Academy from 1962 and was Head of the institution between 1965 and 1994. He conducted many important orchestras in Israel and overseas. Born in Romania in 1924, Mendi Rodan became the first violinist of the National Orchestra of Romania at age 16 and its conductor at age 24. The result of his applying for a permit to immigrate to Israel in 1954 resulted in the termination of his job with the orchestra. In 1960, he arrived in Israel with his family. He was principal conductor and music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra from 1963 to 1972. Maestro Rodan died in 2009. Maestro Zubin Mehta has referred to him as a “musician of giant stature…and a unique and talented conductor.”

Members of the Mendi Rodan Symphony Orchestra are students of the Academy’s Faculty of Performing Arts; they are required audition in order to join the orchestra. Participating in the Mendi Rodan Orchestra offers the students the chance to become familiar with orchestral repertoire, thus paving the way towards becoming professional orchestral players. The orchestra performs major works of orchestra repertoire, its rehearsal program beginning with intensive and detailed work with sectional instructors prior to rehearsals of the full orchestra.

Works to be performed at the concert on December 22nd are the Overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “La Traviata”, Johannes Brahms’ Symphony no.1 and Edward Elgar’s Concerto for ‘Cello in E minor opus 86, soloist: Michal Korman. Born in Jerusalem, Michal Korman studied at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (Tel Aviv) and at the Juilliard School (USA). An avid chamber musician, Ms. Korman is a founding member of the Israel Chamber Project. She performs widely as a soloist and ensemble musician.

Tickets: 054-9293405, tickets@JAMD.ac.il
Information: 052-7030504

The Jerusalem Theatre of Chamber Opera (Opera Aeterna) in two comic operas at the Jerusalem Khan

“Everlasting Love” was a tongue-in-cheek title for the Jerusalem Theatre of Chamber Opera’s latest

production at the Jerusalem Khan on December 8th, 2014, a production of “Art Rainbow”, a non-profit organization that receives support from the Center of Absorption of Immigrant Artists and Returning Residents and the Israeli Ministry for Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption. The concept of “Everlasting Love”, Opera Aeterna’s 12th annual production, was of Maestro Ilya Plotkin; Gera Sandler was stage director and narrator, with sets and costumes designed by Irina Tkachenko. All artists taking part were immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

The program consisted of two small operas performed back to back. The first of the double-bill was Gaetano Donizetti’s (1797-1848) one-act opéra-comique “Rita”, written in 1841 to a libretto of Gustave Vaëz, the original text being in French. The only opera of Donizetti’s not to be performed in his lifetime, it was finally premiered posthumously on the stage of the Paris Opéra-Comique in 1860, with “Le mari battu” (the Battered Husband) as its subtitle, probably not the original, but one that would be a fitting description for the evening’s entertainment at hand! With so much talk of battered wives in today’s media, the Aeterna artists were about to present an evening focusing on cunning, scheming women and the unfortunate men in their clutches. Believing her husband Gasparo to be drowned, Rita (Galina Ziferblat) marries the not-too-bright Beppe (Dmitry Semenov). Their life is thrown into turmoil when Gasparo (Andrey Trifonov) appears at Rita’s inn, in the Aeterna production, as a pirate accompanied by a harem of pregnant women! Believing that Rita has died in a fire, Gasparo has returned to obtain her death certificate in order to marry another woman. Beppe sees her rightful husband’s return as his opportunity for him to break free of her tyranny and abuse. The question now is who is to be Rita’s husband and partner for life. The two men agree to a game in which whoever wins will have to stay with Rita. Both try to lose. Gasparo, the winner, pretending he has lost his hand, insists Beppe declare his love for Rita and takes his leave from the reconciled couple. With the opera performed here in Italian (Donizetti himself had had it translated) Gera Sandler, playing (in speech) the drunk servant in Rita’s inn, kept the audience informed as to the course of the plot. Soprano Galina Ziferblat was very well cast as the tough, saucy and wily innkeeper, her large voice and energy used well to show her dominance over the men, her stage personality savoring every moment of the role. Tenor Dmitry Semenov, sporting a black eye, offered a fine portrayal of the henpecked, gullible Beppe, singing through the constant movement and hi-jinks on stage. (In her aria, Rita had addressed the ladies of the audience, explaining that marital happiness might be attained by having a husband who was not especially bright.) Baritone Andrey Trifonov made for an imposing, charismatic and macho-oriented Gasparo, his singing always warm and fetching. Whether one sees the libretto as nonsensical or simply as fine distraction from the real world in which we live, the music in this small piece offers plenty of good melodic material. To Natalie Rotenberg’s very competent and informed piano accompaniment, we were treated to three arias (one sung by each character), two duets and a trio, with the men singing in patter in the latter. This operatic farce, boasting an economical score, was a fine vehicle for these Aeterna artists who are familiar to the Jerusalem opera audience from former productions.

With G.P. Telemann’s (1681-1767) “Pimpinone” about to begin, and the small ensemble (musical director: Ilya Plotkin) was tuning up, Ziferblat, Semenov and Trifonov took seats at the side of the stage, now assuming the role of audience members. “Pimpinone”, a witty intermezzo performed for comic relief between acts of Telemann’s adaption of Händel’s opera seria “Tamerlano”, was first performed in 1725 and remains Telemann’s best-known stage work. To a libretto of Johann Philipp Praetorius, there are two characters – the elderly merchant Pimpinone and Vespetta, his pretty, scheming chamber maid, her name in Italian actually meaning “little wasp”. We were in for another battle of the sexes, 18th century style, or could it not have been a situation familiar to us today? Vespetta, played delightfully by the vivacious Irina Mindlin, out to improve her station in life, lures her employer into marrying her. Bass Dmitry Lovzov, as Pimpinone, positively preening himself in blushing response to Vespetta’s flattery, falls straight into her trap. In the first scene (or intermezzo) the two come closer vocally and physically, dancing together and singing a duet that is not true harmony but cleverly made up of intertwined vocal lines. In Intermezzo II, the chamber maid threatens to leave the wealthy old bachelor if he does not marry her; Vespetta’s plea gives way to the couple’s first real performance in (musical) harmony in the love duet. By Intermezzo III, things have soured between them, with Pimpinone’s mockery and threats expressed in his outstanding aria as he skillfully shifts registers. The increasing dissonance between them is brilliantly reflected in the music, giving way to chaos on stage, with both singers in full throat simultaneously. In addition to its originality and involvement, Telemann’s vocal and instrumental score is a real treat. The instrumental ensemble did justice to its elegance and opulence. And the Aeterna production pulled out all the plugs, with constant action on stage and a good dose of risqué hilarity (Pimpinone resorts to taking Viagra; he also mutters in Yiddish!) as Mindlin and Lovzov moved, flirted, danced, beat each other and played out all the small opera’s developments vocally and visually. They used body language and much facial expression to provide fine entertainment in presenting ”Pimpinone”, also known as “The Unequal Marriage” or “The Domineering Chamber Maid”.

Once again, the Jerusalem Theatre of Chamber Opera’s unwavering devotion to the genre, its stagecraft and its fine singing and instrumental musicianship was a reminder that there is opera in Jerusalem and that Opera Aeterna’s annual production is always a delight.

The Amaya Piano Trio at the Eden-Tamir Music Center (Jerusalem) in a concert of works of Sibelius, Schoenberg and Brahms

 The Amaya Piano Trio has recently performed a number of concerts in Israel. This writer attended their concert at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem on November 29th, 2014.  Established in 2011 by Israeli pianist Batia Murvitz and two Finnish musicians – violinist Lea Tuuri and ‘cellist Lauri Rantamoijanen – the Amaya Trio (taking its name for the Japanese word for “night Rain”) performs music from the Classical period to contemporary music. In February 2014, the three young artists premiered a work written for them by Finnish composer Jens Lindqvist. As well as appearing in Israel, the Amaya Trio has performed in prestigious venues in the UK, Finland, Cyprus, Austria and India.

The concert opened with Finnish composer Jan Sibelius’ (1865-1957) Piano Trio in C major “Lovisa”, this performance of it probably being the Israeli premiere of the work. Composed in 1888, this work, like most of the composer’s chamber music, receives too little attention in the concert hall. Sibelius was 23 when he composed the work for the family trio (the composer, his brother Christian and their sister Linda) in the summer at the family country home near the village of Lovisa, hence its title. It is the composer’s first foray into the fully Romantic style. The Amaya artists gave the opening Allegro a reading buoyant with energy and warmth, its flow of melodic ideas fresh. The Andante, more thoughtful and perhaps tinged with Nordic folk-like melody, was followed by the effervescent Allegro con brio, a movement daring in its tonalities and technical demands, proof of the young Sibelius’s fine sense of instrumentation. A work brimming with beauty and youthful optimism, it is relevant in both soundscape and landscape to the Amaya Trio.

Taking the audience into a very different mood, the Amaya Trio performed Arnold Schoenberg’s (1874-1951) “Verklärte Nacht” Opus 4. Originally written in a mere three weeks in 1899, and scored as a string sextet, it was arranged for piano trio by the Austrian-born pianist and composer Eduard Steuermann and only published as late as 1993! In 1898, Schoenberg had discovered modernist poet Richard Dehmel’s volume of poetry “Weib und Welt” (Woman and World). In “Verklärte Nacht” (Transfigured Night), a poem from this collection, and controversially sensual for its time, a man and woman meet at night in a chilled, moonlight grove; she confesses to her lover that she is carrying the child of another man. Following a long pause of brooding meditation, he resolves that their love will make the child their own. Referred to by the composer as the first programmatic chamber work, the single-movement piece was not merely inspired by the poem: its descriptive course remains exceedingly close to that of the poem in its late Romantic use of leitmotifs and transformations. Allowing time for each aspect of the text to form, the Amaya players paced the narrative strategically, creating a stark, otherworldly but active canvas, colored with heavy, foreboding tension, longing and Romantic sentiments, to end in idyllic tranquility. Harsh, intense utterances were tempered by plangent, languishing and tender moments, the players ever acutely aware of the textual thread at any given moment and of each other. Via a language at times tonal, at others, struggling to break free from tonality, they recreated Schoenberg’s agenda of “nature and human feelings”. Batia Murvitz brought out the unique timbre and emotion of the piano role (only present in the trio setting, not in the sextet) as the string players passed melodies back and forth in a performance that was evocative and intimate, richly expressive and dramatic, but never pushing the boundaries of good taste.

If this concert was to focus on works written by composers in their 20s, here was Johannes Brahms’ (1833-1897) first chamber composition – his Piano Trio in B major, opus 8. (Perhaps another important connection to the previous work performed is the fact that Schoenberg was deeply influenced by Brahms.) Published by the 21-year-old Brahms in 1854, he returned to revise it 35 years later and although he claimed not to have provided it “with a new wig, just combed and arranged its hair a little”, there were substantial changes in the revised version. One could therefore surmise that this work bears the stamp of both the young- and the mature composer, not to speak of reminders of the composer’s characteristically brooding spirit, despite the fact that the work is anchored in a major key. In 1890, Brahms, having played in the premiere of the revised trio, was satisfied with the result and the work was saved from the fate of other chamber works of his, which went into the fireplace! The Amaya Trio players gave a deeply involved reading of the work, from the lush and vigorous sweeping Allegro con brio movement, its smaller nuances addressed and shaped no less than its outbursts of passion, to the playful Scherzo, its poignant and dramatic moments played out with the surety of much eye contact. Then to the Adagio movement, its curious, frozen outer sections providing a hushed soundscape of choral-like piano timbres backing lengthy phrases in the strings, its reticent but emotional middle section warmer and earthier. For the Finale, the players took us back to the nervous Brahms-type of energy, drama and excitement, its tumultuous build-up ending with the message of a minor chord. The three artists explored the composer’s emotional palette, drawn by endless combinations of the three instruments, offering the audience at the Eden-Tamir Music Center a richly rewarding performance of one of the pillars of the piano trio repertoire.

The Amaya Piano Trio's choice of repertoire, consisting of works familiar to the listening public as well as those less familiar and new works, always makes for interesting listening. The players' individual gestures and nuances were picked up by the lively acoustic of the Eden-Tamir Music Center.

S.Ansky's "Dybbuk" as the inspiration for multimedia performances at the Hansen Hospital, Jerusalem

The 2014 Voice of the Word Festival, in memory of Mario Kotliar, a joint collaboration of Mamuta Art and HaZira – Performance Art Arena – presented “In His Voice: the Dybbuk”, three evenings (November 24th to 26th 2014) of multi-media performances at the Hansen Hospital, Jerusalem. The project curators were Guy Biran and the Sala-Manca Group. This writer attended the event of November 26th. The aim of the three events was to examine the relationship between word/text and performance art. Artworks on display at the Mamuta spaces of the Hansen House took their cue, directly or indirectly, from the Dybbuk phenomenon, as presented in Russian Jewish writer and ethnographer S.Ansky’s Yiddish play “The Dybbuk” or “Between Two Worlds” (1912-1919). S.Ansky’s play is the story of a young bride possessed by a dybbuk – a malicious intrusive spirit, believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person. The play is based on research Ansky carried out documenting folk beliefs and stories of Hassidic Jews in the small towns of the Ukraine and Russia.

The Hansen Hospital, established as the “Jesus Help Asylum” by the city’s Protestant community in 1887 in what is today Jerusalem’s affluent Talbiyeh neighborhood, nestled in a large walled compound, consisting of four water cisterns, a vegetable garden, fruit trees and livestock; a shelter for people suffering from leprosy (or Hansen’s Disease) it was designed to be self-sufficient. Run from 1887 to 1950 by the Herrenhut Brotherhood of the Moravian Church, it housed 60 patients. It was sold to the Jewish National Fund in 1950. With the development of an effective cure for leprosy, the last patients left the hospital in 2000. Sympathetically restored, the centre today is one of Jerusalem’s most beautiful buildings, housing exhibition spaces, an animation laboratory, theatre performance space, a projection room and studios, constituting a home for design, media and technology, combining creativity, education, research and continuing activities.

The Mamuta Centre for Art and Media, located in the Hansen building, is a centre of activity, of encounter, research and exhibitions. The Center offers project support, produces and initiates projects at the Hansen House, in other venues in Jerusalem and further afield, supporting individual- and group work as influenced by the times and location in which it is created. The HaZira Arts Arena, established in 1988, focuses on various disciplines of performance arts and their combination – theatre, dance, music, exhibits and multimedia. Its creative agenda aims at advancing inter-discipline performance in cultural- and artistic dialogue and initiating original, new productions in Jerusalem and Israel in general.

The three evenings at Hansen House took the form of a number of very different small events taking place in various rooms of the building. The audience moved from room to room, negotiating dimly lit corridors, climbing up and down stone stairs, moving from small basement rooms with barrel-vaulted ceilings to pleasant ground floor rooms, eventually arriving in the upper storey hall. The small basement rooms were well suited to the intimacy of some of the happenings – text-sound artist Josef Sprinzak recording and rerecording his own voice in song and word-play that focused on the Dybbuk’s inability to escape, followed by two other artists engaging in groans and tremors, some instrumental effects and some recorded sound to produce a hellish, psychotic-sounding display of horrific suffering; then, to Shira Borer of the Sala-Manca Group, portraying a young woman doing house chores, strange in her actions, seemingly possessed, locked into isolated, frozen silence. In another room, Lee Lorian’s charming, tasteful and poignant visual presentation (sound: Adam Yodfat) consisted of a small stage placed on a table, also shown on a screen, with changing scenes of Jewish village life, most scenes showing Theodore Herzl looking in, the performance backed by a nostalgic and richly colored soundtrack.

Most refined was an event taking place in an intimate and pleasant living room, its dining table set with an elegant, old coffee service. Seated at the table were Argentinean-born Eliezer Niborski and his teenage daughter Attala. With mesmerizing and haunting eloquence, time stood still as the two read from S.Ansky’s original Yiddish text, Eliezer reading from a leather-bound copy of the work, the yellowing pages attesting to its age. Another impressive and moving event, also connecting directly to Ansky’s text, was performed in both Yiddish and Hebrew by experimental Israeli vocalist Victoria Hanna and musician Noam Inbar with some sparse sounds of a zither. Sometimes seated, at others, moving around the room in circles, Hanna’s huge vocal- and emotional range reflected the different sides and predicament of Ansky’s Leah, with Inbar (his tenor voice often singing above hers!) representing Hannan as soothing and ever inspiring hope, comfort and support.

In the hall on the upper floor, a room with a superbly crafted wood ceiling, we watched a shortened version of the 1937 film of “The Dybbuk” or “Between Two Worlds” spoken in the Yiddish language. Directed by Michal Waszyński and filmed in Kazimierz (Poland) and in a Warsaw studio, its eerie, stark and dramatic grey and black visuals bring home the elements of magic, fate and folk beliefs, as the living mingle with the dead. Adhering to the extravagant German Expressionistic style, the film is still considered to be one of the greatest films in the Yiddish language. Most of the players were then known to have perished in the Holocaust. Seated behind the screen in the hall of the Hansen House was the Jerusalem Academy Conservatory Orchestra. Conducted by Michael Klinghoffer, the well-trained young players gave a vivid and zesty performance of sections of Smetana’s “Moldau”, synchronized to fall in with dramatic moments of the film. This was an unusual idea - experiential and certainly effective.

The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra opens its 2014-2015 season with "Vespers"



The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, under the direction of its founder and conductor David Shemer, opened the 2014-2015 season with a very different kind of Baroque program. This writer attended the concert on November 11th 2014 in the Mary Nathaniel Golden Hall of Peace, the Jerusalem YMCA.

The program opened with Concerto Grosso No.6 in D major by Charles Avison (1709-1770), a composer and church organist who spent his life in Newcastle, in the north of England. It is known that Geminiani visited him, but whether Avison actually studied under him remains unclear. Avison’s celebrated “Essay on Musical Expression” is the first English work on musical criticism; here he discusses the contrast between “sublime music and beautiful music”. Apart from a small amount of sacred music composed by him, Avison’s success lay in secular music and in the institution of the subscription concert series – first in London and, later, closer to home. In addition to church activities and concerts, Avison taught harpsichord, violin and flute, also giving theatrical performances. His oeuvre consists of harpsichord/organ concertos, chamber music, keyboard sonatas and 60 concerti grossi, with another 12 concertos that were arrangements of harpsichord sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. The latter works constitute a landmark of English music, with Avison not merely arranging the Scarlatti sonatas, interspersed with movement of his own, but orchestrating them imaginatively. Listening to Concerto Grosso no.6 in D major, it was not difficult to hear that Avison’s skill and originality produced music in which “Scarlatti’s highly idiomatic keyboard writing becomes equally idiomatic writing for strings and especially for the violin”, in Shemer’s words. The appealing violin solos were performed adeptly by 1st violinist Dafna Ravid, with some lovely comments and support provided by violinist Jonathan Keren. Complementing them was well balanced and poignant playing on the part of the ripieno section. A composer virtually unknown to most concert-goers, here was a fine opportunity to make the acquaintance of “an elegant writer upon his art” as Charles Burney had referred to him.

Then to the Israeli premiere of one of six of Bruce Haynes’ “Brandenburg Concertos” (more of them to be heard in this season’s concerts) after works of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). In 2010 Canadian oboist and musicologist Bruce Haynes conceived the idea that six new “Brandenburg” Concertos could be constructed from rich concerto pickings present in movements of Bach cantatas. The idea was based on the fact that Bach himself, under pressure to produce pieces for new occasions, frequently recycled his own works and those of others. Haynes’ argument was that if Bach himself had turned instrumental works into cantatas, the opposite process must be possible. After orchestrating three of the new Bandenburgs, Haynes sadly died quite suddenly in 2011. His widow, ‘cellist Susie Napper, completed the set of six (a traditional grouping of Baroque works being). Brandenburg Concerto No.11 in D minor, constructed from two cantata movements and one concerto movement, is scored for oboe, harpsichord, strings and basso continuo. It offers much beautiful solo material for both oboe and harpsichord, a seemingly unlikely pair to be engaging as soloists together. Israeli Baroque oboist Aviad Gershoni, currently living in Italy and performing widely, gave a fresh, mellifluous and richly ornamented reading of the solo oboe part, to be answered by David Shemer in cascades of delicate, finely detailed and lustrous extended solo harpsichord phrases. A magical and zesty performance of what is surely an enticing piece of music.

And on the subject of recycling, the third and final work on the program was Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s (1710-1736) “Vespro della Beata Vergine”. In 1732, Pergolesi composed a setting of the Vespers in honor of St. Emidius, the patron saint of Naples and protector against earthquakes. However, the only parts that have survived are the “Domine ad juvandum”, and three Psalm settings – “Dixit Dominus”, the “Laudate” and “Confitebor”. Taking pieces from throughout Pergolesi’s much-too-short career, Malcolm Bruno, an American-born musicologist today living in Wales, reconstructed the Vespers. Premiered at the 2007 Boston Early Music Festival, it presents a full cross-section of Pergolesi’s artistic development. With David Shemer now conducting from the positive organ, this was the Israel premiere this inspiring compilation. The choice of the ADI Choir was in keeping with the JBO’s interest in nurturing the new generation of Baroque performers. Established in 2006 and under the auspices of the Israeli Vocal Ensemble, the ensemble of young singers is directed by Oded Shomrony, known to many from his work with the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir, the Moran Singers Ensemble and as the baritone and musical director of the Thalamus Quartet. Shomrony’s work with the ADI Choir was detailed and thorough, the young singers’ performance buoyant, articulate, well phrased and energetic. Especially memorable was the poignant, cantabile singing of the Gloria Patri of the “Dixit Dominus”, colored with beautiful oboe-playing on the part of Aviad Gershoni and Tal Levin. Israeli soprano Daniela Skorka, whose repertoire includes both sacred works and opera, recently took 3rd prize at the Pietro Antonio Cesti International Competition for Baroque Singing (Innsbruck). Her handling of the mammoth solo role in the Pergolesi was outstanding. What was clear was her profound understanding of the work at hand; she created each mood, threading ornaments and melisma through the musical text with natural agility, also communicating well with her audience. Skorka’s voice, stable and unforced throughout its registers, is a fine and pleasing instrument. The “Vespers” ended with her convincing and compassionate performance of the “Salve Regina” (at times reminiscent of the composer’s “Stabat Mater”), its many gestures, dissonances and emotions purporting to one of the pinnacles of devout Baroque music and spirituality.

Maestro David Shemer and his instrumentalists’ sensitive and delicate performance throughout the evening provided each work with refinement and grace of style. The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra’s 2014-2015 season promises to take listeners into less familiar regions of Baroque music, albeit representing compositional practices common to the time this music was written. The season set off to a fine start.

 

Romanian organist and harpsichordist Zsolt Garai ends his three concerts in Israel with an organ recital at St. George's Anglican Cathedral, Jerusalem

On November 7th 2014 Romanian organist Zsolt Garai gave the last of three organ recitals in Jerusalem on his first concert tour of Israel. Under the auspices of the Romanian Cultural Institute (Tel Aviv), the recital took place at the Cathedral of St. George the Martyr. Established in 1898, the Anglican Cathedral, situated in East Jerusalem, is the seat of the Bishop of Jerusalem of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East. Its buildings surround a typically English collegiate quadrangle. The church organ, a Rieger instrument (Austria, 1984) boasting a lively temperament and many reed stops, stands at ground level at the back of the church. With the seats turned to face the back of the Cathedral for the occasion, people attending the concert enjoyed a rare opportunity of seeing the artist performing from close proximity, not the case at most organ recitals. Garai was assisted by Inna Dudakova, organist of St. George's Cathedral.

Born in 1979 in Arad (Romania), Zsolt Garai began piano lessons at a young age. He attended the Sabin Dragoi Art School (Arad), proceeding to the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj, Napoca, where he studied organ and composition, taking a master’s degree in 2005 and receiving his PhD in 2013. With a busy international performing career in Europe, Zsolt Garai is presently a lecturer in the Music Pedagogy Department of the Emanuel University, Oradea Romania and is the harpsichordist in the “Il Pastor Fido” Baroque Music Ensemble.

The program opened with J.S.Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565). Probably composed some time from 1703 to 1708 (the original manuscript did not survive) and published in 1833 through the efforts of Felix Mendelssohn, this work never fails to grip the listener with its opening unison phrase peeling out like a flash of lightning. Garai brought out all the Toccata’s different motifs, pacing them spontaneously and presenting the piece’s rhapsodic, dazzling character. With the Fugue beginning more modestly, he built it up gradually, offering its conversational aspect with small echoing responses, arriving at its momentous and dramatic interrupted cadence, giving way to brightly timbred runs, dissonant chords and energy to bring the work to an exhilarating conclusion.

We then heard a work written by Bernardo Storace, an Italian composer (fl.1664), about whom very little is known, apart from the fact that he was vice maestro di cappella to the Messina senate. His only known volume, an impressive collection of keyboard works published in Venice (1664), belies his predilection for variation forms. Garai’s performance of a Passacaglia (played with no pedals) was colored with timbral contrasts, also contrasts of meter and mode, with vitality as well as humor, its stylish, imaginative keyboard writing and varied techniques attesting to the composer’s own technical ability.

Daniel Croner (1656-1740), apparently a native of Kronstadt (now Brasov, Romania), a theologian and composer of organ music, completed four books of organ tablatures. A scribe, he was known to have spent four years copying works from the Brasov manuscript, mostly for his own use and for the Lutheran service. The Magnificat 8 toni, from the Brasov manuscript, consists of five verses, based on a traditional cantus firmus, probably originally alternating with sung chant. In four of them, the cantus is presented in long note values in the pedals, with the two manuals creating contrapuntal lines boasting much imitation. Garai’s playing offered an informed glimpse into the articulate and imaginative style of German pre-Bach organ composition, conservative and unpretentious in nature, yet innovative and certainly not lacking in dissonance.

An introspective moment was provided by French organist and composer Alexandre Guilmant’s (1837-1911) Sonatina, an organ arrangement of the first movement of Bach’s funeral Cantata no.106 “Gottes Zeit” (Actus Tragicus). Garai captured the meditative atmosphere of the work, the melody (scored by Bach for recorder) singing in bell-like tones against a veiled, mysteriously evocative registration of the lower instruments.

C.P.E Bach’s Sonata in G minor Wq70,6, one of five or six for the organ, takes the listener away from the complex counterpoint of Baroque organ music and into the realm of transparent lines bristling with melodic ideas. They use the manuals only as they were written for Princess Amalia of Prussia, Frederick the Great’s sister, who was unable to play the pedals. Garai’s unmannered and direct approach in his performance of the G minor sonata entertained the listeners with the music’s galant style, humor and joie-de-vivre.

The last two pieces on the program connected directly with J.S.Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor that had opened the recital. The first was “Ataccot” by Enjott Schneider (b. 1950, Germany), a musician of amazing versatility; musicologist, organist, singer, conductor and organist, he is a major composer of film music, his works characterized by the merging of many styles, from serial techniques to rock music. “Ataccot”, a tongue-in-cheek piece for organ, is simply a retrograde version of the D minor Toccata (hence its name). Neither unpleasing nor nonsensical to the ear, this piece is effective. In his playing of it, Zsolt Garai preserved Bach’s majestic soundscape. Listening to it, I found myself unraveling the various motifs to restore them to their originasl order!

The artist enjoyed the quality of the organ at the Cathedral, finding it lively and reactive. Garai's choice of the Toccata was not coincidental: as a doctoral candidate, he did research on the origins of the organ toccata from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The recital ended with Zsolt Garai’s “To-kka-tes”, also inspired by-and based on the same Bach Toccata. Taking motifs from the Toccata, Garai develops them with a generous dose of fantasy, dynamic variety, textures and timbres, choosing motifs that produce some decidedly dissonant and energetic material, his use of clusters imaginative and vivid. An avalanche of ideas sounding fresh and spontaneous and displaying the organ’s colorist possibilities, Garai gave the virtuosic text his all, signing out with a merging of old and new and the wink of an eye.

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra IBA opens the 2014-2015 season with works of Kopelman and Mahler

Embarking on its 77th season, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra opened the Classical/Vocal Series on October 23rd 2014 in the Henry Crown Hall of the Jerusalem Theatre. Under the baton of Frédéric Chaslin, the JSO’s musical director, the orchestra was joined by the Ramat Gan Chamber Choir (Hannah Zur, conductor) and the Israel Kibbutz Choir (Yuval Benozer, conductor) and soloists soprano Anastasia Klevan and mezzo-soprano Anat Czarny.

The program opened with a work by the JSO’s composer in residence, Moscow-born composer and pianist Aviya Kopelman “Between Gaza and Berlin”. Having composed the piece in the summer of 2014, Kopelman’s personal reference to Jerusalem and to Israel is as “eternally torn between the two”. Kopelman’s belief is that the artist is inseparable from society and that he/she plays an active role in shaping it. Having first decided on the title of the work, Kopelman writes that “recent events” (the war taking place in the summer of 2014) “added extra weight” to the work’s meaning. Having said that, she dismisses the idea of our approaching it as program music, offering the listener the option of allowing to the work to take the listener wherever his imagination would lead him…hopefully to “new and better places”. “Between Gaza and Berlin” consists of several short untitled movements, pieces of different moods and, indeed, of different styles. The work opened with a menacing, almost overpowering drum scene, punctuated by chimes and introducing a violin melody of long phrases as well as moments of fragmented dialogue - certainly a powerful and uncompromising opening movement. Having grabbed her audience by the scruff of their collars in the first movement, Kopelman opens the second movement in a dreamy, otherworldly vein, somewhat thoughtful, yet painful, with woodwind and violin melodies set over a chordal accompaniment. But then, all hell breaks loose on a stark, confrontational background, with a somber melody placed against a repetitive, syncopated and disturbing backing. In a loose ABA form, the movement takes the listener back to the first idea, to end suddenly. The third movement, more tonal in concept, presented a downcast, wistful melodic line over a slow waltz rhythm accompaniment: a sadly comforting utterance, colored with some loaded harmonies and the sweetness of the harp. Movement no.4 was a feisty, whimsical and short, an intense piece of bristling with short utterances, offering different timbral ideas due to their constantly changing instrumental combinations. The final movement painted a fraught cheerless canvas, one of the deathly knell of tubular bell, deep brass and dark screens of sound, with a repetitive woodwind motif adding melodic content. Aviya Kopelman, an interesting, confident artist with a wide, eclectic scope and strongly independent in expression, paints with large brushstrokes. In her hands, the full symphony orchestra does not afford the audience an opportunity to ignore the matter at hand, to look away. Her orchestra is a powerful, expressive and emotional tool and she wields it convincingly. Maestro Chaslin was with her and the score all the way.

Another intense work, also scored for large orchestra - Mahler’s Symphony no.2 “Resurrection” (not Mahler’s title) in c minor - provided the second half of the program. For Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) the symphony was to present the death of the hero of his Symphony no.1, but, for the listener, it might just as well promote reflection on death in general, its apocalyptic Finale no less than a resurrection of the dead, a merging of a German folk song and a somewhat altered form of Klopstock’s Resurrection Ode, providing the vocal content of the symphony. Chaslin, orchestra and singers re-created the work’s canvas of emotional and timbral dimensions, of which Mahler himself was convinced that it could “no more be explained than the world itself”. With freshness of color, articulacy and transparency, we were presented with the symphony’s tumultuous, tragic text versus tranquil and fragile nostalgia and naïve scenes, bursts of evocative solo instrumental playing and sensitive, well-coordinated choral singing. The two young vocal soloists - soprano Anastasia Klevan and mezzo-soprano Anat Czarny - were impressive in their involvement, beauty of sound and poise. Frédéric Chaslin addressed the work’s finely shaped musical gestures as articulately as he addressed its weighty expressive issues.

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra opened the 2014-2015 Classical- and Vocal Series with a bold statement, offering those present in the packed Henry Crown Hall an evening of the indulgences of vivid, living orchestral color and two weighty works sympathetically paired.

Embarking on its 77^th season, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra opened the Classical/Vocal Series on October 23^rd 2014 in the Henry Crown Hall of the Jerusalem Theatre. Under the baton of Frédéric Chaslin, the JSO’s musical director, the orchestra was joined by the Ramat Gan Chamber Choir (Hannah Zur, conductor) and the Israel Kibbutz Choir (Yuval Benozer, conductor) and soloists soprano Anastasia Klevan and mezzo-soprano Anat Czarny.

The program opened with a work by the JSO’s composer in residence, Moscow-born composer and pianist Aviya Kopelman “Between Gaza and Berlin”.  Having composed the piece in the summer of 2014, Kopelman’s personal reference to Jerusalem and to Israel is as “eternally torn between the two”. Kopelman’s belief is that the artist is inseparable from society and that he/she plays an active role in shaping it.  Having first decided on the title of the work, Kopelman writes that “recent events” (the war taking place in the summer of 2014) “added extra weight” to the work’s meaning. Having said that, she dismisses the idea of our approaching it as program music, offering the listener the option of allowing to the work to take the listener wherever his imagination would lead him…hopefully to “new and better places”.  “Between Gaza and Berlin” consists of several short untitled movements, pieces of different moods and, indeed, of different styles. The work opened with a menacing, almost overpowering drum scene, punctuated by chimes and introducing a violin melody of long phrases as well as moments of fragmented dialogue - certainly a powerful and uncompromising opening movement. Having grabbed her audience by the scruff of their collars in the first movement, Kopelman opens the second movement in a dreamy, otherworldly vein, somewhat thoughtful, yet painful, with woodwind and violin melodies set over a chordal accompaniment. But then, all hell breaks loose on a stark, confrontational background, with a somber melody placed against a repetitive, syncopated and disturbing backing. In a loose ABA form, the movement takes the listener back to the first idea, to end suddenly. The third movement, more tonal in concept, presented a downcast, wistful melodic line over a slow waltz rhythm accompaniment: a sadly comforting utterance, colored with some loaded harmonies and the sweetness of the harp. Movement no.4 was a feisty, whimsical and short, an intense piece of bristling with short utterances, offering different timbral ideas due to their constantly changing instrumental combinations. The final movement painted a fraught cheerless canvas, one of the deathly knell of tubular bell, deep brass and dark screens of sound, with a repetitive woodwind motif adding melodic content. Aviya Kopelman, an interesting, confident artist with a wide, eclectic scope and strongly independent in expression, paints with large brushstrokes. In her hands, the full symphony orchestra does not afford the audience an opportunity to ignore the matter at hand, to look away. Her orchestra is a powerful, expressive and emotional tool and she wields it convincingly.  Maestro Chaslin was with her and the score all the way.

Another intense work, also scored for large orchestra - Mahler’s Symphony no.2 “Resurrection” (not Mahler’s title) in c minor - provided the second half of the program. For Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) the symphony was to present the death of the hero of his Symphony no.1, but, for the listener, it might just as well promote reflection on death in general, its apocalyptic Finale no less than a resurrection of the dead, a merging of a German folk song and a somewhat altered form of Klopstock’s Resurrection Ode, providing the vocal content of the symphony. Chaslin, orchestra and singers re-created the work’s canvas of emotional and timbral dimensions, of which Mahler himself was convinced that it could “no more be explained than the world itself”.  With freshness of color, articulacy and transparency, we were presented with the symphony’s tumultuous, tragic text versus tranquil and fragile nostalgia and naïve scenes, bursts of evocative solo instrumental playing and sensitive, well-coordinated choral singing. The two young vocal soloists - soprano Anastasia Klevan and mezzo-soprano Anat Czarny - were impressive in their involvement, beauty of sound and poise. Frédéric Chaslin addressed the work’s finely shaped musical gestures as articulately as he addressed its weighty expressive issues.

The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra opened the 2014-2015 Classical- and Vocal Series with a bold statement, offering those present in the packed Henry Crown Hall an evening of the indulgences of vivid, living orchestral color and two weighty works sympathetically paired.

Ensemble PHOENIX closes the 46th Abu Gosh Vocal Music Festival with "Of Shadows & Angels"

Concluding the 46th Abu Gosh Vocal Music Festival on October 18th 2014, Ensemble PHOENIX premiered “Of Shadows & Angels” in the intimate Crypt below the 12th century Crusader Church in the lower part of the town of Abu Gosh in the Jerusalem Hills. Performing on early instruments, we heard Cordelia Hagman and Tali Goldberg – Baroque violins, Dr. Marina Minkin – virginal and PHOENIX founder and musical director Dr. Myrna Herzog on Baroque ‘cello. This was Cordelia Hagman's first performance on Baroque violin. In her debut with PHOENIX, we heard guest soloist soprano Sharon Rostorf-Zamir.

The program opened with “Angels Ever Bright and Fair” from G.F.Händel’s (1685-1759) oratorio “Theodora” (1750). In this aria, Theodora begs the angels to take her away rather than be enslaved in the royal court brothel – a fate worse than death. In delicate dialogue between singer and violins, Sharon Rostorf-Zamir created the fragile situation together with Theodora’s stately and noble character in delicate, emotionally loaded understatement. In “Ombra mai fu”, setting the scene for Händel’s opera “Serse” (1738), (originally to be sung by a castrato) Rostorf-Zamir’s directness and unmannered approach allowed for the sheer beauty of this piece to emerge, her ease and clarity in the upper register floating the plaintive aria:

‘Tender and beautiful fronds

Of my beloved plane tree,

Let Fate smile upon you.

May thunder, lightning and storms

Never disturb your dear peace…’

Rostorf-Zamir’s superb vocal control and warm personality shone in her singing of the gentle (tenor) aria “Waft her, angels thro’ the skies” from “Jeptha” (1751), where Jeptha mourns his daughter in the last of Händel’s 18 oratorios in English. It came across with tender eloquence, colored with dynamic variety.

“Come nube che fuggedal vento” (As a cloud which flees from the wind) from “Agrippina” (1709), introducing a very different mood, was a highlight of the concert. Here, Rostorf-Zamir’s opera background gave fine expression to Händel’s fine dramatic writing in the Italian opera seria style as she negotiated the aria’s frenzied melismatic passages with pizzazz. She drew attention to the text, its word-painting highlighting such words as “flies”, “wind”, “fire” and “cold” in conjuring up the evil, cunning and deceitful goings-on of the 1st century Roman court. No less exciting was the ensemble’s involved playing.

The central vocal work on the program was Alessandro Scarlatti’s (1660-1725) chamber cantata Serenata “Notte ch’in carro d’ombre” (Night that in the chariot of shadows), one of over 600 works of this genre written by the composer. Not an easy score to come by, Myrna Herzog, following months of searching, finally obtained a copy of it from Polish colleagues. In the cantata, the lovesick Amaryllis, unable to fall asleep at night, announces that she would prefer to die. In this intense soliloquy, Rostorf-Zamir uses her palette of emotional colors to take the listener through the different moods, changing like theatrical scenes, moving through Amaryllis’ mind – their optimism, their urgency and their pain . Alongside the long, lush vocal lines, there was much instrumental interest and entanglement, the players always a part of the dramatic cantata’s intense – at times, dissonant - verbal and musical imagery evoking night, dreams and unfulfilled love.

Of the instrumental music in the program, Myrna Herzog and Marina Minkin, enlisting imagination and the lively exchange of artists who have performed together for many years, gave a poignant and cantabile performance of a set of anonymous (but familiar) “Divisions upon an English Ground”. Not often enough heard, Henry Purcell’s (1659-1695) 4-part sonatas (published after his death) give insight to the composer’s juggling of English style and the Italian model together with some “French air…good for gaiety and fashion”, a picture of what was current in London’s musical life of the 1680s, a somewhat controversial affair! In bold, fresh playing of chamber music of repertoire intended for the London concert scene, bringing out Purcell’s personal melodic- and harmonic idiom, this piece gave much independence and say to both violinists, with some virtuoso passages for the ‘cello.

Taking a giant leap from the Baroque period into contemporary Israel, but still on the subject of angels, the PHOENIX players and Sharon Rostorf-Zamir premiered violinist Jonathan Keren’s setting of a song by composer, pianist arranger and singer Yoni Rechter (b.1951, Israel), “D’ma’ot shel Mal’achim” (Tears of Angels) to lyrics of Dan Minster. Keren’s sensitive arrangement of this nostalgic song was sophisticated, delicate and subtle, preserving Rechter’s unique mix of classical, jazz and pop styles, offering pleasing textures to players and singer. Here was Sharon Rostorf-Zamir, a singer with an international recital- and opera house career, indulging quite naturally in a very different genre, winning over the audience with her personal and touching performance of this bittersweet and thought-provoking song.

“And when angels weep

In the other world,

We are then sadder in this world…” (Translation P.Hickman)

With the audience seated on three sides of the stage, close to the artists, the Crypt was the ideal venue for Myrna Herzog’s evocative and creative program. With the concert over, we climbed the ancient stone steps back to daylight and arrived back in the tranquil, exotic gardens surrounding the church, pausing for just a few more moments to call to mind the unique mood “Of Shadows and Angels”.

Ensemble PHOENIX and VOCE PHOENIX in "Tarantella Napoletana"at the 46th Abu Gosh Vocal Music Festival

One of the final events of the 46th Abu Gosh Vocal Music Festival was “Tarantella Napoletana – Music from Spanish Naples”. Members of Ensemble PHOENIX and VOCE PHOENIX (musical director, conductor and staging Myrna Herzog), joined by soprano Sharon Rostorf-Zamir in her first performance with PHOENIX, presented this program of works on October 18th, 2014 at the Church of the Ark of the Covenant, Kiryat Yearim, situated on the site of an early fortress site in the Jerusalem Hills.

The Chapel Royal of Naples was the sacred musical establishment of the Spanish court in Naples, beginning with the Aragonese Court of Naples and continuing under the Habsburgs, the Bourbons and Joseph Napoleon. Influence of the Spanish rule in Baroque Naples was an element running through most of the works heard at this concert. Cristofaro Caresana (1640-1709) was born in Venice but settled in Naples before the age of 20; there he worked in theatre, was a singer and organist in the Royal Chapel, then becoming maestro di cappella of the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio in 1668. Caresana’s works have received little to no performances in Israel. One could surmise that the PHOENIX performance of three of the composer’s succinct, quasi-theatrical Nativity cantatas were Israeli premieres. Colored by the composer’s dissatisfaction with Spanish rule in Naples, “La Caccia del Toro” (Hunting the Bull) presents the dilemma between Toro the bull (baritone Guy Pelc) and Humility (soprano Sharon Rostorf-Zamir). (Choosing Toro as a character also suggests criticism of the fact that the Spanish wanted to introduce bull-fighting into Naples). Guy Pelc gave an intense portrayal of the unbending, power-struck Toro, his sturdy, rich voice ringing out dramatically, changing with each gesture, as he vied with the wise, courageous figure of Humility, Sharon Rostorf-Zamir. She was expressive, well cast and “proud to bear the title of damsel”. The intensity of the work was broken minimally by few choruses, a gentle and beautifully crafted duet sung by tenor Jacob Halperin with the mellow involvement of contralto Yael Izkovich, as well as some pleasing instrumental moments, with beautifully wrought recorder playing (also, throughout the program) on the part of Uri Dror and Adi Silberberg.

No less unconventional in character is Caresana’s “La Tarantella”, in which it is thought we hear the first ever appearance of the tarantella melody in art music. In a setting of the sophisticated text, encompassing pastoral folklore and the Bible, the artists, opening with angels (Michal Okon, Sharon Rostorf-Zamir) waking the sleeping shepherds on stage with the news of Christ’s birth. This small masterpiece was steeped with energy and joy, the gentle use of castanets a reminder of Spanish presence in Naples. Here, in an intimate and convincing soliloquy, we hear Pelc now portraying an anguished, and dejected Pluto:

‘I flutter over the vast sky

Too disdainful of beauties,

But I have fallen, so now I sigh,

Blind King of an ominous empire

Fulminated giant, black angel…’

Jacob Halperin’s bright, clean tenor solo was gratifying, as was the entertaining echo piece, naïve in its confirmation of the details of the Christmas story. The four singers, constantly alert, effectively fused short phrases into unified sections made up of fast-exchange responses to create a crowd scene. The tarantella chorus itself, varied in scoring, supported by pleasing filigree plucked sounds and interludes, provided the centerpiece of the work:

‘To the rocks, the burrows, the forests

The wild beasts have become docile.

Every square in the woods is flowery,

As life returns to the world.

To the forests, the valleys, the caves,

Cherish, revere, worship this beautiful night!’

“La Veglia” (The Vigil) offers the most unconventional and daring of the three plots. The setting is a game of “Ombre”, a card game popular in 17th century Naples. Jesus is portrayed as a gambler who, dying, wins the game. In this work of strong characterization, fine, joyous dance music and rich tonal effects, all singers displayed involvement and understanding of the decidedly theatrical aspect of the work, as its as yet unresolved moral dilemma posed questions to the listener. With Herzog’s settings never static, instrumental textures produced constant new color, Adi Silberberg’s playing of the colascione (a plucked instrument of the lute family) infusing the ensemble sound with delicate color and authenticity. With the singers gradually moving forward, we heard the soothing legato lines of the magical “Dormi o ninno” (Sleep, little baby) lullaby suspended over a simple but inebriating ostinato accompaniment evoking the rocking of a baby. The cantata ended on a joyful note, with singers and Herzog herself joining to ‘give applause…to the value of the player…’ Myrna Herzog drew her settings for the cantatas from the manuscripts themselves and translated the Italian texts into English. Uri A. Dror translated the latter into Hebrew. Hearing these works performed was a fine opportunity to appreciate the style of Naples’ specific form of religiosity – a spontaneous, gregarious and “secular” affair, one of angels and devils, celebrated with works that were vigorous and ostentatious, an aesthetic of color, directness and contrasts. These vivacious performances of the Caresana cantatas, therefore, were a reminder of the sumptuous Christmas festivities and performances in Naples, the immense and chaotic capital of the Spanish viceroyalty. Myrna Herzog’s staging, though understated, pointed to the focus and meaning of each development.

The Abu Gosh program included two instrumental works by Andrea Falconieri (c.1640-1709). Born in Naples, lutenist, theorbist and guitarist Falconieri made his living as a lutenist at the court in Parma, also in Florence, Rome and Modena. Peripatetic in lifestyle, he spent several years in Spain before returning to Italy. His only book of instrumental music was published in 1650, with each piece dedicated to a member of Spanish nobility residing in Naples. Herzog’s instrumentation brought out the inner emotional and descriptive content of each piece. In “La Suave Melodia”, she had the melody alternating between violin (Tali Goldberg) and recorder (Silberberg), setting each against a differentiated continuo. In the second part of the piece – a Corrente – Herzog told me she had “played even more with instrumentation, alternating solo and tutti and adding Spanish-like percussion”. In “Battalla de Barabaso yemo de Satanas” (Battle of Barabbas, Son-in-law of Satan) we are once again confronted with the conflict of good and evil but, despite the work’s religious implications, Falconieri was also making a political statement…that he supported the Spanish, the devils representing the Italians!! For this piece, Myrna Herzog chose four instruments – two violins, two recorder - rather than two, to engage in battle. The result was colorful. This was music-making to be seen as well as heard. Lutenists were the instrumental stars of their day and Falconieri’s itinerant life and opinions showed him to be no conventional character; however, the PHOENIX instrumentalists gave a finely balanced, elegant and well varied performance of the work, vivid but never excessive.The ensemble was absolutely superb.

The concert had one more treat in store – soprano Michal Okon’s solo performance of Orazio Michi dell’Arpa’s strophic lullaby “Ninna nanna al bambino Gesù (Lullaby for baby Jesus). Now virtually unknown, Orazio Michi (1595-1641) was born near Naples, entering into the service of Cardinal Montalto in Rome at a young age and then of Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy. He was a virtuoso who hobnobbed with high society. Admired for his virtuosic playing of the harp, his playing was compared with that of Frescobaldi on the harpsichord and Kapsberger, on theorbo. No new face to PHOENIX and the early music scene, Michal Okon has performed and held master classes in Israel, Europe and the USA, also promoting contemporary works. Her tender, unmannered performance of “Ninna nanna” was communicative, exquisitely tranquil and warm, her voice well projected into the dimensions of the church.

Ensemble Flauto Dolce in concert at the 5th Tel Aviv International Early Music Seminar

A major event of the 5th Tel Aviv International Early Music Seminar (director: Drora Bruck) on October 13th 2014 at the Lin and Ted Arison Israel Conservatory of Music was a concert performed by four members of Ensemble Flauto Dolce, Romania – artistic director Zoltán Majó (recorders), Mária Szabó (recorders), Erich Türk (harpsichord) and Mihaela Maxim (soprano). Ensemble Flauto Dolce was established by Zoltán Majó within the framework of the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj in 2000, with the aim of familiarizing the recorder and its repertoire to Romanian audiences. The ensemble presents from Renaissance to contemporary works of traditional- and art music in different recorder settings, in particular, performing early music from Romania found in old Romanian- and other European manuscripts. As the guest ensemble of the 5th Tel Aviv International Early Music Seminar, Flauto Dolce’s wish was to bring this Romanian repertoire to the attention of seminar participants and audiences, both in concerts and master classes. This was the ensemble's first Israeli appearance. The Romanian Cultural Institute, Tel Aviv, supported Flauto Dolce’s participation in the seminar. This writer also attended sessions of the International Conference on the Study of Performance, Past and Present (conference chairs: Dr. Uri Golomb, Dr. Alon Schab), in which presentations by Erich Türk (Interpretation inspired by period instruments: Transylvania’s Baroque organ positives) and Mária Szabó (Early music from Romania…musical performance in Romania in the 17th to 19th centuries, based on original manuscripts) shed light on the very many different geographical and ethnic traditions and styles feeding into the wide repertoire of Romanian music and culture.

The concert program included interesting pieces from three regions of Romania today – Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. What has characterized and continues to do so in these regions is the coexistence of several cultures and nationalities (Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, Hassidic Jews, Armenians, etc) and religious groups (Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Reformed Church, Muslim and Jewish). Researcher of early Romanian music manuscripts Mária Szabó writes: “This colorful mixture of different styles and influences is reflected in the musical materials that can be found in the original manuscripts…preserved in various archives throughout Romania, which represent a valuable contribution to the history of East-European music”.

The concert opened with three pieces from Codex Caioni (Transylvania, 17th century), the first a harpsichord piece, then two sacred vocal works. Johannes Caioni was a Franciscan monk, musician, folklorist, humanist and organ builder, whose collection includes works of composers, folk songs, courtly dances, church music and works performed by high society and lower.

We heard some works of German composers in Romania, firstly two songs by organist Gabriel Reilich (1643-1677) from Hermannstadt (today Sibiu, Romania); then “Ach, süsses Wort” (Oh, sweet word) by Johann Sartorius (1712-1787). Also from Hermannstadt, Sartorius, an organist in a Lutheran church, composed cantatas, writing in a style between Baroque and Classical. Türk’s tasteful performance of the galant-style harpsichord Arioso & Sonata by Martin Schneider (1748-1812) from the Choral Book 1779 from Braşov (formerly Kronstadt) was a finely played example of house music, of keyboard fare accessible to the listener but demanding of good technique and stylistic accuracy.

Worlds away, yet from the same vicinity, we heard some anonymous traditional Armenian songs from Gherla (formerly Armenopolis) a cathedral city close to Cluj, founded by Armenians. Here, Ensemble Flauto Dolce transported the audience to the world of oriental music and culture and mystery, with arrangements now not anchored in western harmony, but with melodies of octave doubling and with the use of percussion instruments. In one song, soprano Mihaela Maxim, in warm, honeyed sounds, was joined in song Majó in an appealing song arrangement, whereas, in another, she adopted a folk-like manner of chest voice singing – earthy, rustic and real. Altogether, the folk material, however artistically set, never lost its authentic feel; it was embellished by some charming effects - finger-snapping, a vase used as a percussion instrument and typical bourdon accompaniments, the augmented second often present in its folk scales.

The song repertoire of the Hassidic Jewish community from the Maramuresh region was beautifully represented, sung in Yiddish and presented with the characteristic mix of joy, humor and underlying melancholy. In the first song, a rain drum, producing an inebriating rain effect, accompanied a prayer for rain. Mihaela Maxim captured the Hassidic inflection as she convinced and entertained, with the instrumentalists evoking something of the carefree playing of Hassidic wedding musicians.

And then there was an item to make all recorder players sit up and rub their eyes – a G.Ph.Telemann recorder sonata for two alto instruments, discovered in a 1757 manuscript at Sfântu Gheorghe (formerly Sepsiszenthgyörgy), probably originating at the Dresden court. Had we not played all the Telemann sonatas, familiar with every note of them? Apparently not! Performed sympathetically and with much dialogue by Majó and Szabó, the three-movement B flat major sonata made its Israeli debut, the lower voice (Szabó) mostly supplying harmonic support to the upper, more melodic voice.

The concert ended with two anonymous Romanian songs and some old Romanian dances from Moldavia and Wallachia. Maxim’s theatrical flair and facial expressions lent much humor to the songs as the instrumentalists added their contribution to the fun, ending the program with all care thrown to the winds in a wildly hopping Romanian dance.

This was an evening bristling with interest, of variety and very fine and carefully stylized playing. Zoltan Majo's arrangements were tasteful, their use of tenor and bass recorders providing an active, mellow but non-obtrusive setting for many of the songs. Mihaela Maxim took on each style and mood with informed versatility, her fine, richly colored voice communicative and pleasing. Erich Türk’s explanations throughout the evening added much to the audience’s understanding of the breadth and abundance of Romanian music.

Harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini (Italy) in a recital at the 5th Tel Aviv International Early Music Seminar

One of the major events of the 5th Tel Aviv International Early Music Seminar (director Drora Bruck) was a harpsichord recital by Rinaldo Alessandrini (Italy), one of the course tutors. The concert took place at the Lin and Ted Arison Israel Conservatory of Music on October 11 2014. Rinaldo Alessandrini (b. 1960), a renowned recitalist on harpsichord, fortepiano and organ, is considered one of today’s most authoritative interpreters of Monteverdi. Founder, continuo player/leader of “Concerto Italiano”, a leading vocal and instrumental ensemble of Italian Baroque performance, Alessandrini aims to bring out the expressive and cantabile elements inherent in Italian music “often elusive, expressive and cantabile elements” of 17th century Italian music, “the most fertile and innovative” of all periods, in his words. He conducts Italian Baroque opera, those including Händel’s Italian operas, reviving lesser-known operas of such composers as Cavalli and Vinci. Alessandrini’s award-winning CDs include “One Hundred Fifty Years of Italian Music” (harpsichord, organ) and, with “Concerto Italiano”, all of Monteverdi’s eight books of Madrigals.

Playing on an A. Dulcken two-manual harpsichord built by Klop (Holland), Alessandrini opened with the Ciaccona from the enigmatic composer Bernado Storace’s (c.1637-c.1707) only existing collection of pieces “Selva di varie compositione” (Venice, 1664). Virtuosic and dramatic, the artist lavished passion and intensity on the piece, surprising the listener with the occasional unexpected fleeting moment of different color and showing Storace’s varied agenda for what an ostinato bass can suggest. In strong contrast, we heard the artist in a poised, thoughtful reading of (Frescobaldi’s pupil) German composer J.J.Frohberger’s (1616-1667) “Lamento sopra la dolorosa perdita della…Fernando IV…”, as he took time to spell out the rich, varying, meditative fabric of the melancholic rhetoric in this heart-rending lament written on the sudden death of the Emperor’s 19-year-old son and embellishing it with opulent spreads.

Back in Italy, we heard dance music by Venetian harpsichordist, lutenist and organist Giovanni Picchi (1572-1643), also known as an established composer and performer of dance music. Although categorized as “low art” dances, his collection of idealized dances of 1621 actually represents the high point of Venetian keyboard dances of the time. Alessandrini’s vivid and majestic performance of them presented their sophisticated writing, interesting figuration and colorful, refreshing harmonies in the varied (also geographically) dance tunes set with mostly chordal accompaniments. Presenting each in different tempi and with some pleasing ornamentation, the artist never lost sight of the character of each dance and its origins. The first half of the concert ended with Alessandrini’s splendid and bold performance of Girolamo Frescobaldi’s (1583-1643) last work “Cento partite sopra passacaglia”, a somewhat approximate title for a continuum of passacaglias, chaconnes and one corrente. In a tireless stream of small pieces, the artist, with the determination and deftness of a quick-change artist, took the listener through the many keys, modes, metres and tempi of this giant dance suite, the more leisurely pieces dictating more freedom.

The second half of the program focused on works by J.S.Bach (1685-1750). Bach’s Concerto on D major BWV 972 is one of the several works of German and Italian composers the composer transcribed for harpsichord (and organ). Bach did more than adapting them for keyboard - he sometimes transposed them to different keys, added ornamentation, changing tempo markings and harmonies. He also stamped them with his personal style. The BWV 972 is modeled on Vivaldi’s Concerto for four violins and continuo Op.3 no.9. Alessandrini took on board Bach’s virtuosic writing and predilection for the extraverted Italian concerto style, infusing the work with positive energy “nach italienischen Gusto”, his playing of the middle movement’s “Affekt” graced with Vivaldi’s original written-out embellishments touching and cantabile. Still in the Italian mind-set, we heard Bach’s early “Aria alla maniera italiana” BWV 989 (c.1709), a simple chorale-type (original) theme followed by ten virtuosic variations. Opening with a pleasing arioso touch, Alessandrini’s playing of the expressive theme and its flamboyant developments was contrasted, intense and rewarding. The program ended with another early Bach keyboard work (Bach was 19) – “Capriccio sopra la lontananza del fratello dilitissimo” BWV 992 - one theory being that the work was performed when Bach’s brother Johann Jacob left to become oboist in the army of Charles XII of Sweden. Alessandrini guided the listener through the tenderness, joy and melancholy, the key shifts, chromatics and complex fugues of the composer’s only programmatic instrumental piece.

Rinaldo Alessandrini’s interesting program presented a number of works not generally heard on the Israeli concert stage. Very much at home with virtuosic harpsichord repertoire, he is an artist for whom variety, articulacy and vibrancy come together in performance that is gregarious and focused. For his encore, the artist played a short, somewhat enigmatic original piece, allowing his playing to pause on the more emotionally charged chords of its melancholic, bluesy sound spectrum, to end unfinished.

The Atar Trio in a concert from Tartini to Piazzolla at the Redeemer Church, Jerusalem

With the cool winds of Autumn about to make themselves felt in Jerusalem, people made the best of the pleasant, balmy evening of September 27th 2014 to attend a “Summer Nights in the Courtyard” concert of the Atar Trio and sip a glass of wine in the medieval cloister courtyard of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem’s Old City. The Atar Trio – pianist Ofer Shelley, violinist Tanya Beltzer and ‘cellist Marina Katz – regularly performs in the tranquil surroundings of this church. The concert was called for 21:00 in the hope that the bird population lodging in the rich foliage of the courtyard would have ceased their twittering and be asleep for the night.

Following words of welcome by the Provost of the Church of the Redeemer, Wolfgang Schmidt, the concert opened with Giuseppe Tartini’s (1692-1770) Trio Sonata in G major, one of the composer’s “30 Sonate piccole”. In a work rich in Romantic lyricism and charm, violinist Tanya Beltzer was in her element with Tartini’s virtuosic writing, his deep and strong feelings, as she gave expression to the refined, poignant and ornamental writing of one of the greatest violinists and theorists of the 18th century. Remaining in Italy, we heard Tomaso Albinoni’s (1671-1751) enigmatic “Adagio” (composed largely or wholly by 20th century musicologist Remo Giazotto), a piece that has undergone endless arrangements, also serving as background music in films and television series and bandied around by pop singers and jazz pianists. The Atar Trio has devised its own arrangement of the well-known piece, making use of textures, contrast and a little flexing of melodic lines.

Then to a work from the most Classical repertoire for piano trio, Haydn’s Trio in C major, Hob. XV:21, one of three trios published in 1797 and dedicated to a London friend, Theresa Bartolozzi. Although it belongs to repertoire associated with the amateur musician of the time, here is chamber music at its best, with the demanding piano part attesting to Ms. Bartolozzi’s undisputed competence on the piano. The Atar players communicated the work’s lyrical grace, its intensity, its moments of tranquility and Haydnesque major-minor playfulness, as well as the work’s intrinsically conversational aspect. With the first notes of the opening Allegro, the bird population of the Redeemer Church courtyard, clearly Haydn aficionados, awoke to accompany the work with effusive twittering. The Haydn Trio was followed by “Duett”, the third piece from Robert Schumann’s (1810-1856) Fantasiestücke Op.88, its gentle dialogue between violin and ‘cello played out over Shelley’s sensitive piano accompaniment.

The second half of the program consisted of a group of dances – a potpourri of works by various composers from different countries and in a number of very different styles – beginning with a Tango by Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), played with sensuous melancholy, its sultry Latin temperament enhanced by the use of rubato. Still in Argentinean mode, the players gave an outstanding performance of “Autumn” (1969) from “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” by the grand master of the “new” tango Ástor Piazzolla (1921-1992); in playing radiant with freedom, emotion and color, the Atar Trio gave expression to the piece’s sophisticated blend of Classicism and jazz, its intensity and mood changes, as they wove virtuosic solos into the texture. The Atar Trio’s performance of “Three Irish Dances”, arranged by versatile Nashville master fiddler Craig Duncan, was songful, hearty and foot-tapping, the ‘cello (Marina Katz) often taking the role of second violin. Two pieces adapted from Marc Lavry’s “Three Jewish Dances for Piano” (1945) provided the program with Israeli content: played with much delicacy and a hint of percussion (on the part of Katz), the “Yemenite Wedding Dance” evoked a demure Yemenite bride performing the dance in small steps with gentle, circular hand movements. Another pleasing arrangement played with verve and abandon, Lavry’s “Hora”, a lively and earthy Israeli dance, conjured up the energy and joy of the popular Israeli dance. Born in Latvia, Lavry (1903-1967) was the first composer to introduce the hora into Israeli art music. Another hora played – the popular encore piece “Hora Staccato” – by Romanian composer and violin virtuoso Grigoraş Dinicu (1889-1949), was given a splendid performance by Tanya Belzer, who took on board the piece’s huge technical demands - staccato bowing, rapid note successions, witty scales and spicy verve. The concert ended with sympathetic arrangements of two New Year songs written by the “first lady of Israeli song and poetry” Naomi Shemer (1930-2004).

The Atar Trio’s playing addresses many styles. Not confining its concerts only to conventional trio repertoire, the three artists offer their listeners high quality across-the-board programs. This outdoor concert was no exception. The audience was well entertained.