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

 

Photo: Yossi Zwecker

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

 

Ido Ricklin (israeli-opera.co.il)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A NEW SONG, HALLELUJAH - Assaf Bènraf directs the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, choirs and soloists in the festive opening of the 2024 Hallelujah Festival

Irena Svetova (Courtesy IS)

 

Maestro Assaf Bènraf (Uri Elkayam)

Eliyahu Svetov (Courtesy ES)

Drawing a large audience to the Henry Crown Auditorium of the Jerusalem Theatre on November 30th, "A NEW SONG, HALLELUJAH" was the opening event of the 2024 Hallelujah Festival. Under the baton of Assaf Bènraf, a string ensemble of players of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the A-Capella Vocal Ensemble Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir and Valery Oleshko (piano/organ) were joined by soloists Rinatya Nessim (soprano) and Eliyahu Svetov (piano/organ).. 

 

"Alleluia" - so many composers have set this word’s four syllables, playing with its vowel colours, its lightweight consonants and the endless possibilities of word stress, rhythm, and meaning. In "Alleluia" (1940), American composer Randall Thompson's best-known work, the composer steers away from the word's celebratory connotations. Deeply affected by events in Europe, particularly by the fall of France, Thompson takes inspiration for the piece from the Book of Job. Opening the event with this work, Bènraf led the two choirs and organ (Oleshko) through the work's journey of emotions - from reverence, introspection, uncertainty and anxiety to exuberant hope, before ending in a tranquil allusion to peace. In performance that was lush, velvety and beautifully blended, Thompson's choral meditation on a single word - "Alleluia" - followed by a simple "Amen", was moving, indeed mystical.

 

Francis Poulenc's "Gloria" FP 177, here accompanied on the piano (Oleshko), never fails to raise a few questions as a sacred work. Bènraf and his singers dealt admirably with its challenges - namely, the contrast of moods and gestures - as they effectively and articulately captured its buoyant, celebratory spirit, indeed, its eccentric nature. One could discern elements from jazz, dance, reference to earlier French composers such as Fauré, as well as elements of sardonic humour. Even the peaceful serenity of the work's radiant closing pages is disturbed by one last, loud interjection at the first "Amen". Renatya Nessim's performance of the solos was unforced, her mellifluous voice well projected, weaving melodies gracefully, negotiating the tricky, unconventional leaps of the “Domine Deus” with poise.

 

Enter ten string players of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. They played W.A.Mozart's Divertimento in D major, K.136, a fine example of the 16-year-old composer's sophisticated craftsmanship in a genre traditionally defined and designated as "light" music. Performing with suave good taste, transparency, charm and a touch of Haydnesque humour, the instrumentalists invited the audience to join them at a musical soirée in the home or gardens of one of Salzburg's leading residents, for which events Mozart composed and frequently performed. 

 

Then, to the second movement (Larghetto) of Frederic Chopin's Piano Concerto No.2 in f minor, Op.21, with Eliyahu Svetov as soloist. A nocturne in the "stile brillante" tradition, Svetov gave the stage to Chopin's virtuosic writing for the piano, its style a reminder that Chopin himself was a brilliant improviser. The soloist brought out the composer's ravishing ornamenting of the filigree-fine melodies with elegance, shape and shimmering delicacy. Composed shortly before Chopin left Poland, the movement was inspired by Konstancja Gładkowska, a young soprano with whom he claimed to be in love, but was too shy to tell. This was followed by Mozart's "Ave verum corpus" in D major K.618 for mixed choir, strings and organ. Under the baton of Maestro Bènraf, the motet's serene, unhurried, homophonic fabric (46 measures in all!) emerged in a fine blend of subtlety, luminosity, balance, precision and restraint.

 

Concluding the concert of high-quality performance was the Israeli premiere of Irena Svetova's 2014 setting of Psalm 33 "Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous", performed by the joint choirs, string players and piano. The work, modal, intense and engaging, displays the composer's insight into musical setting of the Hebrew language, its shapes and intonation, as the words flowed naturally through the weave of the score. Indeed, the singers gave articulate and transparent expression to her explicit and skilful choral writing. Notable also was some impressive writing for the piano (Svetov.)  Born in Moscow, Irena Svetova immigrated to Israel in 1991.

Gideon (Gidi) Meir performs organ works of Buxtehude, J.S.Bach, Sweelinck and Byrd at the Brigham Young University, Jerusalem Center

 

Gideon Meir (Alexander Kotov)

The auditorium of the Brigham Young University, Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, boasts one of the city's finest pipe organs. It was built by Marcussen & Søn (a Danish family business of pipe organ builders established in 1806) and was inaugurated in 1987. The largest pipe organ in the Middle East, it has 3,165 pipes. Contemporary in design, the horizontal reed pipes on the front of the case add interest and beauty to the instrument. Performing a program on the BYU organ on November 24th 2024, Gideon (Gidi) Meir dedicated the recital to the memory of his father 'cellist Menachem Meir (1924-2024) and to that of his organ teacher David Boe (1936-2020).

 

Dieterich Buxtehude's reputation as a composer lies mostly in his compositional oeuvre for the organ. Indeed, he was the greatest precursor to J.S. Bach as a composer for organ, and had a far-reaching influence on the generation to come, especially on Bach himself. With Buxtehude's Praeludium in G minor, Bux WV149 issued in with a bright, flamboyant flourish in the manuals and bolstered from the seventh bar by the pedals’ obsessive seven-note phrase, Gidi Meir got the evening's music off to an exuberant start. Proceeding on from this combination of ostinato and stylus phantasticus (Buxtehude's predilection for the stylus phantasticus demands much interpretative freedom on the part of performers) the work presents two fugues with related subjects: the first, solemn, played mainly in the manuals, the second an affective fuga pathetica in slow triple meter. Played here in full registration, the Praeludium culminates in a free coda. Addressing one of Buxtehude’s most frequently performed works, Meir highlighted the prelude's sophistication and complexity.

 

We then heard two (of the countless) settings of John Dowland's most famous "ayre" (originally a solo song with lute accompanied) "Flow My Tears", composed in 1596 under the name "Lachrimae pavane". In his setting of it, Dutch composer/organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (referred to as the “Orpheus of Amsterdam") does little more than transcribe for a different instrument material borrowed from his British contemporary, here and there embellishing and elaborating the original. Ornamenting the repeats, Meir chooses bright, even clamorous timbres. Of all the keyboard arrangements of this work, Dowland's "greatest hit", William Byrd’s is one of the finest and certainly among the most imaginative. The ample pavan framework invites Byrd (and the performer) to indulge in inventive figuration, extensive elaboration of the melody and to revel in its contrapuntal layering. A change of meter creates a whole different atmosphere. As to Byrd's departure from the model, Meir's solid, hearty reading brings to light elements of the original harmonic agenda. For the Dowland settings, Meir engaged the swell to create a lush, velvety, Renaissance-type sound.

 

The thread running through Gidi Meir's recital (indeed, running through a large portion of organ repertoire) was the use of melodies and hymns, some ancient, on which to build works, in particular, for chorale preludes and variations. In addition to some twenty preludes, Buxtehude's many surviving organ compositions include a large number of chorale preludes and variations on Lutheran chorale melodies. Of the latter genre, "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam" ("Christ our Lord came to the Jordan") based on a hymn by Martin Luther (1541), its text telling of Christ's baptism, has been set into many musical compositions. Here, in one of Buxtehude's most uplifting chorale settings, Meir uses a strongly projected and majestic approach, the registrations fitting the piece splendidly. J.S.Bach's chorale arrangement of "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam" brims with effervescence. As the chorale melody emerges in long notes in the pedal, the ripples of the Jordan River are evoked in fast notes over two keyboards. The latter scoring would have been unconventionally different to  Bach's audience! 

 

With Advent in western churches beginning on the Sunday nearest to November 30th, Meir chose two settings of the Martin Luther chorale "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" (Now come, Saviour of the heathens). In Buxtehude's setting of the Bux WV211 chorale, the stately, full-bodied accompaniment supporting an ornamented setting of the melody evokes the solemnity of the season of Advent; it concludes with a flourish, as typical of chorale preludes of the period. Meir's performance of it reflects the radiance and depth evident in Buxtehude's organ works. J.S.Bach's working of the same chorale (BWV 659) is one of the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, BWV 651–668, all characterized by the composer's long, freely written episodes between cantus firmus lines. Above the slow-stepping walking bass in the pedal, we hear an alluring, highly ornamented soprano line carrying the chorale melody, the piece evoking the mystical expectation of the incarnation.

 

The program concluded on an ebullient note with the chorale prelude "Gott der Vater wohn’ uns bei" (God, the Father, stay with us). Formerly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach as BWV 748, researchers now claim it was composed by Johann Gottfried Walther, a scholar, accomplished performer and composer. Born one year before Bach, Walther struck up a friendship with Bach – his second cousin – in 1708, a friendship that inspired him to set over 130 chorale preludes and variations on Lutheran chorale melodies. Creating a rich, bright, reedy soundscape, Meir saw the work as a counter-piece to the opening Buxtehude Praeludium.

 

For his encore, Meir chose to play Sweelinck's Variations on "Unter der Linden Grüne" (Under the Linden Green), an example of the composer’s mastery in the art of variation and in his writing for the organ. Displaying Sweelinck's characteristic sense of humour, the melody used was one popular in Holland in Sweelinck’s time. The jolly variations offered Meir multiple opportunities to display the Marcussen organ's variety and the beauty of its many flute- and reed stops. Adding a touch of magic to the final variation, he activated the organ's Zimbelstern stop, (a “toy” stop consisting of a metal or wooden star or wheel on which several small bells are mounted. When the stop is engaged, the star rotates, producing a continuous tinkling sound.) Meir felt this sparkling timbre reflected the night scenery as seen by the audience through the auditorium's large, scenic front window. Interestingly, the performer seated at the Marcussen organ was also reflected in the window!

 

Gideon Meir has spent much time familiarizing himself with this particular organ and choosing a program that would be suited to it, to the hall and to the time of year. The recital was inspired and uplifting.

 

Organ of the BYU auditorium.Spanish trumpets on view

Flute sounds in Ein Kerem: Noam Buchman (flute) and string-playing friends perform mostly serenades at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Jerusalem

 

Noam Buchman (Ilan Besor)

The musical terms "serenade" and "divertimento", with several examples appearing in 18th-century musical repertoire, are often interchangeable. They represent pieces that are light-hearted and easy to listen to, often performed on social occasions, such as at banquets or as after-dinner music. On November 16th 2024, one of those mild, sunny Jerusalem Autumn mornings, this writer joined the audience attending "Mostly Serenades", the most recent concert of the Eden-Tamir Music Centre's "Flute Sounds in Ein Kerem - Noam Buchman and Friends" series. The artists performing were Gilad Hildesheim - violin, Irit Livne - viola, Yoram Alperin - 'cello and, of course, Noam Buchman - flute. 

 

Joseph Haydn's Divertimenti in G and C major, published in London, were the composer's first chamber works for flute, a popular instrument in England for domestic music making, especially among those women who could not perform in public. The Jerusalem program opened with Haydn's Divertimento for flute, violin and 'cello in G major, Hob.IV:7, with playing articulate, rich in contrasts, with tempi gently flexed, the trio's playing bubbling over with Haydn's esprit. Their reading of the Adagio (2nd movement), was singing, carefully paced and with some attractive embellishments in the flute part. As to the "comments" by the 'cello, we were reminded of the melodic importance Haydn addressed to this instrument.

 

Max Reger's music came under harsh disapproval on the part of critics, who accused him of “a lack of feeling” and being "too complicated”. Influenced by the tradition of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, he also borrowed extensively from the rich chromatic harmonies and style of Richard Wagner and his followers. The instrumentation for his Serenade Op.141a for flute, violin and viola, however, is distinctive, opting for the bright tones of the flute, violin and viola, indeed, endorsing the overall enchanting mood of the piece. Buchman, Hildesheim and Livne articulated the features of the piece - the playful, witty unpredictable turns of the opening Vivace, the more pared-down, hymn-like Larghetto and the lively romp of the Presto movement, its dancelike theme interspersed with more tranquil, reflective moments, the. performance seamlessly negotiating the music’s capricious kaleidoscope of moods and tempi.

 

An atypical work, and one probably unfamiliar to many in the Eden-Tamir Centre audience, was Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Assobio a Játo" (The Jet Whistle) for flute and 'cello (1950), a piece reflecting various aspects of the composer - his interest in Brazilian folk idiom as well as in more traditional musical forms, his eccentricity and his sense of humour. Attesting to the composer's predilection for writing high- and low-voiced instrumental duos, the piece is primarily a musical joke, yet cleverly playing on the natural characteristics and sound production of both instruments. Throughout the three short, nuanced movements, Alperin and Buchman partner in fluid lines and masterful teamwork, switching lead and accompaniment, sometimes playing together in such tortuous, conflicting counterpoint as to create a semblance of total independence. The artists create the work's chromatic soundscape, its large range of timbres and its many states of mind, from the pensive to the uninhibited. Then, as they reach the third movement (Vivo - poco meno), they meet the score's directive demanding that the flautist blow directly and forcefully into the flute, his (or her) hand almost covering the mouthpiece. Combined with a glissando, the resulting strident whistling sounds like a jet plane taking off…or was the inspiration for this work the coffee machine at Villa-Lobos' local cafe?

 

As to the program's flying visit to Germany, Austria and Brazil, landing in Hungary felt like we were in transit, hearing just one movement of Ernö Dohnányi's Serenade for string trio in C major Op. 10. Clearly inspired by the serenade tradition, the work's laconic use of form and economy of means constituted groundbreaking writing in 1902. Hildesheim, Livne and Alperin gave a zesty, fresh and articulate reading of the final movement, a bustling Rondo propelled by a rapid main theme framing contrasting episodes and associative of the folk character prevalent in the music of Dohnányi’s countrymen.

 

The Saturday morning program concluded with L.van Beethoven's Serenade for flute, violin and viola in D major Op.25 (1801). Comprising six movements and written primarily for the profitable domestic market, its layout is in accordance with the pattern of the Classical serenade or divertimento of Mozart’s and Haydn’s time. Observing all repeats in the name of formal balance, the artists showed the audience through the work with charm and vivacity. In the Serenade’s centrepiece, a set of variations on a theme announced by the strings in double stopping, each instrument takes the lead in turn with florid passages as the theme becomes varied. Altogether, the artists gave splendid expression to the work's range of gestures and to the bright buoyancy of music for which the viola serves as its bass instrument. Indeed, whatever or whoever prompted Beethoven to write a composition for this unusual yet agreeable mix of instruments (was it a nobleman playing chamber music with friends?), the Serenade is invariably cheerful, creating the style and ambience reflecting the growing appreciation for informal outdoor music among Vienna’s elite.

 

But the serenades did not finish with Beethoven. For an encore, the artists performed the mellifluous Andante cantabile from the Serenade for Strings Op.3 No.5 in F major, a work attributed to Haydn, but possibly written by Roman Hofstetter.

It was a concert of high-quality performance and interesting programming.

 

Gilad Hildesheim,Irit Livne,Noam Buchman,Yoram Alperin (Yoram Livne)

Yuval Rabin performs organ works of Bach, Mendelssohn, Lewandowski and Y.Rabin at a house concert in Jerusalem

 

Courtesy Terra Sancta Organ Festival

Among the instruments on view in the music room of Yuval Rabin's home in Jerusalem are an upright piano, a harpsichord, a clavichord, a pipe organ and a didgeridoo! The event we were attending was a house concert on November 5th 2024, performed by Dr. Rabin on the pipe organ, a German-built instrument boasting eleven registers and four basic timbres.

 

Leipzig Germany was the location of the program's first items, opening with J.S.Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, written some time between 1706 and 1713 when the composer was in his early twenties. Often heard played on large church organs that highlight the work's imposing majesty, it is conceivable that Bach might have written this piece with the pedal harpsichord in mind. Articulate, and sparingly embellished, Rabin's playing gave expression to the contrasts and variety of the Passacaglia's 21 variations, the Fugue building up to a massive climax of suspended harmonies and full instrumental sonority. Bach's Six Organ Trio Sonatas, representing a new organ genre established by the composer c.1727-1730, were written for his son Wilhelm Friedemann to study. These sonatas, attractive and immediately appealing to the listener, pose ferocious interpretive and technical demands for the player, requiring the right and left hand to play independent melodic lines on separate keyboards while the feet play the basso continuo. From the buoyant, good natured opening movement, through the gently undulating Siciliano, to the witty dialogue in bell-like timbres of the final Allegro, Yuval Rabin's performance of Sonata No.1 in E-flat major BWV 525 presented the piece's supremely Italianate character, as he chose to give each voice distinct tone colourings to allow Bach’s counterpoint to be heard clearly. 

 

J.S.Bach was a central figure in the music education of the prodigious young Felix Mendelssohn, the latter's versatile music career including organ recitals, in which he was known to be a fine improvisor. Both the counterpoint and the chorale movements of his organ sonatas reflect his lifelong immersion in the music of Bach. Mendelssohn reached new heights of awareness in his composition in the 1830s, as heard in his last and most significant works for the organ -  Six Sonatas Op.65. Especially fond of Mendelssohn's organ music, Rabin chose to perform Sonata No. 4 in B-flat major of the Op. 65 collection. The flamboyant, grand opening Allegro con brio, a toccata offering trumpet-like passages, was followed by an Andante religioso, its expressive melody reminiscent of Bach’s chorale movements. Another tranquil movement, a lyrical and charming Allegretto, its melody accompanied by an obbligato of continuous semi-quavers, gave no hint as to the tour de force to follow -  the Allegro maestoso e vivace, a majestic, ebullient fugue, its subject beginning with sixteenth notes in the pedals, book-ended by majestic opening and closing sections. Rabin's playing reflected the elegance and impetuous vitality which characterize Mendelssohn's music in general.

 

Moving to Berlin, we heard a short work by Polish-German composer Louis Lewandowski (1821–1894). Thanks to the support of Alexander Mendelssohn, a cousin of Felix Mendelssohn, Lewandowski was able to attend the Berlin Academy of  Music, an institution which did not admit Jewish students. Lewandowski was then to become one of the pioneers of the central European cantorial style.  Rabin performed one of the Fünf Fest-Präludien, Op. 37, written during Lewandowski's tenure as musical director at the Neue Synagoge in Berlin. Each of the Preludes relates to a specific Jewish holiday, each highly melodic, each composed in the strict four-part harmony of church music, with many of the pieces based on ancient cantorial modal melodies. The artist played Prelude No.2, based on the Kol Nidrei melody, sung on the eve of the Day of Atonement, the piece's opening evoking the momentousness and aura of the occasion, its musical quotations clearly emerging as they weave through the fabric of the piece.

 

The thread running through the program culminated in a composition of Yuval Rabin himself - "Hommage à Mendelssohn".  Based on "Yedid Nefesh" (Lover of my soul), a Sabbath melody, Rabin incorporates many musical turns of phrase from Mendelssohn's writing. Following statement of the melody itself, we hear four vivid and challenging variations inspired by Mendelssohn's stylish organ phraseology, the final variation an elaborate fugue. An impressive work, well handled.

 

Dr. Yuval Rabin serves as president of the Israel Organ Association.

 

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor: Lahav Shani, performs a concert of the Hatikva Project in Jerusalem. Soloists: Shay Bloch, Dmitry Ratush

 

Courtesy Miri Shamir

Offering 18 concerts in 13 cities throughout Israel over the course of five days, the Hatikva Project was conceived by Sharon Azrieli (chair of the advisory council of the Azrieli Music, Arts and Culture Centre) for the Azrieli Foundation in collaboration with Israel's professional- and youth orchestras. With "Music heals community" as its slogan, the project's goal was to spread new hope across the nation. ("Hatikva", the title of Israel's national anthem, translates into English as "hope".) All the concert programs featured, among other works, compositions of Israeli composers, as well as Jewish sacred music. This writer attended a concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by its music director Lahav Shani, at the Jerusalem Theatre on November 3rd, 2024. Soloists were Dmitry Ratush (viola) and Shay Bloch (mezzo-soprano).

 

The program opened with "Therefore Choose Life" by Boris Pigovat (b.1953, Odessa, USSR), who immigrated to Israel in 1990. "Therefore Choose Life" (Deuteronomy 30:19), premiered September 2017, is tonal in concept, the work's opening's intense, foreboding message glazed with dissonances, indeed, with some clusters. To the listener's surprise, the foreboding dark sound world gives way to sounds of hope, the latter free of dissonances, the new musical agenda brightened with the timbral lustre of harp, xylophones and celesta, the tutti now bringing a new message. A winsome folk-like melody pervades the final part of the work. This fine piece is well suited to the IPO's forces - to its marvellous tutti playing, but also to the poignant soloing on the part of its players. Of "Therefore Choose Life", Pigovat writes: "...I tried to express my feeling that life (with all its pain, suffering and tragedies) is meant to be filled with beauty, hope, light and love." A work of profound humanity that rings applicable to our times.

 

Two works on the program featured Shay Bloch. Her performance of Maurice Ravel's "Two Hebrew Melodies" for voice and orchestra (originally for voice and piano in 1914, orchestrated by the composer in 1919) brought out the melismatic, unhurried, spontaneous manner and deep, emotional mystique of the "Kaddish" prayer (sung in Aramaic), its tragic pathos followed by the whimsical, cynical melancholy of "The Eternal Riddle" (sung in Yiddish), with its defiantly repetitive accompaniment. The IPO's attentive, subtle realization of the instrumental score endorsed the meaning of both movements. Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No.1, "Jeremiah" (1942), a remarkably challenging, imaginative and spiritual work to emerge from the pen of a 24-year-old composer, proved to be a prediction not only of his future success but also of the tragedy that would befall his own people. His astonishing mastery in depicting of the "intensity of the prophet’s pleas with his people" (the composer's own words) in "Prophecy" (1st movement) and of the "destruction and chaos brought on by the pagan corruption within the priesthood and the people" in "Profanation" (2nd movement) took shape as vivid, dazzling canvases, attesting to the IPO's forces, its rich array of orchestral colours and timbres and to the players' precision, their dynamic- and expressive command. Joining the orchestra in "Lamentation", the final movement, with texts (in Hebrew) from the Book of Lamentations, Bloch's performance was gripping and sensitive, her voice substantial, resonant and mellow, as she fervently evoked Jeremiah's mourning over his beloved Jerusalem. The vocal line was punctuated by elegantly-shaped orchestral interludes.

 

The program's Israeli content was provided by two short instrumental works. In "Tefillah" for string orchestra (1961), Tzvi Avni takes the listener through a generous sweep of emotions, from introspective-, inward-looking-, even whispy,otherworldly moments, to extravagant, breathless dance-like rhythms, the sections' contrasting agendas proceeding seamlessly by virtue of the composer's large palette of melodic ideas, combinations and textures. Fine concert fare! Principal violist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (1938-1956) Oedoen Partos composed "Yizkor" (In Memoriam) for viola and string orchestra in 1946 to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. Current IPO principal violist Dmitry Ratush gave an outstanding performance of this modal tone poem, his playing meticulously shaped, introspective and expressive, yet restrained, inviting the music itself to communicate its tragic message to the listener.

 

 Maestro Shani led the orchestra and soloists with eloquence.

A new recording by Myrna Herzog and Tal Arbel - "MATTHEW LOCKE: DUOS on Lewis viols from the same tree" - performed on twin historic bass viols

 

From what we have read, composer/theorist Matthew Locke (?1621-1677) was a headstrong, outspoken character who bore grudges and spoke his mind without much regard for the consequences. These traits did not, however, prevent him from becoming ranked as one of England's finest composers, albeit a composer living in turbulent times, times which saw the execution of a king, the temporary triumph of Republicanism and then the restoration of monarchy. When he died in August 1677, he had risen to become Charles II's Composer of the Wind Music and Composer for the Violins, and was at the forefront of re-establishing music at the Restoration. His works include a number of operas and the processional march for Charles II's coronation in 1661. Locke, however, has become a fairly obscure composer these days and unaccountably neglected, largely due to the fact that a lot of his music no longer exists. Nevertheless, an extensive collection of his chamber music has survived, thanks to the composer's own publishing efforts in the late 1660s. A recently-issued recording - "MATTHEW LOCKE: DUOS on Lewis viols from the same tree" - played by Myrna Herzog (Brazil-Israel) and Tal Arbel (Israel) offers listeners the opportunity to hear Locke's Duos for two bass viols, composed in 1652. They divide into four three-movement suites, each taking the form of two short fantasias followed by a triple-time dance.

 

What is unique here is that Herzog and Arbel play on twin historic viols produced at the turn of the 17^th century by distinguished British instrument maker Edward Lewis (1651-1717). Dendrochronology (the scientific method used to determine the age of a tree) has revealed that these two instruments were indeed made from the log of the same tree, felled around 1665. The more one listens to the suites, the more aware one becomes of the fact that each miniature movement is a perfectly constructed musical jewel, its richly beguiling melodic strains masterfully dovetailed. As each role challenges players with constant leaps between low and high registers, there is no 1st or 2nd part and the viols’ shared unique tonal harmony means that the listener is unable to distinguish between who is playing what and when! Two like-minded artists playing on identical twin instruments produce the perfect timbral blend. Herzog and Arbel's diligent reading into the pieces offers subtle reminders of Locke's experimenting with major/minor key clashes and contrasting rhythms. Waving the banner for English music, Locke has been quoted as saying that he "never yet saw any foreign instrumental composition worthy an English man's transcribing", but adding "a few French Corants excepted".  Indeed, evidence of his familiarity with the French style is present here via the presence of courants, although Locke's writing would have been significantly more virtuosic than French writing for viols at that time. Both the D major- and C minor Duos conclude with a fairly solid Corant, with the D major- and C major Duos each winding up with a buoyant, frisky Saraband, justifying this dance's place at the end as the fastest dance of the 17th-century suite.

 

I love the raw, real sound of the two Lewis viols; Myrna Herzog and Tal Arbel's playing on them emerges clean, unmannered and tasteful, both delicate and hearty, offering some eloquent affects, the overall soundscape nevertheless creating a colourful picture of the eccentric, inspired and daring composer himself. And, as they present the fine detail of each vignette, the players are obviously relishing their convivial musical conversations! The Duos juxtapose what Locke himself had referred to as "art and contrivance" with "light and airy musick".  Written for friends to play, and considered a part of the standard repertoire of gambists, this richly imaginative music is rarely performed in public. "MATTHEW LOCKE: DUOS on Lewis viols from the same tree" was recorded in May, 2024 by Eliahu Feldman at Ensemble PHOENIX’s centre in Raanana, Israel. Mastering was carried out by David Feldman, skilfully recreating the historical resonant ambiance suited to the viol sound. The cover photo was taken by Shlomo Moyal, the luthier who restored one of the viols following damage caused to it on a flight. Appearing on a number of digital platforms, the recording offers a rare opportunity to delight listeners in this pivotal and marvellous repertoire of the viol ensemble genre.