Composer(s): Weisgall, Hugo
Choir(s): BBC Singers
Label: Naxos
Series: Milken Archive of American Jewish Music
Genre: Choral - Sacred; Orchestral; Vocal
Period: 20th Century
Catalogue No: 8.559425
Barcode: 0636943942529
Release Date: 06/2004

WEISGALL: T'kiatot / Psalm of the Distant Dove / A Garden Eastward

Hugo Weisgall, one of the 20th century’s most individualistic and creative composers, united an early affinity for the musical aesthetics of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern with a lifelong commitment to and fascination with his Jewish heritage. His symphonic masterpiece, T’kiatot, is based on a central section of the traditional Rosh Hashana service in which the shofar (ram’s horn) is sounded three times. The aweinspiring blasts of an actual shofar are set within a richly chromatic orchestral texture to brilliant effect. The song cycle Psalm of the Distant Dove, based on biblical and medieval Hebrew-Spanish poetry, celebrates the mystical, age-old relationship between God and His loving but suffering people Israel, represented by the image of a dove. Also inspired by the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry is A Garden Eastward, one of Weisgall’s most rhapsodic vocal and orchestral conceptions, which the composer once called his “most beautiful work.”

Tracklist

Weisgall, Hugo
Ovitsky, Steven (shofar)
Seattle Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Schwarz, Gerard (Conductor)
1 I. Malkhuyyot 10:30
Ovitsky, Steven (shofar)
Seattle Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Schwarz, Gerard (Conductor)
2 II. Zikhronot 08:02
Ovitsky, Steven (shofar)
Seattle Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Schwarz, Gerard (Conductor)
3 III. Shofarot 07:01
Ovitsky, Steven (shofar)
Seattle Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra)
Schwarz, Gerard (Conductor)
Weisgall, Hugo
Scheindlin, Raymond P. - Lyricist
Martínez, Ana María (soprano)
Okerlund, Kristen (piano)
4 Prelude: My Lover Called 01:20
Martínez, Ana María (soprano)
Okerlund, Kristen (piano)
5 Days of Cold are Past 02:22
Martínez, Ana María (soprano)
Okerlund, Kristen (piano)
6 Prelude: The Dove Knows Her Mate 02:29
Martínez, Ana María (soprano)
Okerlund, Kristen (piano)
7 Distant Dove 03:59
Martínez, Ana María (soprano)
Okerlund, Kristen (piano)
8 Elegy 01:36
Martínez, Ana María (soprano)
Okerlund, Kristen (piano)
9 Prelude: Birds Struggle 02:48
Martínez, Ana María (soprano)
Okerlund, Kristen (piano)
10 Avi, Avi 04:08
Martínez, Ana María (soprano)
Okerlund, Kristen (piano)
Weisgall, Hugo
Bible - Old Testament - Lyricist
BBC Singers (Choir)
Ital, Avner (Conductor)
11 Yihyu l'ratzon 01:53
BBC Singers (Choir)
Ital, Avner (Conductor)
12 Hodu ladonai 01:56
BBC Singers (Choir)
Ital, Avner (Conductor)
13 B'tzet yisrael 01:58
BBC Singers (Choir)
Ital, Avner (Conductor)
14 Ki lo na'e 02:02
BBC Singers (Choir)
Ital, Avner (Conductor)
Weisgall, Hugo
Ezra, Moses ibn - Lyricist
Feist, Milton - Lyricist
Bryn-Julson, Phyllis (soprano)
Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (Orchestra)
Mester, Jorge (Conductor)
15 I. Fantasia 04:58
Bryn-Julson, Phyllis (soprano)
Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (Orchestra)
Mester, Jorge (Conductor)
16 II. Scherzo 04:09
Bryn-Julson, Phyllis (soprano)
Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (Orchestra)
Mester, Jorge (Conductor)
17 III. Free Variations 06:28
Bryn-Julson, Phyllis (soprano)
Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (Orchestra)
Mester, Jorge (Conductor)

Total Playing Time: 01:07:39