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

Maestro Philippe Pierlot © Yoel Levy

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

Oded Reich (Courtesy Israeli Opera)

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

Maestro Yuval Benozer (ivocal.co.il)

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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