Nitai Zori, Hillel Zori and Dror Semmel perform Schubert Trios Op.99 and Op.100 on period instruments at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Jerusalem

Nitai Zori, Dror Semmel, Hillel Zori (Shirley Burdick)

On May 24th 2025, the auditorium of the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, was packed to capacity for a festive event - a concert of chamber music featuring the center's newest acquisition - a Graf fortepiano.  Performing the all-Schubert program were artistic director of the Eden-Tamir Music Center Dror Semmel (fortepiano), Nitai Zori (violin) and Hillel Zori ('cello).

 

In January 2025, Paul McNulty (USA-Czech Republic), celebrated for his meticulous craftsmanship and expertise in the building of historical fortepianos, arrived in Jerusalem to add the final adjustments to the newly-crafted instrument now making its home at the Eden-Tamir Music Center. The Graf fortepiano, handcrafted from walnut and modelled after instruments used by Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin, bridges the past to the present, offering musicians and audiences an authentic glimpse into the soundscapes of classical music’s golden era. The addition of the McNulty Graf fortepiano not only enriches the Eden-Tamir Center's concert repertoire; it also underscores the center's commitment to preserving and promoting historical performance practice and to attracting musicians, scholars and audiences eager to experience the rich sounds of the fortepiano's heyday. This is the only Graf fortepiano in Israel.

 

Opening the event, Dr. Dror Semmel expressed his appreciation to the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation for its support in the purchase of the instrument. All three of the performing artists spoke about the instruments they would be playing. Semmel spoke of the acoustic properties of the fortepiano. The string players referred to historic bows.  Hillel Zori played on a Baroque 'cello (Amit Tiefenbrunn), whereas Nitai Zori was playing a period Classical violin. Both were playing on gut strings. 

 

The program comprised Franz Schubert's Piano Trio in B flat major Op.99 and Piano Trio No.2 in E flat major Op.100. It is possible that Schubert composed these two monumental piano trios close together in late 1827, the year before his death, although it remains unclear in what order they were written. Work on them seems to have taken place simultaneously with that on "Die Winterreise", the trios providing a lighter project to divert Schubert’s attention from the illness and melancholy that was preoccupying him in the last months of his life. 

 

Opening with Op.99, the artists had the audience at the edge of its seats, with playing that gave clean, articulate expression to the work's sparkling, buoyant writing, to its lyrical sweep and melodic inventiveness and to Schubert’s use of modulation and the changing of keys to vary the presentation, treatment and tone colour of his themes. Following the bold, intense gestures of the opening Allegro moderato, we were lured into the personal discourse and gorgeous songful theme expressed so tenderly in the second movement (Andante un poco mosso), perhaps a graceful façade for the doubts and the anguish of a Schubert no more than a few months off death. Then, following the playful, good-natured Scherzo with its coy Trio, the Viennese melodiousness of the Rondo reasserted the blitheness of the first movement, with Schubert's distinctive tremolos in the piano, these adding an air of mystery and a wistful flutter of heart. 

 

Robert Schumann considered Schubert's two great trios a complementary pair - the B-flat, more lyrical; the E-flat, more robust. Indeed, it was Schumann who hailed the E-flat trio as "an angry meteor blazing forth and outshining everything in the musical atmosphere of the time."  The artists' inspired playing of the Allegro, its opening unison motif bold, the second theme peaceful, emerged in a myriad of meticulously shaped phrases, the Schubert-style keyboard arpeggios fetchingly delicate, then to build up dramatically. Following the Andante con moto, one of Schubert's most haunting melodies, cast over a quasi funeral-march rhythm, its stormy outbursts punctuated by general calm and mysterious gestures, the contrapuntally elegant, lightly-tripping Allegro takes flight. The Allegro moderato (final) movement bears eloquent (indeed nostalgic) witness to the cohesion and cyclic element of this panoramic work. And there it was - that striking, heart-stopping moment in the finale where Schubert brings back the funeral music, the movement's conclusion then to twist into the major key. The artists played the full, original version of the 4th movement.

 

From their playing and close communication, one is aware of the fact that Semmel and the Zori brothers have collaborated much in the performance of chamber music. With commitment and compelling emotional involvement, they addressed- and presented every nuance of these two tremendous piano trios on period instruments - the sound world familiar to Schubert. Not to be ignored was the dynamic range of the instruments, the splendid copy of the 1819 fortepiano sounding crystal-clear and true (with Semmel skilfully bringing into play the unique tonal qualities implemented by the instrument's tricky pedal system.) 

Graf fortepiano (Courtesy Dr. Dror Semmel)

Telemann in Paris - Jochewed Schwarz, Gilat Rotkop and Ashley Solomon perform works of Telemann and French Baroque composers at Brigham Young University, Jerusalem

Jochewed Schwarz,Ashley Solomon,Gilat Rotkop (Yitzhak Hochmann)

 

 

"Telemann in Paris", a concert of Baroque music on period instruments, took place at the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies on May 18th, 2025. The program comprised a selection of Telemann's works alongside those of his French contemporaries. Performing them were Jochewed Schwarz - spinet, Gilat Rotkop - bassoon and Ashley Solomon (UK) - Baroque flute.

France was always present in the music of Georg Philipp Telemann and in his mind, with allusions and references to French music in many of his works. In 1737, Telemann travelled to Paris.  Living in the heart of the Marais quarter with the greatest harpsichord player of the time, Antoine Vater, he had the opportunity to meet the most prominent instrumentalists and composers of Paris, his new French friends including Guignon, Blavet, Forqueray, Mondonville, Naudot, Bodin de Boismortier, Campra and Clérambault. While in Paris, Telemann composed and received the royal privilege to publish at Ballard (publisher of Lully and Rameau's music), thus perpetuating his strong bond with the city.

 

The Jerusalem program opened with Michel Blavet's Sonata No.3, Op.2, “La Vibray”, for flute and basso continuo. A musician who had influenced Telemann, Blavet was one of the most outstanding flautists of his time. His compositional oeuvre consisted almost exclusively of music for his own instrument. Appearing in print in 1731, Blavet's Op.2 Sonatas attest to the Italian model. However, in order to remain in step with the French mindset, Blavet inserted "portraits" of sorts - pieces either bearing the name of an actual or fictitious person or a title evoking a quality. So, who is La Vibray? Probably a French aristocratic lady, I would imagine. Ashley Solomon's playing of the solo line highlighted the grace and agility of "La Vibray", its (her) elegance inviting suave ornamentation. Playing a Palanca flute made by Martin Wenner, Solomon continued with one of  Telemann's Fantasias for Solo Flute, a cycle published in 1727 that has had a great influence on the flautist and recorder player’s world. Telemann himself was a fine flautist, which explains his understanding of the capabilities of the instrument and his ability to write idiomatically for it. Solomon's playing of the A minor Fantasia, with its movements of differing tempi, moods and styles, unfolded as a bold, personal musical adventure, albeit in miniature. Another Telemann work on the program was the Methodical Sonata in E minor, TWV 41:e2. Having left behind the limitations of responsibility towards a single sovereign, Telemann was now catering to a more open musical public. The idea behind the Methodical Sonatas (1728) was to provide amateur musicians, of which Hamburg had a thriving community, with guidance on High Baroque ornamentation of differing stylistic conventions, mainly those of Italy and France. (Telemann provides these guidelines for each of the slow first movements.) Indeed, the sonatas themselves are considerably more attractive than their collective title might suggest. In the artists' finely-chiselled and delicately detailed performance of the E minor Sonata, Solomon's intuitive feeling for Telemann’s idiom is present throughout, as he and his fellow players express the work's playful ideas as well as its touching sense of melancholy, as in the third movement marked "Cunando" (cradling).

 

And to three works of François Couperin. "Les goûts- réunis" (The Tastes Reunited), incorporating elements of the Italian style, were composed for the entertainment of the aging Louis XIV. The artists' playing of Concert No.13 of the collection was effectively contrasted, exuberant and full of dignity and beauty, also characterised by a hint of the nostalgia heard in other Couperin works. Concert No.13 was bookended by Schwarz's refined playing of two  pieces for harpsichord. Couperin le Grand's 240 keyboard pieces provide a fascinating portrait of the composer's time, presenting musical vignettes of his friends and enemies, of important court personalities as well as of people outside of Couperin’s immediate circle. Schwarz's elegant Italian trapezoidal William Horn spinet (inspired by a spinet of the Italian building school of the 16th century) made a robust statement in the fine acoustic space of the auditorium. Written in the arpeggiated style brisé, her playing of the (enigmatic) piece titled "Les Barricades Mystérieuses" (The Mysterious Barricades) was haunting and compelling in its seamless scheme and shifting colour palette. Richly ornamented, "La Ménétou" describes French harpsichordist/composer Françoise-Charlotte de Senneterre Ménétou (1679-1745), who had been a student of François Couperin. Another keyboard solo on the program was the lavishly ornamented Chaconne in F by Gaspard Le Roux, the latter composer being one of the most enigmatic of the late 17th century. The piece is replete with courtly mannerisms but not overlaid with formality. How pleasurable it was to call in on Jochewed Schwarz "in her private music room".

 

After the death of King Louis XIV at the end of the Baroque era, the rising of the bourgeoisie opened up new opportunities for composers in Paris. Joseph Bodin de Boismortier met the demand for works with a vast amount of gallant, easily-playable chamber music, which he also published himself (a practice rare till then.) Playing on a copy of an Eichentopf bassoon (1750) by Olivier Cottet (Paris), Gilat Rotkop gave much lively support to the basso continuo roles throughout the evening. Now, in Boismortier's Trio Sonata in E minor Op.17 No.2, she and Solomon engaged in lively, precise and articulate dialogue, the three artists giving elegant expression to the intricate subtleties of the work's three pint-sized movements and to the composer's keen interest in the technical and tonal characteristics of all three instruments. For an encore, we heard the Largo cantabile from Antonio Vivaldi's Trio Sonata in A minor RV 86 for flute (treble recorder) bassoon and continuo in A minor RV86, indeed, a virtuoso movement for the bassoon!

"Pimpinone" - works by Telemann performed by the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: David Shemer. Vocal soloists: Daniela Skorka, Lidor Ram Mesika

Lidor Ram Mesika Ⓒ Yoel Levy

Daniela Skorka Ⓒ Yoel Levy

 

"Pimpinone", Concert No.5 of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra's 36th season, was conducted by JBO founder and music director Prof. David Shemer. The program comprised two works of Georg Philipp Telemann. Soloists were Daniela Skorka (soprano) and Lidor Ram Mesika (baritone/countertenor). This writer attended the performance on May 11th, 2025, at the Jerusalem International YMCA. 

 

Telemann’s extensive oeuvre comprises no fewer than 135 overtures (ouvertures) or suites for orchestra. Although written for specific occasions and for different instrumental combinations (perhaps originally as ballet music) they have joined the canon of concert repertoire due the composer's inspired writing and craftsmanship. A popular genre, which had its roots in France, the ouverture also included other influences, such as that of the Italian style, some also coloured with elements of traditional music. The evening's program opened with Telemann's Ouverture Suite in B-flat, "Burlesque", TWV 55:B8 for strings and basso continuo, a work which, besides two minuets, depicts several characters from the world of the commedia dell'arte. Setting the scene with the Overture itself, the JBO players lined up the characters - the villainous, manoeuvring Scaramouche,  leaping Harlequinade buffoonery and japery, an appealing, cantabile description of the servant Columbine (Harlequin's mistress), the mischievous trickery and comments of the lovesick Pierrot, then to wind up with a wild, impetuous dance representing the schemer and trouble-maker Mezzetin, its closing moments laced with a touch of the oriental. In playing of tasteful, articulate expression, the JBO instrumentalists brought out the contrasts between the ouverture's various movements, together with its whimsical and theatrical aspects.

 

 

Also based on the commedia dell’arte tradition, Telemann's comic opera "Pimpinone" TWV 21:15 originated as an intermezzo form. Premiered at the Gänsemarkt Opera in Hamburg in September 1725 and performed as an insert in George Frederic Handel’s opera seria "Tamerlano", it soon took on a life of its own and was heard all over Europe. Telemann took the highlights from a sparkling Italian libretto of Pietro Pariati and combined them with new texts by German poet Johann Philipp Praetorious. What emerged was an opera whose texts alternate between the Italian- and German languages. Telemann set the recitatives in German, thereby ensuring that his audience at the Gänsemarkt Opera could easily follow the plot. The comic opera features just two characters – Pimpinone, an elderly, wealthy, gullible man, and Vespetta, a scheming chambermaid. In search of a husband and fortune. Vespetta (her name translates as "little wasp") first convinces Pimpinone to hire her as his maid, then persuading him to propose marriage. Now his wife, she becomes the real boss of the household, controlling every aspect of the titular character’s life. The roles seem tailor-made for home-grown artists Daniela Skorka and Lidor Ram Mesika. Skorka makes for a coquettish Vespetta, revelling in her underhand control of the foolish, love-struck Pimpinone, as she constantly shares her wily strategies with the audience. Mesika, less blusterous, showing fewer facial and physical gestures (indeed, a reflective, confused Pimpinone) draws the audience in with his exceptionally resonant singing, his marvellously rich baritone voice emerging natural, even in timbre and well-anchored.  His aria (or, rather, duet with himself) “So quel che si dice e quel che si fa”, on the subject of gossiping neighbours, was a special treat, as he imitated the gossip-mongers, juggling their patter in quick exchanges of baritone- and countertenor passages. Skorka harnesses the sheer beauty of her bright, clear voice and her delightful stage presence to present the message of each aria. Both singers shifted smoothly between the Italian and German texts. The succession of arias - saucy and headstrong pieces for Vespetta and the confused and increasingly outraged numbers for Pimpinone - were produced with articulacy and fine diction, as were the duets, some of which presented the characters' singing individual agendas simultaneously! These also were performed with transparency and zest. The singers were supported by nimble, high-quality instrumental playing.

 

 

Breathing new life into stock comic characters from the 17th century in this delightful little domestic sitcom, Telemann's score bubbles with rhythmic verve and melodic invention. Not to be ignored is the fact that the piece is a musical comment on then-contemporary professional and private spheres, referring to the hard life of single women, the significance of wealth and social standing for eligibility for marriage and the injustices of patriarchal marriage law. Add to those the element of ridicule directed at romantically-inclined senior citizens.  However, Telemann's own domestic life was turned upside-down after his second marriage to Maria Katharina Textor, the teenage daughter of a local town clerk.  Rumours of Maria’s extra-marital activities began to circulate throughout Hamburg society, as local newspapers published detailed accounts of her romantic conquests, leaving Telemann mercilessly mocked as the aging, senile and scorned husband. The composer, in turn, responded artistically to these insults by composing "Pimpinone", aptly named "Die ungleiche Heirat zwischen Vespetta und Pimpinone” or “Das herrschsüchtige Kammer Mädchen" ("The Unequal Marriage Between Vespetta and Pimpinone" or "The Domineering Chambermaid".). 

 

It was a sparkling, uplifting concert, excellently presented. Prof. David Shemer dedicated the event to the memory of musicologist Prof. Jehoash Hershberg, researcher of Baroque opera and one of the JBO's original instrumentalists.

 

"Love is in the Airs" - the Carmel Quartet and Cecila Ensemble perform works on the subject of love from madigals of William Byrd to Eric Whitacre's "Five Hebrew Love Songs"

 

Photo: Yoel Levy

The Carmel Quartet's recent concert was very different from past events of its "Strings and More" series. In "Love is in the Airs", a program on the subject of love, the Carmel Quartet (established 2000) hosted the Cecilia Ensemble (music director: Guy Pelc). Replacing Prof. Yoel Greenberg (Carmel Quartet director/violist) and 1st violinist Rachel Ringelstein, we heard Matan Dagan (1st violin) and Shuli Waterman (viola) alongside Carmel Quartet members Tali Goldberg (violin) and Tami Waterman ('cello). Established by Naomi Faran (Moran Choirs conductor/musical director) the Cecilia Ensemble, an octet of outstanding soloists, serves as the professional representative ensemble of the Moran Choirs. "Love is in the Airs" was the Cecilia Ensemble's first collaboration with the Carmel Quartet. This writer attended the concert at the Jerusalem Music Centre, Mishkenot Sha'ananim on March 4th, 2025.

 

Opening the program, the Cecilia Ensemble members performed four a-cappella songs, commencing with a dynamic, ebullient performance of one of William Byrd's few secular pieces - "This sweet and merry month of May" - the Italianate madrigal's text reflecting the accepted English practice of praising Elizabeth I. This was followed by Byrd's "Lullaby, my sweet little baby", the ensemble highlighting Byrd's smooth flow of lush harmonies. Indeed tender, but with the balance a little heavy on the part of the sopranos. Then to two madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi. The quintet performing "A un giro sol de begl'occhi" (At a single glance of those beautiful eyes) led the listener from the realm of idyllic love as mirrored in nature, to sadness and on to vehement expression of love's cruelty, the singers highlighting Monteverdi's wonderful word-painting (madrigalism) and dissonances. Following that, the rich, serene nature scene of "Ecco mormorar l'onde" (Now the waves murmur) offered consolation to "each burnt-out heart". 

 

In 1996, Eric Whitacre (b.1971, USA) composed his "Five Hebrew Love Songs" to poems by singer/actress Hila Plitmann (b.1974, Israel), who would later become his wife. Originally written for soprano solo, piano and violin, the small poems (referred to by Whitacre as "postcards") take shape as a musical suite, each song, each, at the same time, remaining a single performable unit. In 2001, Whitacre arranged the songs for SATB chorus and string quartet, which was the setting performed at the Jerusalem concert. Following "A Picture", performed by the women singers, delicately depicting the love inside a person's heart, we heard "Light Bride", alternating between sections sung by male voices and contrasting vivid, unrestrained and dancelike sections sung by the women, these sections embellished with a touch of percussion. The third song, "Mostly", is characterized by its soprano solo (Lotem Taub) and by ascending and descending scales suggesting the idea of roof and sky as the subtle distance between two lovers. In "What Snow!", players and singers give expression to Whitacre's marvellous winter canvas, the violins evoking the pristine snow scene with flageolets, the score's ravishing clusters describing snowflakes. The bells sounding at the beginning of the song represent the exact pitches of bells the couple heard each morning from a nearby cathedral in Germany. An exceptional tableau and beautifully performed! The fifth song "Tenderness", sensuous, clement and oriental in flavour, concludes the suite, a work highlighting Whitacre's fine, expressive writing for both voices and instruments. 

 

From the freehearted, plainspoken approach to fresh love in Whitacre's "Five Hebrew Love Songs" to the elusive, mystical quality of British composer Gustav Holst's "Seven Part Songs" Op.44, set to poems of  English poet laureate Robert Bridges and scored for three-part women's chorus, strings and solo soprano. With the solo sections shared among the singers, we were presented with a profound, detailed reading of the pieces, the artists contending well with Holst's later choral compositional style and his highly personal brand of complex modal harmony. Singers (and players!) engaged in the complexities and beauty of the verbal texts with a sense of personal involvement. From the first song, "Say who is this?", the viola drone endorsing its eerie, bleak content, the songs challenge the listener to ponder each text and contemplate the many aspects of love presented here. In "When first we met," its sophisticated canonic interplay of vocal and orchestral forces emerging both alluring and disturbing, we learn that love is "so hard a master". Inspirited by a zesty ostinato, "Sorrow and Joy", on the other hand, offers a few home truths and advice on managing love and presented with the wink of an eye; whereas the homophonic, delicate and warmly expressive miniature "Love on my heart from heaven fell" (solo: Tom Ben Ishai) presents love as an idyllic state. Setting the scene with a soprano solo (Lotem Taub), supported by a cold, ghostly pedal in the first violin, the final song, "Assemble all ye maidens," by far the longest of the set, takes a dramatic approach to the poem describing a lady who died for love. A masterpiece, it represents the culmination of Holst’s mature art as a choral composer. One of Holst’s most profound compositions, it reflects the composer’s interest in the supernatural. 

 

Despite achieving great professional success, it seems Johannes Brahms remained unlucky in love. Involved in a number of romantic relationships throughout his lifetime, he is believed to have also developed feelings for Robert and Clara Schumann’s daughter Julie. Indeed, Brahms completed his Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52 in 1869, the year her engagement was announced. Light and unpretentious, the dances in Ländler style were designed for the enjoyment of talented amateurs rather than for concert artists, the eighteen songs representing two musical trends of the 1800s - dances to be played by piano duet and vocal pieces on the subject of love. To this end, Brahms selected verses from Georg Friedrich Daumer’s "Polydora", an 1855 German anthology of folk song texts from many countries. The poems Brahms chose comment on various aspects of love: some are set to longer, more serious texts, while others read like terse proverbs. Enter two distinctive Israeli musical figures - pianist, music theorist, and award-winning theatre composer Yuval Shapira and pianist/ accompanist, vocal coach, lecturer and translator Dr. Ido Ariel. Shapira's desire to re-score Brahms' piano role (so arresting in piano style and beauty that the composer arranged it for piano 4 hands without voices in 1875) had me worrying I might be hankering for that Brahmsian pianistic sumptuousness and poesy throughout the performance. But no! Shapira's arrangement offered much interest and individual expression to the string parts, both team-wise and individually, not losing sight of the composer's expressive use of melody, imaginative harmonies and counterpoint, or of the unique (experimental!) way in which Brahms controls the rhythmic and metric flow to suit each of these miniatures.  Ariel's sharp-witted translation of the songs is faithful to Daumer's original German - no less piquant, no less whimsical, no less delightsome - as the Hebrew words weave themselves naturally and effortlessly through and around Brahms' melodic course! Instrumentalists and singers were clearly savouring every verbal- and musical gesture of Brahms' multifarious lexicon of love…as was the audience.

 

A recently issued CD - "Last Dance". Michael Tsalka and Diana Weston perform works from J.C.F.Bach to contemporary music on square piano and harpsichord

 

Keyboard artists Diana Weston and Michael Tsalka have recently recorded a second disc of classical and contemporary works for square piano and harpsichord on the Wirripang Media label. And, as in "Full Moon" (Wirripang Media, February, 2024), their previous joint recording, the artists offer the listener several works for 4 hands, solo pieces, earlier and contemporary repertoire and works by Australian composers. 

 

The disc's opening work is Sonata in A major for 4 hands by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795), the lesser-known third of Johann Sebastian Bach’s four composing sons, the 16th of his twenty children. Like his brothers and father, J.C.F.Bach was known as a virtuoso keyboard player. Having spent time in London, where he was exposed to the music of Mozart and the burgeoning Classical style, he then brought back a fortepiano with him to Germany, meaning that one could assume that his chamber music from that time onwards might be intended for the fortepiano rather than the harpsichord. Performing Friedrich's Sonata in A major, Tsalka and Weston present hearty dialogue in the bold, sparkling Allegro movement and in the bonheur of the following Allegretto, the artists' playing testifying to Friedrich's reputed congenial nature, as heard throughout this charming sonata.

 

The music of Johann Baptist Vaňhal (1739-1813), whose prodigious gifts took him from rural Bohemia to the very top of the musical world in 18th-century Vienna, has fallen into relative obscurity. Indeed, Vanhal is a shadowy figure; only part of his vast output of music has been satisfactorily evaluated or even catalogued. (Michael Tsalka, however, brought renewed attention to the composer's fine keyboard writing in his recording of Vaňhal's Keyboard Capriccios (Grand Piano, 2015.) In the late 1770s, Vaňhal redirected his attention from composing symphonies and string quartets to writing much music for- and with keyboard, catering to the changing musical tastes of the Viennese public and enjoying the new opportunities offered by the fledgling Viennese music publishing industry. Of the two Op.32 Sonatas for piano 4 hands, we hear Tsalka and Weston's performance of Sonata No.1 in F major, a work highlighting the character of the square piano and the joy of house music. The sonata abounds in a sense of well-being and affection, also displaying the polish and élan of Vaňhal's music, its depth and whimsy, the latter apparent in the syncopated rhythmic play of the Allegro. 

 

Still within the domain of domestic music for 4 hands, the artists play L van Beethoven's Variations on a Theme by Count Grafen von Waldstein, a piece from the composer's last days in Bonn (a work  generally overlooked by Beethoven scholars!) Indeed, the theme-and- variations form plays an important role throughout Beethoven’s writing. Performing the piece on square piano, Weston and Tsalka give the stage to its major-minor duality, its colourful offering of pianistic writing and its variety of moods and gestures. Interestingly, we hear Beethoven trying out new and quite daring feats. Tsalka and Weston address the inventiveness and richness of this decidedly extravagant piece with panache, entertaining the listener with the spontaneity of quick-change artists.

 

Moving into the 21st century, we hear Prof. Tsalka's performance of "Brushstrokes" by Nicholas Smith (b.1934 UK, now residing in China), premiered by Tsalka in Ningbo, China in April 2024. Played on piano forte, it invites the listener to luxuriate in just over two minutes of richly mellifluous Romantic-style piano music. Dedicated by Spanish pianist/composer Joan Josep Gutiérrez Yzquierdo to Michael Tsalka, "Prelude and Fugue" was premiered by Tsalka at the Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival (Holland) in 2019. Inspired by Mendelssohn's writing, the Prelude (played on square piano) revisits the sweeping melodic outpouring and rich harmonic textures of the Romantic piano. Tsalka moves to the harpsichord for the ensuing Fugue - a single-subject, three-voiced, Blues-tinted fugue, its ambience suggesting "the swing of jazz", in the composer's words. Tsalka's intelligent performance calls attention to Gutiérrez Yzquierdo's resourceful and masterful writing in these two atypically paired movements.

 

The disc features two works of Aspasia Nasopoulou (b.1972 Greece, now residing in Holland), many of her works being inspired by literature, mythology and philosophy from different cultures. "Io" refers to the Greek tale of Io, who was transformed by Zeus into a calf. The harpsichord piece, commissioned in 2018 for Diana Weston, is a programme work, vigorous in its uncompromising style. Weston engages rigorously in its profusion of harpsichord textures to create a convincing musical observation of the story's sequence of events (described in the liner notes), the myth's dramatic storyline only finding peace when Io is eventually restored to her original human state. The work falls into eight sections, these correlating with the eight phases of the moon. The 3*1 Suite, consisting of three pieces (Tsalka, piano forte) takes inspiration from three Rubaiyat poems of Persian mathematician/philosopher Omar Khayyám (1048-1131). The model upon which Nasopoulou bases the three miniatures here is that of the 4-line Rabaiyats, a form also alluding to the content course of the poem. Tsalka's articulate and riveting playing of the mostly atonal pieces, each somewhat descriptive via developing motifs, each highly contemplative, takes the listener into both the mystery and universality of these ancient poems.

 

Violeta Dinescu (b. 1953, Romania, now residing in Germany) composed "Variazioni alla Vanhal" for Diana Weston and Michael Tsalka. Performed on harpsichord (Weston) and square piano (Tsalka), the work takes its inspiration from Vaňhal's Sonata No.1 in F major Op.32! and is largely improvisational. In its many sections, some mere fragments, Dinescu invites the artists to take the lead from motifs from Sonata No.1. This they do with verve, bold freedom and fantasy, displaying fine teamwork, taking on board the process described by Dinescu as "like a dream…continuously transformed…a hierarchy of surprises…every time along a new narrative of musical thread". 

 

And to the three works by Australian composers. Two works of Ann Carr-Boyd (b.Australia, 1938) featured in "Full Moon" were inspired by Australian nature scenes, as are her two works in "Last Dance". "Moonacres Farm", offering an alluring timbral meeting of piano forte (Tsalka) and harpsichord (Weston), draws the listener into its marvellously serene mood, the artists' performance in collusion with the composer's concept of it as "suggestive of the moon hovering over paddocks and trees". The two movements of "Outback River", a reworking of the piece commissioned by Diana Weston in 2022 (originally for harpsichord and two 'cellos) were inspired by the  surging Darling River in New South Wales when pervaded by floodwaters. Again, played on square and harpsichord, the artists give a bracing, involved and evocative performance of Carr-Boyd's rich canvas, its multilayering descriptive of the power, the vibrancy (and dangers) of sweeping floodwaters, the composer's meandering melodies and richly-fashioned textures never far removed from the tonal/modal setup.

 

"First Dance" (2015) by prolific Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin (b.Tashkent, 1957), is played by Diana Weston on piano forte. Written in honour of the wedding of Kats-Chernin's son, Weston's touching rendition of the piece strikes a personal note, its flowing, sentimental melodiousness woven throughout the piece with a trace of melancholy.

 

Dr. Weston (Sydney, Australia) and Prof. Tsalka (Israel-China) have performed and recorded together for some years. Recorded in July 2024 in Naremburn, Sydney, Australia, "Last Dance" commands sound quality that is real and articulate. The instruments played are an original square piano (piano forte) labelled Robertson, made by James Smith (Liverpool, c.1835) and restored by Jennifer Roberts and Marcelo Costi (Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia); and a Flemish reproduction harpsichord by Marc du Cornet. In this fitting follow-up to "Full Moon", Tsalka and Weston once again call attention to the varied (and extending) repertoire written for historic keyboards, the artists' outstanding renditions reflecting scrutinous probing into each work and style. 

 Diana Weston (Thorough Bass)

Michael Tsalka (Geelvinck Muziek Musea)

Pianist Shir Semmel joins the Tel Aviv Wind Quintet in a varied program of European chamber music at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Jerusalem

Shir Semmel (www.jamd.ac.il)

 

Tel Aviv Wind Quintet Ⓒ Dan Erez

A flying musical visit to Europe via works spanning from the Baroque to the 20th century was the fare for a concert in The Best of Chamber Music series at the Eden-Tamir Music Center, Jerusalem, on January 25th 2025. Joining the Tel Aviv Wind Quintet - Hagar Shahal (flute), Nir Gavrieli (oboe, guest artist), Danny Erdman (clarinet), Itamar Leshem (horn) and Nadav Cohen (bassoon) - was pianist Shir Semmel.

 

The program opened with Mordechai Rechtman's setting of J.S.Bach's Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 for wind quintet. One of Bach's most popular organ fugues, it was written early in the composer's career, probably when he was serving as organist in Arnstadt c.1707. Early editors of Bach's work referred to it as the "Little Fugue" to distinguish it from the later Great Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542. Principal bassoonist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra from 1946 to 1991, Rechtman was also an acclaimed arranger. His more-than 200 arrangements for wind ensembles have been performed around the world, often under his own direction. Distributing the upbeat somewhat Italianate fugue's four voices among five instruments gives freedom to spread its polyphonic play among different timbral colour combinations, to provide "comments" and create pared-down- and denser textures. Rechtman has written several arrangements for the TLVWQ. 

 

A member of Les Six, Darius Milhaud was intensely involved in contemporary French stylistic musical development, as well as in music for theatre. "La cheminée du roi René" (its title alluding to a Provençal proverb playing on words for "fireplace", "chimney" and "promenade") is one of the cornerstones of wind quintet repertoire. Written for the film "Cavalcade d'amour", it tells of King René, a 15th century ruler of Milhaud's native city, Aix-en-Provence, who devoted himself to the well-being of his subjects, to chivalry, to legendary tournaments and to cultivation of the arts. Milhaud, a prolific composer, worked in a wide variety of styles, but this work stands apart, being pastoral in flavour and infinitely simpler in texture. In each of the small vignettes, the players created charming depictions of activities of the court-Cortege - a procession, a morning serenade, jugglers, jousting, hunting, etc. - in which some Renaissance ornamentation could be heard, with Classical elements present in the restful nocturnal madrigal, which brings the work to a somewhat melancholy close.

 

And, on the subject of music for entertainment, W.A.Mozart wrote much music that was not intended for the concert hall, theatre or church, but as an agreeable background to eating, drinking and conversation on festive- or other social occasions, these often being outdoor events.  Most of this music dates from the earlier part of his career, when the composer was based in his native city of Salzburg. From the Five Divertimentos, K. 439b, originally scored for three basset horns, we heard Divertimento No.4 in F major played by Gavrieli, Erdman and Cohen. Their diligent, vivid playing of this clever, miniature masterpiece by the 27-year-old Mozart called attention to its contrasts, wit and charm.

 

Works for or with wind instruments (then referred to as "Harmonie”) were a highly popular genre on the Viennese Classical concert scene. L.van Beethoven's Piano Quintet Op.16 in E flat major (1796) is one such work. Featuring clarinet, oboe, horn and bassoon alongside the piano, it was written when Beethoven was pushing the boundaries of his early Classical style to bolder and more expressive writing, yet still embracing the elegance and refinement of the time. The artists' reading of the work was tasteful, delicate and articulate, as they balanced its unique blend of piano and wind instruments meticulously, allowing for the diverse range of timbres and gestures to create a rich and dynamic soundscape. Introspective and lyrical, the 2nd movement (Andante) was especially beautiful, with its array of wind solos alongside the splendid integration of all the instruments. I enjoyed Shir Semmel's understated, Classical-styled performance throughout, her clean fingerwork and playing unburdened by excessive use of the sustaining pedal.

 

The Fantasiestücke Op 73 come from one of the happier periods in Robert Schumann’s career. Penned hastily in Dresden in February 1849, with the clarinet in mind, Schumann originally called the work “Soiréestücke” (Soirée Pieces) before settling on "Fantasiestücke". The pieces were first performed by his wife Clara and clarinettist Johann Gottlieb Kotte. Making allowances for the burgeoning domestic market, Schumann indicated that the Fantasiestücke might also be played by violin or 'cello, (nowadays heard in several more configurations.) Playing them in their originally-intended instrumental setting, Danny Erdman and Shir Semmel's performance of one of the most poetic examples of Schumann’s lyrical writing was spontaneous and communicative, indeed, rapt, showcasing the work's creative vigour, its idyllic character, its Romantic longing and emotional expressiveness. The artists connected with Schumann's capacity of capturing deep and intimate feelings through each gesture and changing moment.

 

A new work in the TLVWQ's repertoire, and probably new to most of the audience, was Dutch Jewish pianist/composer Leo Smit's Piano Sextet. Dedicated to the Concertgebouw, the score was (fortunately) retrieved from a rubbish heap after the Second World War. Written in 1932 and premiered in 1933, the sextet is Classical in form and comprises three movements. Shir Semmel and the wind players presented the audience with a fine concert piece whose canvas is lyrical, witty, biting and rhythmically compelling. Their playing of the outer movements revealed the influence of Stravinsky's melodic angularity, with Smit's writing - urbane, blithe, energetic, lush and threaded with extended harmonies - altogether reflecting the composer's interest in jazz and other popular styles. The work strongly recalls the eclecticism of the Paris musical world. (Smit lived and worked in Paris from 1927 to 1936, and was greatly influenced by French composers, including Les Six.) As to the 2nd movement (Lento), Nir Gavrieli gave voice to its sentimental and hauntingly beautiful oboe solo. Skilfully scored, the Piano Sextet's style is bold and complex, yet accessible to the listener. Leo Smit (1900-1943) perished in the Sobibor extermination camp.

 

This was Shir Semmel's first collaboration with the Tel Aviv Wind Quintet.

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.