The Brooklyn Philharmonic’s "Music
Off the Walls" series, which began so auspiciously last
year at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, returns to the museum this
season with concerts programmed to coincide with a current exhibition.
Opening the series on Jan. 11 in the museum’s Iris and B. Gerald
Cantor Auditorium is a program titled "The Jewish Journey,"
also the title of an exhibition by photographer Frederic Brenner,
which closes that same day.
"The Jewish Journey" exhibit is a vast selection of
photographs by the French-born Brenner, whose four decades behind
a camera has resulted in a purposeful chronicle, exploration
and preservation of Jewish communities around the world.
The Philharmonic’s "Jewish Journey" program takes its
cue from Brenner’s exhibit by showcasing Jewish music (even by
non-Jewish composers) and exploring how that music relates to
Jewish heritage, identity and culture.
The concert consists of works by six composers from different
times and places: Felix Mendelssohn, Max Bruch, Osvaldo Golijov,
Shulamit Ran, Gideon Klein and Leonard Bernstein.
Mendelssohn was a German Jew who lived during the first half
of the 19th century; his aria "Oh for the Wings of a Dove"
is part of his monumental oratorio, "Elijah," which
musically recounts the life of the Hebrew prophet.
Bruch was actually a Protestant who was born in Germany in 1838
(he died in 1920); his work, "Kol Nidrei," subtitled
"Adagio on Hebrew Themes," is a musical representation
of his admiration for the beautiful melodies contained in Jewish
folk songs. Originally composed for cello and orchestra, "Kol
Nidrei" has been spun off into arrangements for many different
smaller forces.
Golijov, 43, is an Argentine Jew whose recent oratorio "La
Pasion Segun San Marcos" was performed by the Brooklyn Philharmonic
last season. (His latest opera, "Ainadamar," was supposed
to be heard at BAM this past fall but was postponed due to singer
Dawn Upshaw’s illness.) Golijov’s eight-minute, tango-influenced
work for solo cello, "Omaramor," will be performed
by the Brooklyn Philharmonic on Jan. 11.
The piano trio "Soliloquy" is the contribution of Ran,
a Tel Aviv-born composer who currently teaches music at the University
of Chicago and whose work is marked by a disarming directness.
"Soliloquy" is Ran’s chamber-music transcription of
her composition "Yearning" for violin and orchestra.
In a tragic twist of fate, Czech-born Klein’s Duo for Violin
and Cello was left unfinished after the composer was transported
in 1941 to the concentration camp Terezin, where he was condemned
to die along with other composers. The Philharmonic will perform
this rarely heard piece.
Finally, Bernstein, who needs no introduction to classical-music
audiences, found a wealth of inspiration from his Jewish heritage,
including the piece "Halil," the dramatic finale to
this "Music Off the Walls" program.
The 15-minute "Halil" is one of Bernstein’s most emotionally
drenched works. Written for flute with piano and percussion accompaniment,
"Halil" was composed in 1981 in honor of a 19-year-old
Israeli flutist who was killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur war.
"Halil" is also the centerpiece of a recent CD recording
of several of Bernstein’s Jewish works. The Naxos label is in
the midst of an ambitious series of recordings by American Jewish
composers, all under the auspices of the Milken Archive of American
Jewish Music.
The Milken Archive’s mission is to preserve more than 350 years
of American Jewish music through recordings, publications and
university curricula. This series has already gotten off to a
spectacular start with several CDs that have been called among
the best of the year in classical music.
The Bernstein disc brings together some obscure works that are
heard on CD for the first time. At 55 minutes, it’s a bit on
the short side, but the quality of the music and the performances
more than make up for that.
The Brooklyn Philharmonic’s "Music Off the Walls" series
continues Feb. 1, with "African Roots," tied to the
museum’s exhibition "Arts in Africa"; April 18, with
"Brooklyn Music Today," in conjunction with the "Open
House: Working in Brooklyn" exhibit; and May 16, with "Image
and Time," coinciding with the museum’s re-installation
of "About Time: 700 Years of European Painting."
The Brooklyn Philharmonic "Music Off the Walls"
series presents "The Jewish Journey" on Jan. 11, at
3 pm, at the Iris and Gerald Cantor Auditorium in the Brooklyn
Museum of Art, 200 Eastern Parkway at Washington Avenue in Prospect
Heights. Tickets are $15, $10 students and seniors. For more
information, call (718) 622-5858 or visit www.brooklynphilharmonic.org.
For more information on the Milken Archive, visit www.milkenarchive.org.
