 |
| Korbinian Altenberger,Kobi Malkin,Michal Korman,Guy Ben-Ziony (Hanna Tayeb) |
"Different Trains", Concert No. 3
(February 3rd, 2026) of the RESONANCE concert series, taking place at the
National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, commemorated International Holocaust Day
(observed annually on January 27th, marking the 1945 liberation of
Auschwitz-Birkenau.) This new concert series features the Israeli Chamber
Project (artistic director: Tibi Cziger), an award-winning ensemble. The
Israeli Chamber Project was established in 2008.
The program opened with String Trio for
violin, viola and 'cello (1944) by Gideon Klein (1919-1945).
The Moravian-born composer/pianist was one of several musicians who were
incarcerated at Theresienstadt (Terezín), a camp set up as a hub of culture
for the Nazis to showcase to the world. Composed in a classical
three-movement structure, the trio was written just ten days before Klein's
transport from Terezín to Auschwitz. Performing it at the Jerusalem concert,
Kobi Malkin (violin), Guy Ben-Ziony (viola) and Michal Korman ('cello) gave
credence to the fact that Klein had been part of an exciting, modernist and avant-garde cultural scene, one substantially based in Prague before World War
II. The artists' playing of the opening Allegro, with its rhythmic perpetuum
mobile, its drive and folk-like theme over a drone accompaniment, and of the
fast, joyful dance of the brief finale (Molto vivace), with its clearly
contemporary touch, reflected the energetic writing of a young composer. As to
the Lento (middle) movement, bearing a strong reference to Janáček, their incisive
playing gave beauty and interest to the eight variations of contrasting moods
and textures, the theme itself based on an elegiac Moravian folksong. Prior to his
transport to Auschwitz and death, Klein had entrusted his manuscripts to
Irma Semecká, his Theresienstadt girlfriend, after which the works were
eventually turned over to his sister Eliška. The Trio was first performed in
1946 in Prague's Rudolfinum, at a concert organized by Klein's sister.
Born in Odessa and educated at the Moscow
Conservatory of Music, Jacob Weinberg (1879-1956) was affiliated with the
Society for Jewish Folk Music (St. Petersburg), an organization promoting Jewish classical music.
Renowned for writing the first Hebrew language opera, "The Pioneers"
(Hechalutz), Weinberg composed songs, choral works, chamber compositions and
oratorios. He was one of the founders of the Jewish National Conservatory in
Jerusalem before immigrating to the U.S., where he became a leading figure in
the cultivation of American Jewish music. The ICP artists' playing of
Weinberg's Quintet for clarinet and strings Op.40 (1938) was crisp, discerning
and quick-witted, giving keen expression to the work's contemporary feel, its
introspection and witty vitality. The Recitativo (2nd movement) was moving,
with the clarinet (Tibi Cziger) and 1st violin (Kobi Malkin) roles suffused
with the melancholy of the kind associated with many eastern European Jewish
melodies. As to the Vivo ed accentato (3rd movement), the score alternated
between spirited (Jewish wedding) dancelike moments and those reverting to
nostalgia. A fine performance of this excellent work. Joining Cziger and Malkin
were violinist Korbinian Altenberger (Germany), Guy Ben-Ziony and Michal
Korman.
In 1988, Steve Reich (b. USA, 1936) wrote "Different Trains" for string quartet and tape for the Kronos Quartet. Stretching the boundaries of the string quartet repertoire, "Different Trains" is layered with the recording of three string quartets, it combines digital sampling, actual spoken words and music derived from speech (the strings imitate the speech melodies and rhythms), the combined effect of train whistles and chugging string (engine) sounds, creating the real-life experience of travel on trains in the USA and Europe between 1939 and 1945. The Jerusalem performance was accompanied by an outstanding video-art work of Spanish artist Beatriz Caravaggio. The work falls into three movements - the first representing the train journeys Reich took with his governess, as they travelled to and from his divorced parents in Los Angeles and New York, the second showing trains transporting people to the camps in the Holocaust, with the third capturing on soundtrack and film American trains and people immediately following World War II. A forthright work, with film footage shown on a large, tri-partite screen showing constantly moving trains, the people riding them and some occasional background scenery, its intense relentless soundscape is dense in content and message, with the incessant string timbres and the information contributed by "notated" repeated speech fragments from recordings of people - Reich's governess, a retired Pullman porter and some Holocaust survivors. And, with all these stimuli, not to be ignored are the string quartet players on stage reading the tricky score and adding yet another dimension to the rattling train scenes and to the no-less-rattling emotional impact. This is a powerful, uncompromising and disturbing work. Caravaggio's palette is one of predominantly dark and sepia hues; indeed, even her colouring of post-war New York in the third movement is sparing. Reich spoke of the work as presenting "both a documentary and a musical reality."
Based both in Israel and in New York, the
Israeli Chamber Project is one of today's exemplary and most dynamic ensembles.
With their attentive performance and profound reading into the works, the
players made for an engaging evening of music. Adding to the experience, the
audience was invited to view pictures, books and other digital items related to
Jacob Weinberg from the National Library's collections. Ohad Sofer, of the
Music Department at the National Library of Israel, was present to answer any
questions.
