St Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music

[Jewish Music Institute <jewishmusic...>]

 For those of you in or near London

I would like to inform you about two concerts at St Giles Cripplegate on Wed 13 
and Thur 14
November featuring music by composers who were active in the St Petersburg 
Society for Jewish
Folk Music, founded in 1908 and inspired by the teachings of Rimsky Korsakov.

Russian composers Gnesin and Krein were prominent members of the St. Petersburg 
Society for
Jewish Folk Music (founded in 1908). Their classical compositions based on 
Jewish folk
melodies found much favour before Stalin's take-over and suppression.


Wednesday 13 November 7.30pm
Music of Mikhail Gnesin
Songs and Chamber works on Jewish Themes
Sovali, soprano and International Ensemble
Supported by the Royal Netherlands Embassy

Thursday 14 November 7.30pm
Music of Alexander Krein and Gnesin
with Rachmaninov and Enesco
Susanne Stanzeleit, violin
Joseph Spooner, cello
Jonathan Powell, piano


St Giles, Cripplegate, Fore Street, London EC2
Tickets £12 concessions £8  (concession price if booking for both concerts)
Box Office: Ticketweb 08700 600 100  www.ticketweb.co.uk
Presented by the JMI International Forum for Suppressed Music
with London ArtsFest

For further details e-mail jewishmusic (at) jmi(dot)org(dot)uk   or see Website 
www.jmi.org.uk  or see
below

Wednesday 13 November 7.30pm
Music of Mikhail Gnesin
Songs and Chamber works on Jewish Themes
Sovali, soprano
Perry Robinson, soprano and sopranino clarinet
Grigory Sedukh, violin & piccolo violin
Alexander Oratovski, cello
Anat Fort, piano,
Tsivi Sharett, piano
Roberto Haliffi, percussion

Nigun for Schajke-Pfaifer (1914) cello, piano  1:50'
Improvisation ensemble   7'
Song of a Knight Errant opus 34 (1921) cello and piano   1:45'
Jewish Songs, opus 37 (1923-1926) arr. with improvisations, voice, ensemble  20'
1.  Her delicate hand, text, Zalmen Shneur
2.  Song of Miriam (vocalise) from the tragedy Herod and Miriam by Hebbel
3.  From Song of Songs, Chapter 8, verse 8-10 Akhot lanu ktana (We have a 
little sister)
4.  Song about red-headed Mottele, text, Josef Utkin
5.  The enemy is at the gates, text, Osher Schwartzman
Sonata in G-major, opus 43 (1928) violin, piano  7'
Three Melodies opus 60 (1942), clarinet, violin, cello, piano  3:30'
1.      Dzjerèn's Song, based on a Turkmenean melody
2.      Ukrainean Dance
3. Lyric Intermezzo
Ora Piano, four hands
interval
The Story of red-headed Mottele by Josef Utkin, opus 44 (1929) voice, piano  20'
1.  Song about red-headed Mottele
2.  Who's business is it?
3.  At the market
4.  Standing in line
5.  The Clock - Song of currant affairs
6.  In the Synagogue
7.   Funeral Song
8.   What's the answer - thinking about life
Jewish orchestra on the ball of the bailiff (Grotesque) - incidental music for 
the performance
of Gogol's Revisor at V.E. Meyerhold's theatre -  opus 41 (1926) arr. with 
improvisations,
ensemble ca. 20'

Concert supported by the Royal Netherlands Embassy

The Performers
With various musical backgrounds and residing in different countries, the 
musicians  have
devoted their time and energy - each from an individual point of view - to the 
performance and
interpretation of Jewish music. Each one has developed specialties. Violinist 
Grigory Sedukh
and cellist Alexander Oratovski, both exponents of the classical Russian 
tradition, started
their rediscovery of the Russian Jewish composers in St. Petersburg with their 
concerts and
CDs. Clarinetist Perry Robinson represents the American tradition of improvised 
music and is
closely connected to the Jewish new wave in New York. Percussionist Roberto 
Haliffi, who
originates from Libya, is a specialist in klezmer and world music. Pianist Anat 
Fort and
vocalist Sovali, who both have a background in classical as well as improvised 
music, serve as
the bridge between these worlds. Anat Fort, from Israel, carries with her the 
musical
atmosphere of the Middle East and Sovali, from Amsterdam, studied cantorial 
melodies. These
musicians have worked together in different combinations, but in this project 
they have all
come together as a group for the first time.




Thursday 14 November 7.30pm
2: Krein and Gnesin with Rachmaninov and Enesco
Susanne Stanzeleit, violin
Joseph Spooner, cello
Jonathan Powell, piano

Gnesin, Sonata-Ballade opus 7* cello and piano 16'
Krein, Poème (1907-10), cello and piano 8'
Rachmaninov, Piano Sonata no. 2 original version  22'
interval
Krein, Elégie* (1913), violin, cello and piano   5'
Krein, Melodie (publ. 1943) (cello and piano)  4'
Krein, Deux poèmes, opus 10, piano*  6'
Krein, Deux petites poèmes, opus. 31, piano*  6'
Krein, Aria (1927), violin and piano* 8'
Enescu, Impressions d'Enfance violin and piano 15'
* indicates a UK premiere


The Performers
Composer and pianist Jonathan Powell developed an interest in Alexander Krein 
as part of his
doctoral research at Cambridge. On occasion, he literally smuggled scores out 
of the Moscow
Conservatory library to have them photocopied, so Krein's works could be 
brought to a larger
audience. Powell and cellist Joseph Spooner, a champion of neglected 
repertoire, have taken
part in several successful premiere performances of works by Krein, most 
notably at the London
Barbican Centre's St Petersburg festival in June 1999. Together with violinist 
Adam
Summerhayes they have recorded an entire disc of Krein's chamber works for ASV 
(available
summer 2003). For the concert at St Giles Cripplegate, Powell and Spooner are 
joined by the
versatile violinist Suzanne Stanzeleit, who has recently recorded works for 
violin and piano
by Enescu for Meridian (available spring 2003). The concert will be a rare 
opportunity to hear
music by Krein, Gnesin and Enescu, with some of the works being played for the 
first time in
the UK.


Information about the

St Petersburg Society for Jewish Music

During the 1980s and 90s, the rediscovery of 'Entartete Musik' and the 
avant-garde music of
the early Soviet era sparked off considerable interest in both the concert 
halls and recording
industry. This re-evaluation of 20th-century music has recently broadened to 
encompass serious
investigation into the flourishing of Jewish art music in Russia and Eastern 
Europe of the
same period. Alexander Krein (1883-1951) and Mikhail Gnesin were the central 
figures of this
Jewish National School in Russia.

The group was led by the music critic, composer and publisher Joel Engel 
(1862-1927). In
addition to Gnesin (1883-1957?) and Alexander Krein (1883-1951), the composers 
included Joseph
Achron (1886-1943), Moshe Milner (1886-1952), Solomon Rosowsky (1878-1962), 
Lazare Saminsky
(1882-1959), Ephraïm Skliar (1871- ?) and Alexander Weprik (1899-1958). They 
did research on
Jewish traditional music, published music scores and essays on Jewish music, 
organised musical
events, issued a periodical, set up a library, and opened departments in other 
cities. The
movement grew up under the influence of the nationalistic trends prevailing in 
Europe at the
time, creating renewed interest in traditional musical styles. The breeding 
ground for the St.
Petersburg Society was Rimsky-Korsakov's composition class at the conservatory 
attended by
several members of the Society, where they were encouraged to explore their 
Jewish musical
heritage.

A favourite student of Rimsky-Korsakov, the young composer Gnesin started out 
brilliantly with
original works like his orchestra piece Vrubel, which won him the Glinka prize. 
Yet he found
his true calling as a composer in the field of Jewish music. Gnesin wrote: 
"Elements of Jewish
music captured my musical feelings and imagination to such an extent that even 
when I did not
have the mission to look for a Jewish style, those elements appeared in my 
works (in Braun,
J., Jews in Soviet Music, in: Miller, J., ed., Jews in Soviet Culture, p. 69).  
Gnesin's first
Jewish work, Nigun fun Shaike Pfaifer was published in 1914 by the Society for 
Jewish Folk
Music. Numerous compositions on Jewish themes followed, including arrangements 
of traditional
material and original works ranging from the smaller forms of song and chamber 
music to the
larger forms of symphony, choir and opera.

Alexander Krein came from a musical family - his father was a synagogue Cantor 
- and emerged
as an important figure in the musical life of Moscow for more than two decades 
from around
1910. His unique combination of Jewish materials and impressionist, often 
exotic colouring
lends his work particular appeal. Initially a follower of Scriabin and 
Rachmaninoff, his
interworking of Jewish folk and sacred materials into a language of 
considerable subtlety won
him acclaim and lead to him being hailed as the 'leading representative of the 
Russian Jewish
School of composition' by the authoritative scholar Boris Asafyev. However, 
after the early
1930s Jewish nationalism was discouraged by Stalinist artistic policy, thus 
Krein and many
other musicians fell into obscurity.

These concerts provide a rare opportunity to hear compositions from the short 
flourishing of
the Jewish art music movement in Russia and of two Jewish composers who were 
important figures
in this movement as well as in the musical life of Russia for more than two 
decades in the
early 20th Century.








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