Customer Reviews

Legendary Cantors

5 star:		(8)
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The earliest recording on this CD is from 1907, with Gershon Sirota (1874-1943) singing "Veshomru" with a power that age cannot diminish; the quality of the sound, as with the other tracks on this CD, is amazingly clear, with digital recordings from the original 78 rpm discs. The two most recent recordings are from 1947, with Leibele Waldeman ("Shuvi Nafshi") and Richard Tucker ("Sholom Secunda" - "Yiru Eneinu"). Tucker of course was also a big star at the Metropolitan Opera, and was one of the most famous tenors of his generation, but never abandoned Chazanut, and made many recordings of cantorial works.

Some highlights for me are the great Joseph Rosenblatt (1882-1933) exquisitely singing "Yaaleh V'Yoveh", recorded in 1925 with orchestra, Manfred Lewandowsky (1895-1970) with "Haneovim" from 1928, and Shalom Katz (b. 1910) with "Sasa Grossman" - "El Moleh Rachamim" who does some incredible pianissimos, as do many of the other cantors on this disc.
There is however, not a single track that does not have immense beauty, as these fabulous voices rise up like a plaintive call to God from the soul.

The booklet insert is excellent, with detailed liner notes on the history of cantorial singing, a synopses of the prayers sung, and biographies of the cantors, some of them including a small photograph. As mentioned previously, the sound is remarkable for its age, and total playing time is 72'28.
This is a fabulous CD for anyone who loves to listen to the masters of Chazanut, or would like to explore the musical heritage of the Jewish faith.

I am not Jewish, nor do I come from that heritage, nor am I even religious. But this CD has some of the most remarkable, moving singing I have ever heard. I'm surprised that the other reviewers haven't mentioned my favorite, but to each his own. Berele Chagy, singing Mi Sheoso Nisim, is quite simply remarkable for the beauty of his voice, in particular his heavenly falsetto, and his virtuostic melismatic singing. Even if you don't buy the disc--and why not--at least download that one track!

Each featured Cantor was a master. There is here Jewish prayer as it was meant to be rendered in the Ashkenazic tradition. The sound quality is excellent, and the booklet is quite informative. This recording is a bargain beyond measure. Anyone with a love of this music of the classic Eastern European synagogue would find this a delight.

I remember listening to Yossele Rosenblat on old scratchy 78's in the house of my Bubbe and Zayde Freedman too many years ago.
Thus the quality of the sound on this C.D. is striking. To hear the truly beautiful voice of Sirota, or the stately power of Rosenblatt, or the operatic brilliance of Richard Tucker is a pure pleasure.
This is a classic collection of some of the best in Chazzanut.

This CD plays beautiful sounds as some of these
cantorials are at least 70 or so years old.
Really excellent.

Beautiful renditions of the holiest of Jewish songs. Incredible production of performances going back up to 100 years ago! I'm not Jewish, but having watched "The Jazz Singer" recently, I found these pieces to be incredible and a great addition to my music library.

I can only echo what everyone else has said about this CD. I once attended a recital by
leading cantors at the main synagogue in Budapest and from the very first note I felt
like a shaft had been opened up before me reaching down to the earth's core. But I wasn't
afraid because a spirit was rising up so powerful that I knew I would never fall. I'm not
Jewish and I'm not much of a Christian, but this music goes very deep.

I was more than pleasantly surprised to listen to this CD of Legendary Cantors. I was not familiar with some of the names. The reproduction quality is excellent even for the oldest recordings dating back to very early 1900's. Many of the cantors could have been successful opera singers. In all, a magnificent CD, one that I have recommended to my friends.