Pioneer Press: Holocaust work blends solemnity, resilient joy (November 17, 2008)
By David Hawley
Special to the Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 11/16/2008 08:13:35 PM CST
Of all the expectations for a musical work about the Holocaust, triumphant joy may not be one of them. That's especially true when the title is "Kaddish," which refers to the Jewish rituals of mourning.
But joy of a kind born in resiliency emerges like a glow of white light in the final section of Lawrence Siegel's oratorio — starting with a hymnlike choral setting of the words, "Nothing is as whole as a heart which has been broken," and rising to exaltation: "I am here! I survived, and look who is with me." After what has gone before, the impact of the conclusion is thrilling.
"Kaddish," written in oratorio style for chorus, soloists and small orchestra, received its world premiere Saturday in a single concert by VocalEssence, the 40-year-old ensemble founded and conducted by Philip Brunelle that doggedly champions new or less-known vocal music. The performance was recorded and likely will find its way to a compact disc.
The hourlong work is theatrical and accessible. Siegel, a New Hampshire-based composer, is an advocate of "verbatim" librettos. The technique for this work involved taking actual words of survivors and melding them with other sources, both biblical and poetic, including the traditional Kaddish prayer.
Needless to say, the verbatim technique adds dramatic weight. The trade-off, especially in the choral sections, is the necessity of using a lot of thick-textured homophonic singing to project the text. Thankfully, it doesn't get monotonous, thanks to theatrical narrative of contrasting styles.
Divided into three major sections, the piece begins with reflections on life in Jewish communities before the Holocaust, written generally in a style that uses conventional harmonies, lyricism and hints of folk and klezmer melodies.
The harmonies become dissonant and angular in the middle section, which includes accounts of Auschwitz, before moving to the momentous and triumphant conclusion with four-square hymns and a huge, almost Handelian final chorus. The ending is preceded by perhaps the most dramatic moment in the performance: A stark recitative involving the spoken names of Holocaust victims, starting with a single voice and rising to a heart-breaking cacophony of voices.
On Saturday, the soloists — including eternal soprano Maria Jette, mezzo Krista J. Palmquist, tenor Anders Eckman and bass-baritone James Bohn — were all admirable, but the weight of the performance fell to Eckman, whose singing had a majestic quality that also was profoundly direct.
Saturday's performance opened with a concert version of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" — another salvo in a 90th-birthday celebration that includes a big festival next year by the Minnesota Orchestra. In some ways, "Mass" was an unfortunate billing, because Bernstein's wry, humanistic take on the traditional liturgical vehicle came off as shallow when followed by "Kaddish." It's a better work than that.
Moreover, the performance was a little shaky. Tenor Paul Garth Pruitt was called in at the last minute when the original soloist, Jason Collins, had to withdraw because of a family emergency. (Eckman substituted admirably for Collins in "Kaddish.") Pruitt struggled frequently with the part, though the performance opened with a lovely solo by Jette, and it also was apparent that some of the concert piece had to be jettisoned at the last minute.
In all, however, the concert was a very big moment in the vocal music scene for this year. It's a pity that it was only performed once.
Special to the Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 11/16/2008 08:13:35 PM CST
Of all the expectations for a musical work about the Holocaust, triumphant joy may not be one of them. That's especially true when the title is "Kaddish," which refers to the Jewish rituals of mourning.
But joy of a kind born in resiliency emerges like a glow of white light in the final section of Lawrence Siegel's oratorio — starting with a hymnlike choral setting of the words, "Nothing is as whole as a heart which has been broken," and rising to exaltation: "I am here! I survived, and look who is with me." After what has gone before, the impact of the conclusion is thrilling.
"Kaddish," written in oratorio style for chorus, soloists and small orchestra, received its world premiere Saturday in a single concert by VocalEssence, the 40-year-old ensemble founded and conducted by Philip Brunelle that doggedly champions new or less-known vocal music. The performance was recorded and likely will find its way to a compact disc.
The hourlong work is theatrical and accessible. Siegel, a New Hampshire-based composer, is an advocate of "verbatim" librettos. The technique for this work involved taking actual words of survivors and melding them with other sources, both biblical and poetic, including the traditional Kaddish prayer.
Needless to say, the verbatim technique adds dramatic weight. The trade-off, especially in the choral sections, is the necessity of using a lot of thick-textured homophonic singing to project the text. Thankfully, it doesn't get monotonous, thanks to theatrical narrative of contrasting styles.
Divided into three major sections, the piece begins with reflections on life in Jewish communities before the Holocaust, written generally in a style that uses conventional harmonies, lyricism and hints of folk and klezmer melodies.
The harmonies become dissonant and angular in the middle section, which includes accounts of Auschwitz, before moving to the momentous and triumphant conclusion with four-square hymns and a huge, almost Handelian final chorus. The ending is preceded by perhaps the most dramatic moment in the performance: A stark recitative involving the spoken names of Holocaust victims, starting with a single voice and rising to a heart-breaking cacophony of voices.
On Saturday, the soloists — including eternal soprano Maria Jette, mezzo Krista J. Palmquist, tenor Anders Eckman and bass-baritone James Bohn — were all admirable, but the weight of the performance fell to Eckman, whose singing had a majestic quality that also was profoundly direct.
Saturday's performance opened with a concert version of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" — another salvo in a 90th-birthday celebration that includes a big festival next year by the Minnesota Orchestra. In some ways, "Mass" was an unfortunate billing, because Bernstein's wry, humanistic take on the traditional liturgical vehicle came off as shallow when followed by "Kaddish." It's a better work than that.
Moreover, the performance was a little shaky. Tenor Paul Garth Pruitt was called in at the last minute when the original soloist, Jason Collins, had to withdraw because of a family emergency. (Eckman substituted admirably for Collins in "Kaddish.") Pruitt struggled frequently with the part, though the performance opened with a lovely solo by Jette, and it also was apparent that some of the concert piece had to be jettisoned at the last minute.
In all, however, the concert was a very big moment in the vocal music scene for this year. It's a pity that it was only performed once.
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