Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Max Bruch

Jewish High Holy Days Music on WPRB

Already three days into the Jewish New Year, and all I can think to say is, “Shofar, so good.” If a blast on the ram’s horn sends you into ecstasies, have I got a show for you!

Tomorrow morning on WPRB, there will be shofars aplenty, as we listen to music by Jewish composers and/or on Jewish themes, in honor of the High Holy Days.

There will be works by composers such as Paul Ben-Haim, Herman Berlinski, Ernest Bloch, John Duffy, Lukas Foss, Louis Gesensway, John McCabe, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, Arnold Schoenberg, Paul Schoenfield, David Stock and Jacob Weinberg.

We’ll also uphold an annual WPRB tradition, initiated by Teri Noel Towe, of listening to Max Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei.”

A number of these composers aren’t even Jewish – and a few of the pieces aren’t particularly “Jewish” sounding – but all of them pay tribute to the creativity and soulfulness of the Jewish experience.

That’s music for the Days of Awe – the period from Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) through Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) – tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. The playlist will be totally Awesome, on Classic Ross Amico.

October 5, 2016
Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur Music for the High Holy Days

L’shana tova! Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sunset. The two-day observance commences ten Days of Awe, concluding with Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll have selections for the Jewish High Holy Days. We’ll hear a string quartet by Jacob Weinberg, dating from 1950. The work falls into three movements, which bear the respective subtitles “Rosh Hashanah,” “Yom Kippur” (the Day of Atonement) and “Sukkot” (the harvest festival).

Weinberg’s “Yom Kippur” is based on the familiar declaration of “Kol Nidrei,” best known to gentiles, probably, through the setting for cello by Max Bruch. Bruch, though not Jewish, always had a good ear for characteristic melodies of different cultures (e.g. the “Scottish Fantasy,” the “Swedish Dances,” the “Suite on Russian Themes,” etc.).

Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek – he of “Donna Diana Overture” fame – was likewise moved by the Yom Kippur melody, on which he wrote a large-scale set of orchestral variations, which we’ll also hear. Interestingly, in contrast to the reverential setting by Bruch, Reznicek puts the theme through a befuddling array of permutations, pivoting back and forth from light to serious. It’s not synagogue music, but it is fascinating.

We’ll conclude the hour with a moving arrangement by Patrick Sinozich of ”Avinu Malkeynu” (“Our Father, Our King”) by Max Janowski, performed by Chicago a cappella.

I hope you’ll join me for “Tones of Atonement,” this Sunday night at 10 EDT on WWFM – The Classical Network or at wwfm.org.

PHOTO: The ten Days of Awe are bookended by blasts on the shofar

October 2, 2016
Jewish High Holy Days Music on “The Lost Chord”

A belated “L’shana tova!”

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll have selections for the Jewish High Holy Days. We’ll hear a string quartet by Jacob Weinberg, dating from 1950. The work falls into three movements, which bear the respective subtitles “Rosh Hashanah” (the Jewish New Year), “Yom Kippur” (the Day of Atonement) and “Sukkot” (the harvest festival).

Weinberg’s “Yom Kippur” is based on the familiar declaration of “Kol Nidrei,” best known to gentiles, probably, through the setting for cello by Max Bruch. Bruch, though not Jewish, always had a good ear for characteristic melodies of different cultures (e.g. the “Scottish Fantasy,” the “Swedish Dances,” the “Suite on Russian Themes,” etc.).

Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek – he of “Donna Diana Overture” fame – was likewise moved by the Yom Kippur melody, on which he wrote a large-scale set of orchestral variations, which we’ll also hear. Interestingly, in contrast to the reverential setting by Bruch, Reznicek puts the theme through a befuddling array of permutations, pivoting back and forth from light to serious. It’s not synagogue music, but it is fascinating.

We’ll conclude the hour with a moving arrangement by Patrick Sinozich of ”Avinu Malkeynu” (“Our Father, Our King”) by Max Janowski, performed by Chicago a cappella.

Join me for “Tones of Atonement,” tonight at 10 ET, with a repeat Friday morning at 3. Or enjoy the show later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, begins at sundown on Friday. The solemn occasion will conclude at nightfall on Saturday with a long blast on the shofar.

September 28, 2014

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