Note: This set is a collection of previously released recordings.
It was apparently Rimsky-Korsakov, himself a member of the “Mighty Handful” of Russian nationalist composers, who encouraged his students at the St. Petersburg Conservatory to go out and collect Jewish folk music and music sung in the synagogues, getting thus the ball rolling for a specific Jewish classical music. The movement led in 1908 to the founding of the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music and, in 1923, of the Society for Jewish Music in Moscow. The success of the latter and its members was however, short-lived. The antisemitic, anti-cosmopolitan forces that started to brew under the new soviet regime led many potential members of the society to emigrate. The ones that remained were forced to focus on proletarian themes and, even when complying to the requirements, still found themselves often repressed or incarcerated outright.
The last notable concert with the society’s music in the Soviet Union took place in Moscow, in April of 1929. Most of this music had then lain dormant for decades until the pianist Jascha Nemtsov (himself the son of a Gulag survivor) and his musical collaborators unearthed it in the last few years of the 20th century. The present collection contains on five discs the recordings – many of them world premieres – realized between 1999 and 2004.
REVIEWS:
One of the real strengths of this program is the number of pieces that received their world premiere recordings here and it’s probably the case that many of them can still only be heard in these performances. I make it around 42 pieces in total – which includes the individual movements of suites and cycles – made their disc premieres here, a tribute to the industry, application and ardent appreciation shown principally by Nemtsov.
Fortunately, these discs make an appeal on recital-by-recital basis. Yes, there are generic settings and yes, nothing is developed extensively so that the pleasures here are of a localised, focused and specialised nature. Nemtsov may be disheartened by the relative obscurity of much of this music still, feeling it, perhaps, funnelled to the outlying ethnic borderland where folk, cabaret and lighter classical meet and mingle. He, however, in particular, and his disc confreres, have made a real contribution to the vivacious and continuing life of this music on disc and are deserving of high praise.
-- MusicWeb International
This is a fascinating five-disc collection that shines light on a short-lived movement in early 20th-century Russia to bring about a Jewish classical music idiom. Fine performances, too, from the likes of Tabea Zimmermann, Jascha Nemtsov, and Wolfgang Meyer.
-- BBC Music Magazine
SWR’s imaginative five-disc chamber collection From Jewish Life (recorded 1999-2004) should be of interest to listeners whether or not you’re religious or indeed of the Jewish faith. The excellent line-up of performers consists of Jascha Nemtsov (piano), Wolfgang Meyer (clarinet), Tabea Zimmermann (viola), Ingolf Turban (violin), David Geringas (cello) and Helene Schneiderman (mezzo-soprano). The chosen repertoire includes Bloch’s masterly Suite for viola and piano, Joseph Achron’s Stempenyu and other works, music by Julian and Alexander Krein, Alexander Weprik, Joachim Stutschewsky and Solomon Rosowsky and much more. This is, musically speaking, a most nourishing collection, and the digital sound is excellent.
Born in Zurich 1988, into a traditionally Jewish family, Anne grew up in Zurich, Washington D.C. and Basel. She started to play the violin at the age of six and was immediately drawn to the beautiful sound of this instrument. After graduating from Music-Gymnasium in Basel, Anne pursued her studies at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) with the renown teacher Nora Chastain. Another important influence she gained from an Erasmus year in Munich, studying with Ingolf Turban, famous for his virtuoso violin playing. In 2013 and 2015 Anne finished her Masters of Performance and Masters of Pedagogy with distinction. The album recording 'The Essential Hebrew Violin' with arrangements for violin and chamber orchestra recorded for the first time was inspired by a concert Anne Battegay played in 2020 on the occasion of the European Day of Jewish Culture at the Zwinglihaus in Basel.
Newcomer Tassilo Probst releases his first album with duo partner Maxim Lando. The young violinist ventures into truly virtuoso repertoire and presents three sonatas for violin and piano by Béla Bartók, George Enescu, and Joseph Achron - the latter is a world premiere recording.
"I love all kinds of music, including Beethoven or Brahms sonatas, of course. But for my first recording, I liked to record unknown sonatas!", explains Probst in an interview with Malte Hemmerich. The young musician has already made a name for himself in the classical music scene. "Tassilo is an outstanding violinist and musician, with a strong will, unique sound and impressive mastery of the instrument," reports Daniel Hope, with whom both Tassilo Probst and Maxim Lando have been guests a few times.
The worldwide lockdowns of 2020/21 proved highly fruitful for US-based violinist Itamar Zorman in his quest to seek out new repertoire. A virtual voyage around the world yielded a discovery of many lesser known and rarely played works for violin, which he presented in 2020 as a livestreamed video series entitled Hidden Gems. From this musical treasure trove he selected 10 pieces for his new album Violin Odyssey, produced by Grammy Award-winning Judith Sherman. The far-reaching geographical origins of the repertoire – from New Zealand to the United States by way of Sudan, China, Russia, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Israel and Mexico – reveal a fascinating variety of styles and cultural diversity in these seldom heard works. Two larger works set the framework of the album – Slavonic Sonata (1917) written by Croatian noblewoman Dora Pejacevic and the Second Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927) by Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff. While sharing Eastern European flavor, the two sonatas, written only ten years apart, are worlds apart stylistically. These particularly dramatic works are complemented by a program of shorter pieces with evocative titles that suggest little adventures and encounters on a traveler’s journey.
The rich musical heritage of the Litvaks is only just beginning to be explored. The music by Jewish composers who were born in, lived in, or emigrated from Lithuania has been lurking in the background for many years. This new creative chapter opens with an album that features two prominent musical figures, the Lithuanian violinist Dalia Dedinskaite and the Canadian pianist Walter Delahunt. Together, they present a musical journey showcasing the creativity of the Litvaks, from Lazdijai in Lithuania to Hollywood in the USA. The album's title, Estrellita (The Star), is not only an allusion to one of it's pieces, but also a multi-sensory symbol. Estrellita, also the Star of David, is a light in the darkness, a star of remembrance. It illuminates the paths of personalities, destinies, and creativity, from those who left to those who stayed. The album Estrellita draws parallels between the lives and works of two legendary 20th-century Litvaks, Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) and Joseph Achron (1886-1943). It also opens up the musical world of Anatolijus Šenderovas (1945-2019), one of the most prominent Lithuanian composers of the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century.
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) was an Argentine composer and bandoneon virtuoso who revolutionized the traditional tango by infusing it with elements of jazz, classical music, and modern harmonies. His work transformed tango from a dance genre rooted in Buenos Aires' popular culture into a sophisticated art form suitable for the concert hall. Central to this transformation were his bandoneon concertos, which showcased the expressive possibilities of the instrument and blurred the boundaries between popular and classical traditions. The bandoneon, a type of button accordion originally developed in Germany, became the soulful voice of Argentine tango. Piazzolla mastered it's complex mechanics and extended it's expressive range far beyond it's traditional role. Aconcagua: Concerto for Bandoneon and Orchestra (1980) represents the peak of Piazzolla's orchestral writing. Named after the highest mountain in the Andes, it symbolizes artistic ascent and ambition. This concerto highlights the instrument's dual nature-melancholic yet rhythmic, intimate yet dramatic. In this concerto, Piazzolla combines lush textures, driving rhythms, and virtuosic passages to create a dialogue between the bandoneon and orchestra that is both lyrical and dynamic. Also included on this disc are the Tres Tangos for orchestra and the immensely popular Oblivion, known from Marco Bellocchio's film Enrico IV. Played by Klaudiusz Baran, one of the leading bandoneon players of his country, and the Czestochowa Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Adam Klocek.
