July 25, 2004
JEWISH OPERAS, Vol. 1 from Milken
New CD Releases from the MILKEN ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN JEWISH MUSIC
and NAXOS AMERICAN CLASSICS
JEWISH OPERAS, Vol. 1
and
HUGO WEISGALL
JEWISH OPERAS, VOL. 1 (Naxos ID 8.559424)
HUGO WEISGALL (1912-1997) (Naxos ID 8.559425)
JEWISH OPERAS, VOL. 1 (Naxos ID 8.559424)
This release features scenes from three mid-20th-century operas by American composers that are based on enduring Jewish legends, the vanished world of eastern European Jewry, and unforgettable dramatic characters. The Golem by Abraham Ellstein retells in 20th-century harmonic language the centuries-old tale of a creature fashioned from clay and brought to life by kabbalistic spells who ultimately threatens the very people he was intended to serve. A second ubiquitous Jewish folk legend provides the subject for David Tamkin's The Dybbuk, which transforms the popular story of demonic possession into a compelling drama, set in a lush neo-Romantic idiom, wherein the fate of two star-crossed lovers becomes a mystical allegory. Finally, Robert Strassburg's comic opera, Chelm, which draws upon Yiddish folklore and folksong, and evokes eastern European Jewish life, offering a series of satirical vignettes based on the naïve, bumbling inhabitants of a "village of fools." Heard on this CD are soloists and ensembles conducted by Kenneth Kiesler, Paul Hostetter and Stephen Gunzenhauser.
For details about this CD, go to
http://www.milkenarchive.org/cds/cds.taf?cdid=21
Read an article about this CD at
http://www.milkenarchive.org/articles/articles.taf?function=detail&ID=56
HUGO WEISGALL (1912-1997) (Naxos ID 8.559425)
This release features four works by Hugo Weisgall, one of the 20th century's most imaginative and independent composers, who combined an affinity for the musical aesthetics of the Second Viennese School of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern with a lifelong commitment to and artistic fascination with his Jewish heritage and its musical and liturgical traditions. His symphonic masterpiece, T'kiatot, is based on a central section of the traditional Rosh Hashana service in which the shofar (ram's horn) is sounded three times. Weisgall sets the awe-inspiring blasts of an actual shofar against a richly chromatic orchestral texture. The song cycle Psalm of the Distant Dove, based on biblical and medieval Hebrew-Spanish poetry, celebrates the mystical, age-old relationship between God and His loving but suffering people Israel, represented by the image of a dove. Also inspired by the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry is the rhapsodic vocal and orchestral composition, A Garden Eastward, which the composer once called his "most beautiful work." Featured artists on this recording include Ana María Martínez and Phyllis Bryn-Julson, sopranos, the BBC Singers; The Seattle Symphony led by Gerard Schwarz, and the Barcelona Symphony/National Orchestra of Catalonia led by Jorge Mester.
For details about this CD, go to
http://www.milkenarchive.org/cds/cds.taf?cdid=22