REVIEWS The Road of Promise Recordings MasterVoices the onstage action, the music adds color to the spectacle and functions as an acoustic backdrop. In the oratorio, however, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s music takes on a much larger significance: not only does it en- Ted Sperling, conductor fold the text smoothly with its vastly varying styles and tones, it absorbs the stories into itself, lending them a voice and giv- ing them musical and esthetic life—whether the love between Navona NV6059 Rachel and Jacob (No. 3), Moses’s declarations (No. 8), David’s guilt (No. 10), building Solomon’s temple (No. 11—at first glance Promoter and impresario Meyer Weisgal set out in 1933 to alert surely the oratorio’s peak of power and sublimity), deceptions of the public to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany when he a false prophet (No. 13), or the promise of the Messiah (No. 14). conceived a vast dramatic spectacle based on the history of the More to the point: Onstage, the music accompanies the action, Jewish people. He sparked the interest of famed director Max and may even become something of a distraction; in the oratorio, Reinhardt, who in turn recruited Franz Werfel and Kurt Weill however, the action comments on the music. For the task of shap- as collaborators. Werfel came up with the story: a Jewish congre- ing each number, Weill commands an inexhaustible and extrava- gation seeks shelter in a synagogue as a pogrom rages outside, gant wealth of invention. He designed the roles of the Rabbi, the and they fearfully await the dawn. The Rabbi offers consolation Thirteen-Year-Old, and the Adversary as speaking roles with un- and encouragement by recounting cherished stories from Jew- derscoring—though the Rabbi is generally given synagogue-in- ish history; his audience includes a naïve Thirteen-Year-Old boy fluenced recitative—in an unmediated present time, whereas the who is full of questions, and an “Ad- design of the biblical stories depends versary” who is full of doubts. Weill’s more on connecting the distant past score, composed after his own escape to the present and less on displaying from Nazi Germany, went far beyond the sheer multitude of biblical charac- “incidental music,” closer to “monu- ters. Weill creates unity and continu- mental music.” After a series of delays, ity among different levels of temporal- the work finally took the stage (in Eng- ity and narration through the use of lish) on 7 January 1937 in New York, leitmotifs. but its sheer length made it necessary Obviously, the plethora of styles to cut nearly the entire last act (“The presents performance challenges, Prophets”). Most of the score had to which are convincingly overcome in be prerecorded and piped in, because this recording. All of the vocal solo- the gigantic set left no room for an or- ists, most of whom must take more chestra pit. than one role (except Anthony Dean So, what can we make of Weill’s Griffey as the Rabbi), endow the bib- music, which by his own account he lical figures with life and personality. worked on with great enthusiasm and To name just a few members of this which he deemed the “loveliest music” finely balanced group of vocalists: Eli he had composed to that point? What Tokash voices the Thirteen-Year-Old is its nature, how can it be used, or revived? Based on this record- boy’s questions with appropriate feeling. Lenya Competition ing, we can say with confidence that Ed Harsh’s adaptation of the prizewinners Justin Hopkins, Lauren Michelle, and Megan Ma- stage work as a two-part oratorio in fourteen numbers will estab- rino (the last two sing multiple roles) bring out the individual- lish the score firmly in the repertory. ity of every character. Mark Delavan makes a definite impres- The oratorio version makes it glaringly obvious that in cut- sion, rendering Abraham and Moses with power and intensity. ting Act IV, the New York production lost one of Weill’s most un- AJ Glueckert proves a master of adaptability, handling the roles deniably beautiful Lieder: the tender, comforting “Ye mourners, of Jacob, David, Isaiah, and Hananiah. The dedication of all the no judgment which mortals have wrought / Can blot out Israel or soloists gives the performance an impetus worthy of the work’s bring him to naught,” which opens the final number (“A Vision”). subject and message, doing them both full justice. The enormous Weill succeeds in finding an immediately touching and deeply but by no means unmanageable choral parts are delivered by moving tone, which expresses consolation, uplift, and confidence MasterVoices to grand aural effect, and Ted Sperling, conductor all at the same time. Michael Slattery’s rendition certainly helps; of this live recording, expertly handles transitions between num- he sings it with a quietly fervent, tender expression that urgently bers of widely varying character. The Orchestra of St. Luke’s gives tries to convert hope into unshakable certainty. With such an in- the purely orchestral passages the sort of cultivated playing that terpretation, the music evokes a state of peaceful harmony and makes one wish Weill had written more of them. makes it almost palpable—only to be torn away by the harsh voice of the “regime”: “You, congregation of Israel, are to be banished Giselher Schubert from the land!” Hameln This sequence illustrates the role music must play in a dra- matic context as opposed to an oratorio. As accompaniment to Volume 35, Number 1 Kurt Weill Newsletter 11 REVIEWS Performances “Lift Every Voice” Festival Blossoms into “We Must Not Remain Silent” “Lift Every Voice!” What better name for a festival striving to be ‘The Knife’: Kurt Weill before Broadway” on 19 January, with se- inclusive, inspiring, and educational, while also serving as a call lections from Weill’s chamber music (the first movement of the to action? Cello Sonata and the first two movements of String Quartet No. The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and its Music Direc- 1, Op. 8) and songs, including “Maikaterlied” (1918), “Alabama tor Jeffrey Kahane planned an unprecedented series of events Song,” “O Captain! My Captain!,” and “Lonely House,” all given to explore “the power of music to encourage understanding and adept performances by USC students and professional musicians. promote peace.” Presented 14–29 January 2017 in various venues Closing out the first half was Gideon Klein’s String Trio, com- spread across the Los Angeles basin, the festival comprised four posed in the Terezín concentration camp in 1944. Klein perished concerts, a film screening, a symposium, and a fully staged pro- in the Fürstengrube camp just a few months later, in January 1945. duction of Lost in the Stars. The Kurt Weill Foundation provided Kahane and Hope had begun the evening with a dazzling significant financial support. reading of “Mackie Messer” arranged for violin and piano by Ste- Kahane imbibed political activism from his parents, who es- fan Frenkel. To close, Kahane led a lovingly detailed and energetic caped Germany on the last boat from Hamburg in 1940. Taking performance of Kleine Dreigroschenmusik. This smorgasbord of inspiration from the lives of Kurt Weill, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, and Weill works offered a glimpse of his range and his genius for me- Martin Luther King, Jr., he set out to explore lodic invention. It also introduced largely un- the relationships between artistic expression known works to talented students and young and political action. The resulting programs professionals. elicited complex emotional responses from Sunday, 22 January proved to be a dis- deeply engaged audiences grappling with tillation of the festival, when politics and art these issues on personal, national, and global converged most powerfully. To anchor the levels. Kahane’s dedication to the project and festival’s themes historically and culturally, exacting musicianship lent artistic integrity UCLA hosted a day-long symposium under to the entire enterprise, and he wisely invited the title “Championing Civil Rights & Resist- British violin virtuoso Daniel Hope to play ing Injustice: Rabbi Joachim Prinz and Kurt a major role in the festival’s programming. Weill.” While the link between these two men Hope’s father was a prominent journalist might have seemed tenuous at first, the par- who wrote against apartheid in South Afri- ticipants argued convincingly that both Prinz ca; Hope himself has throughout his career and Weill were embroiled in the controver- championed the music of composers mur- sies of their times and that their work still dered by the Nazis. resonates deeply. The symposium addressed Rabbi Joachim Kahane is not only a master of stimulating and thought-provoking issues, PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE PRINZ FAMILY PRINZ THE OF COURTESY PHOTO: Prinz programming but a modern-day Merlin. often in the context of current political and How else could he have known over a year social turmoil. The day quickly coalesced into ago that “Lift Every Voice” would coincide with the inauguration one of those unique events where everyone in the room felt part of Donald Trump, followed the next day by millions of Americans of a community of shared values. marching to demand vigilance in protecting human rights? Michael Meyer (Professor Emeritus, Hebrew Union Col- Actually, the festival was intended as the last act of Kahane’s lege) and Rabbi Jonathan Prinz (Joachim Prinz’s son) provided tenure with the LACO, which he is leaving after twenty years. biographical information about Rabbi Prinz (1902–1988), who He writes, “I have always believed that for an orchestra to fulfill served for fifty years as a rabbi, starting in 1926 in Berlin. Prinz its highest potential, it must be an ‘instrument of community.’ challenged the traditional role of rabbis by speaking out on po- We believe passionately that this project has the potential to be a litical and social issues, and his congregation grew as a result.