Customer Reviews

Hebrew Melody: Jewish Music for Violin & Piano

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hebrew meoldy offers a listener a powerful glimps into music of a lost world. Haunting melodies, beautfiful performances, and excellent production mark this CD as a wonderful addition to any collection. The music, both familiar and evocative brings tears of joy and sadness in equal measure, but never sits idle on the heart.

I have never heard Miriam Kramer play Bach, Paganini, Mozart, or Bartok, but in the CD of Hasidic-oriented pieces, lasting 78 minutes, she reveals herself as a violinist of superior natural talent. She succeeds in getting beneath the skin of her music and is an exceptionally sensitive interpreter and a phrase-maker of uncommon expressivity. As to be expected, much of the 19 pieces are heavily ladened with sentiment which Kramer sagely exploits, while managing to avoid exaggeration or mawkishness. Her vibrato is multi-faceted and flows uninhibitedly.

Among the short works the joyous Bloch Simchas Torah from the Baal Shem Suite is particularly impressive Other outstanding efforts are the complete Bruch transcription of Kol Nidrei, Achron's dazzling Hebrew Dance and Ravel's moving Kaddish. Many of the brief odes are little known but deserve mention such as The Chassid and Prayer by Julius Chajes.

In contemporary mode are Four Pieces by Mark Lavry, while in opposite character is the traditional Eli-Eli, once a favourite of both Elman and Seidel (who both recorded it). Off the beaten path is an unedited arrangement of Eleazer's Song from Fromental Halevy's La Juive, an aria better suited to the voice than the violin.

This CD is notably enhanced by the polished, idiomatic piano accompaniments of Simon Over. In all, this release can be unreservedly recommended.

Henry Roth
The Strad