Hebraic Legacies

Track Listings

1. Kol Nidrei, Op. 47 (8:28)

2. Vidui (Contrition) (2:43)

3. Nigun (Improvisation) (6:15)

4. Simchas Torah (Rejoicing) (4:06)

5. Hakinoh, Op. 186 (3:39)

6. Hebrew Melody, Op. 33 (5:44)

7. Stimmungen, Op. 32, No. 1 (1:43)

8. Hebrew Lullaby, Op. 35, No. 2 (2:36)

9. Raisins and Almonds ("Rozhinkes mit Mandelen") (3:30)

10. Yiskor (Prayer) (2:43)

11. Agitato (10:51)

12. Molto quieto (8:45)

13. Moderato (7:56)

Editorial Reviews
- Martin Bookspan
"Passionate performances."

- Tim Smith, Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel
"... sumptuous account of Nigun is special, as is the emotional depth he reaches in such pieces as Mana-Zucca's Hakinoh and Charles Miller's Yiskor."

Hebraic Legacies

Hebraic Legacies, Music, Bloch, Mana-Zucca, Achron, Goldfaden-Collins, Miller Bruch, John Covelli Aaron Rosand

Average customer rating:

In Bloch more lightweight and purely instrumental than Stern and Zakin, but a fine complementary approach to these

Beautiful, But a Little Tearful

Hebraic Legacies

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004RGK4
Release Date: 1990-03-01

Tracks:

Kol Nidrei, Op. 47 (8:28)
Vidui (Contrition) (2:43)
Nigun (Improvisation) (6:15)
Simchas Torah (Rejoicing) (4:06)
Hakinoh, Op. 186 (3:39)
Hebrew Melody, Op. 33 (5:44)
Stimmungen, Op. 32, No. 1 (1:43)
Hebrew Lullaby, Op. 35, No. 2 (2:36)
Raisins and Almonds ("Rozhinkes mit Mandelen") (3:30)
Yiskor (Prayer) (2:43)
Agitato (10:51)
Molto quieto (8:45)
Moderato (7:56)

Customer Reviews:

In Bloch more lightweight and purely instrumental than Stern and Zakin, but a fine complementary approach to these.......2007-05-20

In 1990 violinist Aaron Rosand was joined by pianist John Covelli in a program of small encores and weightier pieces based on Hebraic chant and Jewish folk song. Most of the smaller ones are discoveries, even Bruch's Kol Nidrei, well-known in its cello and piano or and orchestra guises but here played in its original, violin and piano form, and they make for an enjoyable listening, although the smaller pieces are a bit uniformly couched in a the slow, plaintive and meditative mood.

But the two substantial pieces on the disc are Bloch's "Baal Shem: Three Pictures of Chassidic Life" and the dauntingly brutal and massive First Sonata. In Baal Shem Rosand plays with great purity of tone and gripping intensity, but his approach is more lightweight and thinner in tone, less brooding and vocal than Isaac Stern's (with Alexander Zakin in 1961, on Volume 28 of Sony's tribute "A Life in Music" - see my review: Hindemith, Copland: Violin Sonatas; Bloch: Violin Sonata; Baal shem). With Stern you can fancy being at the Synagogue and hearing the Cantor, Rosand's approach is more purely instrumental.

In the thorny sonata, Rosand and his partner John Covelli are more precise in their ensemble than Stern and Zakin (same disc, recording from 1959), whose realization is peppered with awkward spots, as if they were carried away by their own frenzy and constantly on the verge of loosing control. Rosand's tone again is a bit thin - he doesn't command the kind of big sound displayed by Stern or even Louis Kaufman (Music & Arts, with works by Quincy Porter and William Grant Still, see my review: Still, Bloch and Porter) - but it is commendably free of the wiriness that mars the recordings of Donald Weilerstein on Arabesque (Ernest Bloch: Complete Music For Violin And Piano, Volume 1 ) and Leonard Friedman on ASV (Bloch: Baal Shem; The Two Violin Sonatas). His approach to the first movement is (comparatively) rather lightweight - he takes some of Bloch's double stops with a resilient bounce rather than robustly digging in with the bow, and his octave trills at 9:25 do not register too well. It is also brisk, and unlike Stern he doesn't take the more lyrical passages as an incentive to considerably broaden the tempo and muse along. His partner, John Covelli, comes as a good surprise. He never over pedals and keeps Bloch's thick and hammering textures always clear and snappy.

In the second movement tempos again are brisk but actually close to the composer's metronome mark, as opposed to Stern's more expansive view. Bloch's haunting melodies unfold with peaceful serenity, and the sense of mystery is enhanced by the players' slightly distant placement and the hazy halo surrounding the piano's pedalled arpeggios. But Rosand and Covelli are also experts at building up the movement's climaxes, and only at 5:44 does Rosand's relative lack of beef prevent him from delivering the full weight of the "fff appass. molto" marking. At 4:15, like Stern before him or Donald Weilerstein after, he doesn't follow Bloch's instruction to play the sixteenth-notes pizzicato (but he doesn't play them "sul ponticello" like Stern - and I'll grant that it sounds better that way. The same characteristics are at play in the robust finale - thin tone but razor-sharp precision from Rosand, muscularity and snap from Covelli, breathtaking energy and passion from both.

This recording of Bloch's pieces doesn't efface Stern and Zakin's beefier, more expansive and freer account, but it is a worthy and contrasted complement.

Beautiful, But a Little Tearful.......2000-11-01

This is a beautiful collection of pieces based upon Yiddish and Hebrew themes. If you are familiar with this music, you will find this CD to be an excellent selection of compositions of this genre. If you are not, you will find a sufficient representation presented here to begin your acquaintance.

The music is well-played, and the beauty it conveys also carries with it a tearful quality, which draws upon the often tragic history of the people from whom this music comes.

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1. Kol Nidrei, Op. 47 (8:28)
2. Vidui (Contrition) (2:43)
3. Nigun (Improvisation) (6:15)
4. Simchas Torah (Rejoicing) (4:06)
5. Hakinoh, Op. 186 (3:39)
6. Hebrew Melody, Op. 33 (5:44)
7. Stimmungen, Op. 32, No. 1 (1:43)
8. Hebrew Lullaby, Op. 35, No. 2 (2:36)
9. Raisins and Almonds ("Rozhinkes mit Mandelen") (3:30)
10. Yiskor (Prayer) (2:43)
11. Agitato (10:51)
12. Molto quieto (8:45)
13. Moderato (7:56)