A STAR TREK - The Israel Camerata Jerusalem (conductor: Avner Biron) hosts British 'cellist Steven Isserlis and presents the world premiere of "Blue, Yellow Smoke" by Lior Navok (Israel)

 

Steven Isserlis (photo: Tom Miller)

Of the Israel Camerata Jerusalem's Instruvocal Series, the title of "A Star Trek'' was appropriate. This writer attended the event on January 10th 2023 in the Henry Crown Hall of the Jerusalem Theatre. Conducting was Camerata founder, musical director and house conductor Avner Biron. 'Cellist Steven Isserlis (UK) was soloist. 

 

The concert opened with a world premiere - Lior Navok's "Blue, Yellow, Smoke" - a work commissioned by Maestro Biron and the Israel Camerata Jerusalem. The piece, written on Russia's invasion of the Ukraine, is atonal, offering orchestra members plenty of solo utterances. Definitely a mood piece, it comes across as intensely personal in expression, as it shifts between sombre, dejected moments and agitated passages, the harp role - disturbing in its gestures, possibly suggesting the fatal  ticking of a clock - added to the eerie aspect of the work. Known to be an outstanding pianist, Lior Navok (b.1971), a founding member of the Butterfly Effect Ensemble (a group specializing in forging live scores for silent films), has created a textural/emotional soundscape that is both powerful and aesthetically appealing.

 

Referring to himself as a "cellist, author, musical explorer and general enthusiast", Steven Isserlis navigates a diverse career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster. As he gave vivid expression to the different elements of Dmitri Shostakovich's Concerto for 'cello and orchestra No.1 in E Flat major Op.107, I kept thinking how naturally the work emerged from under Isserlis' fingers, how much he was one with the music, his performance impressive, and not just due it its virtuosic demands as one of the most difficult concerted works for the cello. Shostakovich wrote it for his close friend 'cello virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich, who memorized the piece in four days, performing the premiere on October 4th 1959. With a healthy dose of verve, Isserlis launched into the playful, cheeky and whimsical scenario of the opening Allegretto, its four-note theme accompanied by an almost droll march in the woodwinds, the movement's course then to reshape and distort musical ideas. The soloist invited the audience to gambol along with the proceedings, as a crashing timpani stroke then issued in the second thematic area.  All rhythmic energy was swept away as the Moderato was introduced in tranquil, sombre sounds, the solo horn nostalgically preparing for the entrance of the soloist, the movement emerging with sublime lyricism, dancing a mournful dance, the music's course then taking on otherworldly sounds and Shostakovich's hallmark sense of isolation. Isserlis' playing of it was fragile, eloquent and introspective. The third movement, an extended cadenza, brimmed with interest, variety and contrast, but what also stood out was Isserlis' strategic pacing and attention to the composer's every detail, gesture and mood. As to the Finale - Allegro con moto - with its Russian dances, Maestro Biron and soloist pulled it off with breathless, fiery verve and a touch of the wicked. Throughout the work, the unique solo horn part (seemingly the 'cello soloist’s "alter ego") was performed with mellifluousness and sensitive shaping by Alon Reuven, the horn at times engaging in extended dialogues when the orchestra was silent.  

 

This was followed by Max Bruch's "Kol Nidrei" (arr. 'cello and strings). An Adagio on Hebrew Melodies, consisting of a series of variations on two main themes of Jewish origin, it was first published in Berlin in 1881. In a performance that ranged from intense moments to delivery of the most innermost pianississimo sounds, Isserlis' rendition came across as spiritual as he took time to address the content of each motif and nuance. Soloist and orchestra met throughout in transparency and with subtle teamwork. The artist was playing a Montagnana 'cello (1740), an instrument boasting superb breadth of sound and range of colour.

 

 For his encore, Steven Isserlis played the "Song of the Birds" (El cant dels ocells), the traditional Catalan Christmas carol associated with the great Pablo Casals. This was not Casals' setting with orchestral accompaniment, but for the 'cello alone. Isserlis' personal, filigree playing of the poignant . melody was graced with spreads. 

The event signed out with W.A.Mozart's Symphony No.41 (Jupiter) in C major K.551, Maestro Biron's reading of the work highlighting Mozart's sheer brilliance as a composer, the work's emotional range and the composer's invincible spirit that always drove him to succeed against all odds. Both bracing and touching, the Camerata's playing gave expression to Mozart's joy, his innocence and whimsy, with melodies reminding one that Mozart was an opera composer. The orchestra's playing was abundant in light, radiant textures, hearty, buoyant tutti moments and the C-major tonality sense of well-being. 

Lior Navok (liornavok.com)

The Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra hosts recorder player Maruša Brezavšček (Slovenia) at a Christmas concert in Jerusalem. Works of Bach, Corelli, Vivaldi and the world premiere of "Concerto alla moda" by Avner Hanani

 

Maruša Brezavšček (Yoel Levy)

As to be expected, "A Christmas Concert'', event No.2 of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra's 34th season, took place in the festive season. It was also affiliated with the Hallelujah Festival of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. This writer attended the concert at the Jerusalem International YMCA on December 27th 2022. Soloists were soprano Daniela Skorka, mezzo-soprano Hagar Sharvit, tenor Itamar Hildesheim and baritone Guy Pelc; also, Bar Zimmerman-oboe and recorder player Maruša Brezavšček (Slovenia). JBO founder and music director David Shemer was to have conducted from the keyboard, but the corona virus had caught up with him and, at less than 24 hours' notice, Aviad Stier stepped in to play the organ and harpsichord parts in most of the works performed.   

 

Opening the evening was J.S.Bach's church cantata "Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke" (I am content with my good fortune) BWV 84, composed in Leipzig in 1727. The work is scored for soprano soloist, SATB voices (for the chorale) and a small instrumental ensemble of oboe, two violins, viola and basso continuo. Consisting of a sequence of alternating arias and recitatives, with a concluding chorale, the effect was delightful as competent young oboist Bar Zimmerman gave expression to the lavish oboe obbligato role. Following each shape and nuance of the vocal line, soprano Daniela Skorka, mirroring the oboe trill for trill (first aria), reinforced the text's message of joy and contentment. In the second aria, Zimmerman and Skorka were joined by 1st violinist Noam Schuss and Roni Bracha ('cello) to celebrate the merits of a "heart ever thankful, exalting with phrase"; the singers performed the beautifully crafted unaccompanied chorale with meticulous coordination. 

 

Commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, Arcangelo Corelli's Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 (1690), known as the Christmas Concerto, bears the inscription "Fatto per la notte di Natale" (Made for the night of Christmas). Scored for two concertino violins and ‘cello, ripieno strings and continuo, the work is a concerto da chiesa, but expanded from the typical four-movement structure to six. At the JBO concert, the concertino section consisted of violinists Noam Schuss and Dafna Ravid and 'cellist Marina Katz. Led masterfully by Schuss, the performance was quintessential Corelli - abounding in beauty, nuanced, dramatic and lyrical, spiced with dissonances and with some fine ornamentation on repeats. As to the pastoral (final) movement setting the scene for Christmas, it emerged at a relaxed pace, creating the nativity scene with tender, radiant warmth and sensitive shaping.

 

Antonio Vivaldi’s contribution to the flute and recorder repertoire is well known and shows that he had far more than a passing interest in these instruments. Of the more than 500 concertos Vivaldi wrote for orchestra and solo instruments, his Recorder Concerto in C minor RV 441 is known as the most technically demanding of the recorder concertos and as one of the most virtuosic recorder compositions in the entire Baroque recorder repertoire. It is considered a jewel among Vivaldi’s mature style concertos. 1st prize winner of the 2020 Tel Aviv International Recorder Festival Maruša Brezavšček was the soloist for this concerto. A skilful and creative player, Brezavšček performed the exotically chromatic first movement with some imaginative ornamenting, here and there, allowing phrase endings a little more time to sign out with a “sigh”. She engaged in dialogue with Schuss and violinist Yasuko Hirata in the poetic Largo movement, moving from its mysterious soundscape into the harmonic antics of the effervescent Allegro movement with impressive ease and engaging in the latter's virtuosic passagework. Maruša Brezavšček's playing was tasteful rather than a show of muscular bravado, as she gave the stage to the music, her tone on the alto recorder mellow, centred and full-bodied. 

 

And to a work atypical of a Baroque music concert - Avner Hanani's “Concerto alla moda”. This was the world premiere of a piece that was commissioned by the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra and Maestro David Shemer and enlisted as a new Israeli work for 2022 by the Ministry of Culture and Sport. In an interview with Barry Davis of the Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem-born Hanani (b.1974) spoke of "Concerto alla moda" as "not really a baroque work…but there is a sort of baroque sound to it, with the harpsichord and other instruments, and the ‘extras’ – the texture, the laconic element, and there are lots canons in the piece, imitations…but it is more in the rock vein.” (Jerusalem Post, December 22, 2022.) Imitative and of polyphonic texture, monothematic for the most part, of varying rhythms and meter and somewhat modal, the appealing tripartite piece had listeners at the edges of their seats. With the composer at the harpsichord, his buoyant, streamlined piece zipped along with definite logic, its more relaxed middle section a short hiatus prior to inviting all back into the breezy, toe-tapping pace with which the work had begun. With all the Concerto alla moda's buzzing energy, its textures were fine-spun, elegant and precisely balanced, enhanced by a few solos and, indeed, graced by the glistening sounds of the harpsichord. And, together with the audience, the JBO players seemed to be enjoying it to the full!

 

The concert ended on a pensive note with J.S.Bach's funeral cantata "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit" (God's time is the very best time) BWV 106, the work also bearing the title of "Actus Tragicus". It is one of the composer's first forays into the cantata genre (Bach wrote it at age 22). From the very first notes of the poignant instrumental opening sonatina, one is aware of how the mellow, introspective substance and underlying drama are skillfully interwoven through the music, also due to the fact that (having no violins) it is scored for two recorders, two viols and continuo. The cantata calls for SATB vocal soloists and choir, with the possibility of the choir being formed by the four soloists, as was the case at this performance. The cantata's text and sentiments meditate on death, the continuity between life and death and finding peace, not a subject really suited to the mindset of the young, but the four young singers engaged in it convincingly and with empathy: Daniela Skorka's heart-rending singing of  the haunting soprano solo, Hagar Sharvit's round, richly-coloured voice giving expression to the plaintive alto aria, Itamar Hildesheim's sensitive, tastefully ornamented singing of the contemplative tenor aria and Guy Pelc's bright baritone voice sounding resolute and joyful in the bass solos, as he rendered some suavely-shaped melismatic passages. Here, Pelc's conducting skills were also enlisted. All singers displayed good German diction.  I personally would have enjoyed the incorporating of another four singers in the choruses to add more weight and prominence to their message. The musical presence of recorder players Maruša Brezavšček and Adi Berkowski and gamba players Myrna Herzog and Tal Arbel throughout the cantata was affecting, supplying Bach’s non-verbal dimension of meaning to the work's introspective nature. 

 

Kudos to  Noam Schuss on her articulate leading, to Guy Pelc for some  choral direction and to Aviad Stier on his very fine keyboard playing..

 

Soprano Daniela Skorka (Yoel Levy)