By David Amos
SAN DIEGO –During the weeklong celebration of Hannukah, which just finished, I was pleased to find Radio Hannukah on the Sirius-XM satellite radio in the car. It was a special channel, entirely devoted, 24 hours a day, to recorded music related to the festival. Most of it was Hannukah music, while other selections were generic Jewish pop and “comfort music”, which is always good to hear.
I was clearly unprepared for the vastness and variety presented. Some of it was traditional, some was Hassidic, and a whole lot of it was hip-hop, rock, and every possible configuration of the tunes which you and I have heard through the years. Even though we did not spend too much time in the car this week, who can retell how many versions of S’vivon, Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages), and Hanerot Halau were out there! Some were clever, well performed and entertaining, but many were cheap “me too!” imitations, and a smattering of more than a few dreadful performances.
All these musical pieces were obviously committed to commercial recordings, and are either available for purchase somewhere, or already being played in CD players and i-pods at homes.
This is good and well, but it brings to mind a problem that I have encountered: When I talk to music lovers about “Jewish Music”, so many of them do not envision the depth of serious works by Ernest Bloch, Leonard Bernstein, and so many, many others. I have enthusiastically talked about promoting, commissioning, performing and recording serious music on Jewish subjects, the Bible, our history, traditions, folklore, Israel, and the Holocaust.
But I have received many disappointing responses from famous musicians, music lovers, and potential sponsors. I can summarize most of these comments with this sentence: “Seriously, David, do we really need more versions of I Have a Little Dreidl, Hava Nagilah, or My Yiddishe Momme?” Even worse, I was told by a knowledgeable Jewish person, “How can any Jewish music ever match the grandeur and depth of the Christian concert hall masterpieces?”
Ask me in person, and I’ll tell you who these people are.
Is most of Jewish festival music relegated to children’s tunes?
Sadly, even serious Israeli music lovers and musical movers and shakers have a marked inferiority complex about the quality and worthiness of our own music. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus give token performances of Israeli composers, but regularly perform masses, requiems, cantatas, glorias, and passions. Granted, these are truly masterpieces, but they are all of religious Christian music.
My hope is that in our time, many living composers, Jewish or Gentile, can be encouraged and sponsored to compose major works about our heritage. For example, many of you may remember composer David Ward-Steinman, who was in the music faculty at SDSU for some forty years. In the mid-1960’s he composed the biblical oratorio The Song of Moses, which was narrated in the premiere performance by the well known actor Gregory Peck.
It never rose to subsequent performances past SDSU and possibly a few other schools. And it never received a fully professional commercial recording, for the world to appreciate its symbolism and meaning, although the oratorio is accessible, rich in melodies, and faithful to the Old Testament story of the Exodus from Egypt.
To my estimation, this is a musical creation worthy of a permanent place in the standard repertory. There are many other works which have fallen into obscurity, not because of their quality, or lack of it, but because we do not have the proper vehicle and the means to gather these serious works of Jewish relevance and bring them to Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike.
I have been personally approached by music programmers of multiple radio stations networks, who are desperate to find quality Jewish music to broadcast during the High Holidays and the festive holidays. They strongly encouraged me to be involved in the creation of new works on Jewish subjects to be aired on radio and satellite radio.
And, I bring this to you: Think of all the potentially great works of music which are yet to be composed. True, everything that is created is not automatically a masterpiece worthy of long term survival, but look what this filtering process left us from the thousands of musical compositions in the last 300 years. The system worked; the poor works have been forgotten, and all of us inherited the rewards of that system. History and time make sure that the cream rises to the top. It is up to us to continue the tradition of encouraging living composers to do their work, find the proper forum for these works to be heard (concerts and recordings), and let history, not us, decide their artistic survival.
In these days, when Israel is badly losing the P-R war, and anti-Semitism, mostly in Europe, is again raising its ugly head, we should not underestimate the power of the arts to make a difference, possibly small at first, but definitely for the longer term, to make its mark in history.
Look what Yevtushenko’s poem and Shostakovitch’s symphony did to imprint the name Babi-Yar into history and our consciousness! The composer, Shostakovitch, gave us two magnificent quotes: “People knew about Babi-Yar before Yevtushenko’s poem, but they were silent. And when they read the poem, the silence was broken. ART DESTROYS SILENCE” and, “After Yevtushenko’s poem, it became clear that it would never be forgotten; that is the power of art”.
Through music, many permanent statements can be made that should last forever.
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Amos is conductor of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra in San Diego and has guest conducted professional orchestras around the world. He may be contacted at david.amos@sdjewishworld.com