Re: Milken conference

[Eliott Kahn <Elkahn...>]

At 09:10 PM 11/11/2003 -0800, Sylvie Braitman wrote:
> Could somebody attending "Only in America" on Monday (about Schoenberg with
>Babbitt as moderator) as well as Tuesday, give us a report? Or is there a
>way to find info about it on line?
>
>Thanks!
>Sylvie



Milton Babbit moderated yesterday's session on emigre composers. He contributed 
several clever and funny anecdotes; that was about it.

One paper was on Kurt Weill's biographical Jewish background, by Tamara Levitz 
from UCLA. One paper was on Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's ghost-written movie 
music for MGM, given by Jim Westby, C-T's biographer. And the third was on 
Ernest Bloch's change from his early "Jewish period" after he arrived in New 
York in 1919 by Alexander Knapp from the University of London. All three papers 
were excellent.

I heard nothing new about Schoenberg in the other presentations but there were 
two wonderful, informative presentations: one on Stefan Wolpe's love of 
Israel--he was there for four years--and the Jewish music he composed, and one 
on Miriam Gideon's Jewish music, given by our own Judy Pinnolis.

For me, two events stand out: 1. Gerry Schwartz conducting the Juilliard 
Orchestra in Sam Adler's new piece, "Challenge of the Muse," Ernest Bloch's 
"Schelomo," and Leonard Bernstein's "Kaddish Symphony." Tovah Feldshuh 
delivered the naration quite movingly. It seems Gerry Schwartz's parents were 
emigres from Central Europe and he is now committed to lending his formidable 
talents to conducting Jewish orchestral music. It's a terrific fit. I've never 
heard "Schelomo" played with such fire and precision. The cello soloist was an 
Oriental as were many of the players. Believe me, they nailed the music with 
clarity and power. Tutti bravi.

The other event was the performance of several of Lazar Weiner's art songs, 
with his son Yehudi narrating and then playing the piano. There were three 
different singers, but I particularly loved the last gentleman's rendition of 
two of Weiner's Yiddish songs. 

His son provided the audience with a bit of esoterica that I'd like to share 
with the group. One of the lines in one of the songs is on Weiner's headstone:

Bitter ist dos Leben.
Ziss ist dos Lidele.

(Please forgive my Yiddish.)



Dr. Eliott Kahn
Music Archivist
Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
3080 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
WK: (212) 678-8076
FAX (212) 678-8998
elkahn (at) jtsa(dot)edu

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