PROGRAMME
Sunday 20th November 2005

CONDUCTOR – BENJAMIN WOLF

Halleluyah - Psalm 150,  Louis Lewandowski

Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894) is one of the most popular of all composers of music for the synagogue. He was the first Jewish student to study at Berlin’s Royal Academy of Music and he ultimately became choirmaster at Berlin’s Oranienbergerstrasse Synagogue.

The last and most jubilant of all the psalms, this is a final ecstatic outburst of praise with references to different musical instruments.

‘Praise Him with the trumpet, praise him with the lute and harp, praise Him with tambourines and dancing, praise Him with strings and flute, praise Him with clashing cymbals!’ And not least with the voice: ‘Let every breath praise God!’

Shir Hama’alot B’shuv Adonai – Psalm 126: 1 - 6, Salamone Rossi

Psalm 29,  Benjamin Wolf

First performance

Benjamin Wolf wrote this setting especially for tonight’s concert. Psalm 29 forms part of the Evening and Sabbath Morning Services.

‘Ascribe to the Lord you sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and might. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name, bow to the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters…is in power…is in beauty…breaks cedars…makes the desert tremble…causes hinds to calve and strips the forest bare; and in his Temple all will proclaim His glory…The Lord sits enthroned as King forever…will give might to his nation…(and) will bless the nation with peace.’ 

Folksong without words, Benjamin Wolf

Soprano Solo: Louise Barnett

This is an attractive vocalise in a simple folksong style written for the Choir.

GUEST CONDUCTOR – DUDLEY COHEN

Eli Tsiyon, "Lament O Zion", Dudley Cohen

First performance

Eli Tsiyon is a lament for the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem.  It is recited on Tisha Ba'Av and is one of the most painful texts in the Jewish liturgy.  "Let Zion and her cities lament like a woman in the pangs of childbirth, like a young woman mourning her bridegroom... for the blood that was shed.... for her children who were dashed against the stone” It is one the oldest traditional Jewish melodies whose origin is lost in the mists of time.  Each of these variations has a different harmony and treatment ranging from stark early organum to a luscious Victorian texture.  In one verse, the upper voices are intended to imitate the sound of women wailing and in another, the lower voices like wolves baying at the gates of the city. The variations begin with the choir humming a mournful 8-bar introduction and end in the same way, descending into total despair.

The fugue which follows is brighter, in the idiom of JS Bach with inversions, stretto and pedal point, ending with an optimistic major chord.

Notes by Dudley Cohen

Tashev Enosh ad Daka, Dudley Cohen

"You Turn Mankind back to dust"  From Psalm 90  (to the memory of Rabbi Hugo Gryn)

This setting of Psalm 90, "Lord You have been our refuge in all generations"  was written in 1998 in memory of Rabbi Hugo Gryn who died in 1996.  It is part of the Yom Kippur service at the West London Reform Synagogue where Rabbi Gryn was its beloved Rabbi, and is sung there during the morning and Yizkor services.  It was also performed by the BBC Singers on Radio 4 to mark Holocaust Day in 2004.

‘You push man down until the crushing point and You say, ‘Return, children of man!’… The stream of their life is slumber in the morning. They are as grass, freshly grown. If in the morning it blossoms and grows afresh, by evening it is cut off and shrivelled….The days of our years total seventy, and with strength, eighty, and their pride is frustration and falsehood for, cut off quickly, we fly away.   

Notes by Dudley Cohen

Deep River Trad.  Arr: H T Burleigh  

Deep River is a well known spiritual.   The slaves of America identified with the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt as they longed for the "Land over Jordan", a Paradise "where all is peace”.

Notes by Dudley Cohen

GUEST CONDUCTOR – GEOFFREY SIMON

Ken Bakodesh and Ai di di di dai        Chassidic melodies arr: Gil Aldema

Soprano solo: Sandra Lee 

These two pieces come from a set of three Russian Jewish folk melodies arranged for the 1975 Zimriyah (choral festival) in Jerusalem by Gil Aldema. The first, from Psalm 63, yearns for God’s presence and revelation: ‘In holiness I visualised You, to see Your strength and glory. My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You.’

Ai di di di dai is a spiritually uplifting nigun (a wordless chant), a form beloved by Chassidim which has been enriched by Aldema with syncopation and cross-rhythms.

Yih’yu L’ratzon from Sacred Service, Ernest Bloch

Ernest Bloch’s (1880 – 1959) musical output was distinguished by a poetic absorption in the spiritual heritage of the Jewish people.  Avodath Hakodesh, Sacred Service is a setting for cantor, choir and orchestra of the major portions of the Sabbath morning service.  Yih’yu L’ratzon is the unaccompanied chorale which opens the third of the five sections of the work.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to Thee, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.’

 When I’m 64, John Lennon & Paul McCartney                                                    

When I’m Sixty Four is a popular love song by The Beatles and released in 1967 on their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  It is sung by a young man to his love, about the perils of growing old together.

GUEST CONDUCTOR – ANTONY SAUNDERS

 Ani Ma’amin, Trad. Arr: A Kaplan

The thirteen articles of the Jewish Faith are based on the Principles of Judaism enunciated by Moses Maimonides in the 12^th Century.  Ani Ma’anim is the twelfth article: ‘I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and though he tarry, I wait daily for his coming.’

The words, sung to this melody, were the battle hymn of the desperate defenders of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943.

Eli  Eli, David Zahavi,  Poem:  H Senesh, arr. A.Saunders

Soprano solo: Sandra Lee

 Eli Eli is a poem by Hannah Senesh, a heroine of the last war murdered by the Nazis. She wrote: ‘O my God, may these things always be; the sand, the sea, the ocean’s roar, the lightning’s flash and mortal’s prayer.’ 

 Ki Mitzion – Isaiah 2:3, E Amiran

 These words of Isaiah are set to a ‘Hora’ tempo, a fast moving dance, originally Romanian but adopted by Israel.

 ‘For Torah will come out from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem’

 INTERVAL – 20 MINUTES

 Love Walked In, George Gershwin, Lyrics: Ira Gershwin arr: A Saunders

 A free arrangement by Antony Saunders of a Gershwin classic. The original song was composed for the 1938 film ‘Goldwyn Follies’.

Tsiporet, Chonon Lewis, Poem: C N Bialik

 First performance

 Chaim Nachman Bialik (1873 -1934) is renowned as Israel’s national poet. He was born in Southern Russia and emigrated to Israel in 1924. By writing his works in Hebrew he contributed significantly to the revival of Hebrew as a modern language. Tsiporet is a love poem and Chonon Lewis’s setting captures its gentle mood. Chonon sang with the Choir in the 1960s, and this setting of the poem was composed, ‘For the Zemel Choir’s 50^th birthday.’

 All the world is drenched in light and song…We walk along a never-ending path, cornstalks enfold us, butterflies crown us…. A butterfly has been caught like a flower in your braided plait of hair, dancing about your sash as if hinting to me. “Young man copy me and kiss her, be like me the Butterfly”

Yah Ribon, Gary Tucker, Poem: Yisrael ben Moshe of Najara

Solos: Soprano-Linda Chainey, Alto-Diane Sheer, Tenor-Simon Tabbush,  Baritone-David Martin, & Arab drum-Linda Brody

The five stanzas of the Aramaic poem Yah Ribon form the acrostic ‘Yisrael’ (Israel), the name of its composer, Yisrael ben Moshe of Najara, Rabbi of Gaza, who lived in the sixteenth century. It is a popular ‘zemirah’, (table song), sung at the Sabbath evening meal. Gary Tucker, one of our members, wrote this setting for the Choir.

‘God, Master of all worlds, You are the King of kings..Your powerful and wondrous deeds are fitting to declare before You, God, who created all life.You humble the haughty and straighten the bent. Almighty, redeem Your sheep from the mouths of lions, and bring Your people out of exile.

 Psalm 122, Malcolm Singer

Solos: Soprano – Louise Barnett and Alto – Suzanne Goodman

This setting was commissioned from Malcolm Singer by the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, for their Golden Jubilee service at West London Synagogue on 29 March 1992.

Psalm 122 is one of a series of psalms recited after the Sabbath afternoon service between Succot (Tabernacles) and the Sabbath before Pesach (Passover).  The psalm describes Jerusalem as our spiritual home and is said possibly to have been composed by David, with the intention that it be recited in the Temple after it was built. 

‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may those who love you enjoy serenity. Peace be within your walls, serenity within your palaces…’

GUEST CONDUCTOR – MALCOLM SINGER

Psalm 95: 1-7, Malcolm Singer

First performance

Psalm 95 is recited at the Kabbalat Shabbat service (Inauguration of the Sabbath) on Friday evening.The verses set are the Psalmist’s call to his people: Come with alacrity to sing to God to praise Him, to thank Him, to acknowledge Him as the sole Creator and Guiding Force of the universe in general and Israel in particular.

‘Come let us sing out to the Lord, call out to the rock of our safety. Let us come before Him with thanks, call out to Him with psalms.

 Malcolm has dedicated this setting to his wife Sara on their 21^st wedding anniversary and to the Choir on its 50^th anniversary.

 Kiddush, Kurt  Weill

Tenor solo: Robert Brody

Kurt Weill (1900 - 1950) is better known for his works in the field of musical theatre such as ‘The Threepenny Opera’ and ‘The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny’. Kiddush was composed in 1946 for tenor solo, chorus and organ. It was commissioned by the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York, where it was first performed during a Friday night service by Cantor David Putterman.

The melody and arrangement are in cabaret style. The composition is dedicated to Weill’s father Albert who was a synagogue cantor.

‘Blessed art thou, O Lord who hallowest the Sabbath’

GUEST CONDUCTOR – ROBERT MAX

 Halleluyah, Kobi Oshrat, Lyrics:Shimrit Or, arr. R Max

 An upbeat arrangement of an Israeli Eurovision Song Contest winner.

 Sing Halleluyah to the world. Sing Halleluyah to a bright new day. Halleluyah for that which was, and for that will be. Halleluyah!’

 Bore Ad Anah, Sephardic Trad., Poem : Benjamin, Arr. M Hubicki and R Max

Soprano solo: Natalie Gies

This poem comes from the Morning Service for Tisha B’Av, (commemorating the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem) and recounts the lamentable fate of the ‘Yona’, the dove to which the Song of Songs compares the people of Israel. Gone are the days when God hid his beloved dove in the crevice of the rock to hide it from venomous serpents. Persecuted, deprived of its little ones, exposed night and day to hardship and anguish, the little dove longs for reconciliation and redemption.

‘Creator how long will Your dove remain in the toils of the fowler’s snare? She is afflicted, humble and alone. Deprived of her children she calls out to You.  O my Father!’

 Sh’hecheyonu, Meyer Machtenberg    

Tenor solo: Robert Brody

A setting by Meyer Machtenberg in 1951, of the blessing recited on festivals, and at all occasions for rejoicing.

‘Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us and brought us to this season.’

GUEST CONDUCTOR – VIVIENNE BELLOS

Nachamu  - Parts 1 & 3  - Isaiah 50, 1-2, 6-8, Chonon Lewis

Solos: Soprano - Angela Lawrence, Tenor - Simon Tabbush and Bass - Philip Roth

Nachamu was composed for the choir in 1967.  It is a setting of the first nine verses of the Haftarah for Sabbath Nachamu, being the first Sabbath after Tisha B’Av, (the ninth of Av), commemorating the destruction of the first and second Temples.  It is an extract from the book of the prophet Isaiah, which is concerned with comforting the people after their loss.  The work is divided into four contrasting sections reflecting the underlying text, of which two are being sung tonight.

(1)‘Comfort ye, Comfort ye My people says Your God. Speak consolingly of Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her period of exile has been completed, that her iniquity has been forgiven for she has received double for her sins from the hand of the Lord.

(3)‘A voice says Proclaim!’ and the prophet asks ‘What shall I proclaim?’ All flesh is like grass and its kindness like a blossom in the field ….Grass withers and blossom fades but the word of our God shall stand forever.’

Adio Kerida, Trad. arr. R. Skeaping  

This is an example of creative borrowing in folk music. The tune is taken from Addio del passato in Verdi’s La Traviata. This arrangement evokes the Sephardi immigration to South America.

‘Goodbye my love. The day your mother bore you she did not give you the heart to love another.’ 

GUEST CONDUCTOR – MAUREEN CREESE

Fly me to the Moon, Bart Howard, arr: Maureen Creese

Fly me to the Moon is a pop standard written in 1954 by Bart Howard.  The song was made famous ten years later by Frank Sinatra with whom it is frequently identified.

Maureen Creese composed this jazzy arrangement for the Choir whilst languishing in hospital with a broken ankle and in need of a distraction!

Yom Zeh Le Yisrael/Yismach Mosheh, Sephardic folksongs arr: J Jacobson

Tenor solo: Robert Brody, Arab drum: Linda Brody

This arrangement is based on two lively melodies from the ancient Spanish-Jewish tradition as interpreted by the great cantor Alberto Mizrahi.

Yom Zeh Le Yisrael is a Sabbath table song. ‘This is Israel’s day, light and joy, restful Sabbath.’ Yismach Mosheh comes from the Sabbath liturgy.  ‘Moses would rejoice in his given portion. And what did You call him? You called him Your faithful servant. And what did You give Him? You placed a royal crown on his head.’

CONDUCTOR – BENJAMIN WOLF

Amen Shem Nora, Sephardic folksongs arr. M. Lazar

Tenor solo: Robert Brody,  Arab drum: Linda Brody

This setting combines words from the Sephardic Simchat Torah liturgy, ‘Most high Name, Praise his Name..’ with words from Psalm 150, ‘Praise him with drum and harp, Praise him with the blowing of the Shofar…’.

THE ZEMEL CHOIR AND PAST CHORISTERS

Shema Koleinu, Trad.

Shema Koleinu comes from the Yom Kippur liturgy.

‘Hear our voice, O Lord our God: Spare us and have mercy upon us and accept our prayer in mercy and favour. Bring us back to You, O Lord and we shall return, renew our days as of old.’

Yerushalayim Shel Zahav, Naomi Shemer, arr. G Aldema              

Soprano solo: Linda Chainey

Jerusalem the Golden was written by Naomi Shemer for Yom Ha’atzmaut on the eve of the ’Six Day War‘ in 1967 and became an unofficial national anthem with the retaking of the old city of Jerusalem and the return of the Western Wall.

The city is imprisoned in a sleep of tree and stone, the city which dwells alone and in its heart a wall…Jerusalem of gold, of copper and of light, I am a harp for accompanying all the songs dedicated to you.’

Hava Nagila, Chassidic, Lyrics: M. Nathanson, arr.D.Factori

A spirited choral setting of this well-known song. The melody is Chassidic and was composed in the court of the Sadigura Rebbe.  It was introduced to Palestine in the early 1900’s by the eminent musicologist, Abraham Zvi Idelsohn, and given its famous text by Moshe Nathanson. 

‘Come let us be glad and rejoice. Arise brethren with a joyful heart.’

Programme Notes by Gary Tucker, except where otherwise stated.