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MUSIC FROM । THE

the musical heritage society Inc. Herman BERLINSKI, Organ

। Donald BOOTHMAN, Baritone ‘A l423°

MG MHS 775 “MEST

MUSIC FROM THE SYNAGOGUE

Side-l: Side 2: HERMAN BERLINSKI (0. 970) SEVEN CANTORIAL SONGS 7 é ) 5 Symphony for Organ ( | 957/6 | ) l. Kaddish (Leon Algazi, 890-97) “Symphony of Festivals’ Etschayim (Lazare Weiner, b. 897) Eloheno (Darius Milhaud, b. 892) l. Rosh Hashona (“Hayom haras Olam’) Tzur Yisroel (Ernest Bloch, 880-959) 2. (Psach Lonu Shaar’’) Bereshit (Salomon Rosowsky, 878-962) 3. Sukkoth 4, Pesach V’al Kulom (Herbert Fromm, b. 905) 5. Shabuoth OS Psach Lonu (Herbert Fromm) Herman BERLINSKI, Rieger Organ, Dusseldorf Herman BERLINSKI, Organ; Donald BOOTHMAN, Baritone

religious miniature, an art in which past and present are reconciled Cantorial Recitative and antiquarian and indeed sectarian limitations are confidently Cantorial recitative or cantillation is a term which denotes transcended. the solo singing of the cantor in a synagogue. The historical Notes by HERMAN BERLINSKI development of the cantor or reciter of prayers and biblical texts Translated by Celia Skrine before the congregation of a synagogue can be traced back almost के के नं to biblical times. The Organ Music of Herman Berlinski , like that of the Greek Orthodox Church, played Born in in 90, Herman Berlinski is probably the virtually no part in the development of western music. The basic first Jewish to have devoted himself entirely to the oriental dislike of the principle of constant change and renewal organ both as an outstanding performer and as a composer. To in liturgical music was accentuated by the isolation of the ghetto date, his works consist of six organ symphonies and a large , the general poverty of their congregations, and above number of single pieces, of which The Burning Bush is probably all by a determination to preserve the traditions of the Jewish the best known. people. In the U.S.A. his work is often compared to that of Olivier Only with the Enlightenment of the 8th century and the Messiaen. Both are trying to illuminate their religious experience Jewish emancipation of the 9th did the traditional Jewish musical in terms of the tonal qualities of the organ while avoiding the heritage at last come into contact with the various musical styles banalities of mere programme music. But their personalities are of the classical and romantic schools of European music. This led fundamentally different. In spite of its free treatment of harmony, to the attempt to force Jewish music into the 8th and 9th- Berlinski’s music is formally strict and reaches its dramatic century straitjacket of rhythmic symmetry and four-part harmony. climaxes with an almost talmudic logic. Moreover in his music This attempt, which was fostered by the ‘movement for Jewish in he is at pains to broaden the emotional range of the Jewish Germany, is best represented by (9. 82] experience — it is made up not only of the tragic Jewish sense Posen - d. 894 Berlin) and Salomon Sulzer (b. 804 Hohenems, of destiny but also includes the ecstatic joyfulness of the Chasidin Tyrol - d. 890 Vienna). and a vivid evocation of the solemn rituals of the biblical Temple. As a composer Berlinski soon became familiar with strict But by the beginning of the 20th century living in formal discipline by reason of his birth and musical education Russia (such as , Joel Engel, Alexander Krein, in Germany, though later this was to some extent relaxed by his Michael Milner, etc.) had learned from Rimsky-Korssakow and studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique in . But what is Mussorgsky that material taken from popular folklore can be most decisive is the fact that his parents were of Polish extraction sublimated artistically only by regaining complete rhythmic and -and he was thus from earliest childhood also familiar with the harmonic freedom. HERMAN BERLINSKI musical traditions of eastern European Jewry. It is this fusion The question of harmony in relation to Hebrew liturgical chant of eastern and western elements which gives Berlinski’s music its is as vexed as it is in relation to Gregorian plainsong. Yet characteristic stamp. His second organ symphony is in five movements, all of virtually all really important Jewish composers seem to regard harmonic sensibility which no longer seems able to make capacity of Hebrew which are built up on motifs emanating from the music of those harmonization as an extension of the expressive do with unaccompanied singing. chant, for the sake of which they have always been prepared who in the Middle Ages lived within the cultural orbit of to compromise to some degree with musicological exactitude. 3. Any system is permissible, whether it be modal-harmonic, Germany. In the Jewish consciousness these melodies are so But harmonization was not in fact the first such compromise. As polymodal, polytonal or completely atonal, provided that ancient that they go by the name of ‘“‘Missinai melodies,’ with far back as the early Middle Ages the oriental microtonal system a serious attempt is made to respect the intrinsic and deeper the implication that received them as part of the divine of Jewish music had gradually begun to give way to the diatonic truth of both melody and text. revelation on . It may in fact be possible that they system of western music. In eastern Europe, where the oriental The pieces performed here should be regarded as the product of are a development of even older microtonic or pentatonic formu- influence was, generally speaking, much more marked, the cantors these ideas. lations: but as yet we have no conclusive evidence either way. The melodies and individual motifs of the work are in no retained the customary practice of using quarter-tones even if they History decreed that the most creative Jewish composers from rejected it in theory. sense adaptations. The composer's melodic invention is at all Russia and Germany should meet again on American soil. They, times deeply rooted in the Jewish musical tradition, so that his Any attempt to harmonize Jewish cantillation must always together with three of the most important French Jewish com- intrinsically Jewish quality emerges both in his compositions and presuppose the following points: posers (Leon Algazi, Darius Milhaud and Alberto Hemsi, as well in his artistic personality. The second organ symphony is devoted as Ernest Bloch, who was born in Switzerland), were the original to the yearly cycle of Jewish feast-days and its aim is to reflect the melody is intimately bound up with the words, i. Since protagonists of the Jewish renascence of the 20th century. In the the majestic, mystical and joyful characteristics of each. its rhythmic and melodic characteristics must be retained. light of a creative outburst such as this, questions of musicological Notes by ZVI BEN DOV 2. Those Jews who for the last 2000 years have lived within precision must to some extent take second place. For what we the sphere of western civilization have acquired a western have before us here is a truly vital flowering of the art of the Translated by Celia Skrine

Recorded by SCHWANN Timings: the musical heritage society Inc. Side ls 6:07 - 7:27 - 3:08 - 3:27 - 5:9 94 t a हे i99l BROAOWAY, NeW YORK, N. y. 0023 Catalog Card No. 73-75056 Side Os 3:42- 557 3:04 - 2222 - 2:25 = 2 20 = 740 WECC ७/६+ bid — हे / \MUSICAL H E =

Sight FROM THE SYNAGOGUE

MHS 775 * STEREO I 33 /3 RPM जे HERMAN @ (b. 90) Symphony for Organ (957/6) “Symphony of Festivals . Rosh Hashona (‘‘Hayom haras Olam"’) . Yom Kippur (’'Psach Lonu Shaar’’) . Sukkoth . Pesach . Shabuoth

Herman BERLINSKI, Cathedral Organ, Washington, D.C. Recorded by SCHWANN + esa 7, E.SOCIETY

MUSIGF ROM THE SYNAGOGUE

\ MHS et \ STEREO Side2 | ae 33 /3 RPM के AG CANTORIAL SONGS . Kaddish (Leon o) ae 97) . Etschayim (Lazare Weiner, b. 897) . Eloheng (Darius ts geal: - 892) . Tzur Yisteel (Ernest Bloch, 880-959) . Bereshit (Satornea-ROsowsky, 878-962) - V’al Kulom (Herbert Fromm, b. 905) . Psach Lonu (Herbert Fromm) Herman BERLINSKI, Organ; Donald BOOTHMAN, Baritone Recorded by SCHWANN