Hope, and a call to action

Violins of Hope: Music for violin & piano by Dauber, Bloch, John Williams, Chajes, Farber, Laks, Perlman, Ben-Haim, Ravel


The Violins of Hope project was founded by Amnon Weinstein and his son Avshalom Weinstein, Israeli luthiers who collect the actual instruments that have survived from their time in the camps of the Holocaust, refurbish them to concert quality, and bring them to communities all over the world. James A. Grymes documented this in his 2014 book Violins of Hope: Violins of the Holocaust - Instruments of Hope & Liberation in Mankind's Darkest Hour.

Niv Ashkenazi is the only violinist to have one of these instruments on a long-term loan. "In most Violins of Hope events, musicians have a limited time with each instrument. I have been given a unique opportunity to develop a relationship with this special instrument and its voice." Ashkenazi goes on to introduce the reason for his new album Violins of Hope:

One of the missions of Violins of Hope is to help silenced voices be heard again. This album is intended to create a permanent chronicle of that voice so it is never again silenced.

Ashkenazi has chosen a beautiful programme of pieces by composers from the early 20th century to today, many of whom were affected by the Holocaust. He begins with the Serenade by Robert Dauber, a lovely short, sentimental piece of light music that becomes almost unbearably sad when you learn that Dauber survived stints in Theresienstadt and Auschwitz, only to die in Dachau just before the end of the war.



Other highlights from this album include the Trois pièces de concert, by Szymon Laks, the concert-master of the  concertmaster of the Birkenau Men’s Camp Orchestra in Auschwitz, and the moving Nigun by Ernest Bloch. I never tire of John Williams's Theme from Schindler’s List, written for Itzhak Perlman to play in Steven Spielberg's film. All of these are beautifully played by Ashkenazi. He gets a full, sweet tone from his instrument, built in the first third of the 20th century in Germany or Eastern Europe, and plays with passion, but also grace and style. Also, when called for, wit and humour. The fine pianist Matthew Graybil provides superb support.

The most substantial piece, and one that repays multiple listening, is the Triumph movement from Sharon Farber's Bestemming. Farber herself made this arrangement for piano four hands and narrator, and plays the second piano part herself. Tony Campisi is the narrator in this performance, providing a perfectly nuanced, subtle commentary to the heartbreaking story told by a master composer.

We need hope more than ever today, as a new wave of fascism begins to break over the world. May this inspiring project provide us with a new will towards action. According to Alain De Botton, "In order to be effective, political art can't simply say that something is wrong; it needs to make this error feel vivid enough to generate the emotion necessary to stir us into reform." This amazing album is a perfect example.

The wind symphony put through its paces

The music on this new disc from the North Texas Wind Symphony, conducted by Eugene Migliaro Corporon, is very diverse, which isn't a surprise considering the broad range of styles in which each of these composers works and the flexibility of the wind symphony format. The players of this superb ensemble, a large group of nearly 70 musicians, combine the expressive capabilities of woodwinds, the power of brass and a dizzying array of rhythms from the percussion. Military band, film music, and cool and hot big band sounds are all here, showing off virtuoso playing but also virtuoso composition.

We open with a stirring piece by that modern master of stirring music, John Williams. His work written to commemorate the 215th anniversary of the United States Marine Band, For the President's Own, is a patriotic classic. Master orchestrator Michael Daugherty cleaned up in the 2017 Grammys with three awards, and his 2015 composition Winter Dreams is a great example of his art. In fact, I was well into this piece before I realized there were no strings. Daugherty wrote this to commemorate two Iowa artists: painter Grant Wood and poet Jay Sigmund.

The most extensive work on the album is John Mackey's Wine-Dark Sea, a full-scale symphony with Homeric themes. This is stirring music with an exciting, vivid sound palette. Mackey also provides a short, fun, virtuosic bit of slapstick entitled The Ringmaster's March, which I expect will be challenging bands across the nation for many years. Bruce Broughton's World of Spirits is very evocative; he calls it "ballet without the dancers or a movie without the screen". The ability of music to program our minds' inner choreographer/film director has always been of great interest to composers and audiences, and Broughton brings to mind both the films of John Ford and Martha Graham's dancing, alongside the Great Plains landscapes and Comanche encampments.

I loved Gernot Wolfgang's Passing Through (2016), which was nominated for a Grammy this year (beaten out by a Daugherty disc). His Three Short Stories is the highlight of Inventions for me. Originally written for viola and bassoon, the transformation to a full big band is amazing. These little pieces have really good bones to wear these flashy new orchestrations so lightly! Here is Uncle Bebop in the original scoring; you'll have to wait until the new disc is released on May 12, 2017 to hear it in its new form.

A brilliant gala for a brilliant composer

From July 24, 2015:

When Gustavo Dudamel takes the microphone towards the end of this LA Philharmonic concert at the Disney Concert Hall, his tribute to John Williams as one of the top 20th century composers seemed to ring true with the audience, as I’m sure it will to many watching this Blu Ray at home. The audience is surprisingly enthusiastic, considering the many tuxedoes and designer gowns at this gala concert. Let’s just say this is more a Golden Globes crowd than an Academy Awards one.

There’s so much to be enthusiastic about. Soundings, a piece Williams wrote to focus attention on the special qualities and capabilities of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, is a serious and always interesting showpiece for orchestra. The orchestra and Dudamel are definitely up to the task. But it’s two of Williams’ strongest film scores that provide what I feel are the best works in the concert. Three Pieces from Schindler’s List is a short but intense suite for violin and orchestra. Itzhak Perlman plays the beautiful, inventive violin part in a tasteful fashion, never maudlin but with just the tiniest bit of “schmalzig”. This is the way, perhaps, that Fritz Kreisler would have played "Theme", one of the saddest and most beautiful pieces of music ever written. Incidentally, I much prefer this order of the movements, rather than the version sometimes played where “Theme” comes first. I loved the bit of stage business before this piece. Dudamel carries Perlman’s violin as he follows the violinist slowly making his way to the podium on his crutches. When he hands Perlman the violin, he gets a wink, a funny face, and his baton in return.

Escapades from Catch Me If You Can, one of Spielburg’s most under-rated films, is a hugely entertaining piece that the otherwise excellent liner notes by Jon Burlingame mis-identifies as “a miniature alto saxophone concerto.” In fact, this is a jazzy miniature concerto for three instruments which deserve equal billing. Billing, I’ve heard, is important in Hollywood! The piece is played here by three expert, charming instrumentalists. They are saxophonist Dan Higgins, vibraphonist Glenn Paulson, and bassist Michael Valerio. This is a piece that deserves to be programmed much more often, though good luck finding three musicians at this level, especially by plucking them out of the orchestra!

Spoiler alert: hijinks! Spoilers don’t usually loom large in classical music reviews, but lots of fun happens during the encores. This, and the substantial bonus interviews with Williams, Dudamel and Perlman, are enough on their own to buy this disc. The Blu Ray, with its excellent sound and beautiful HD picture, is very highly recommended.

Here is a substantial excerpt from the DVD: the Throne Room music and Finale from Star Wars: