Brubeck: The Gates of Justice
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A MESSAGE FROM THE MILKEN ARCHIVE FOUNDER Dispersed over the centuries to all corners of the earth, the Jewish people absorbed elements of its host cultures...
A MESSAGE FROM THE MILKEN ARCHIVE FOUNDER
Dispersed over the centuries to all corners of the earth, the Jewish people absorbed
elements of its host cultures while, miraculously, maintaining its own. As many Jews
reconnected in America, escaping persecution and seeking to take part in a visionary
democratic society, their experiences found voice in their music. The sacred and
secular body of work that has developed over the three centuries since Jews first
arrived on these shores provides a powerful means of expressing the multilayered
saga of American Jewry.
My personal interest in music and deep abiding commitment to synagogue life and the Jewish people
united as I developed an increasing appreciation for the quality and tremendous diversity of music
written for or inspired by the American Jewish experience. Through discussions with contemporary
Jewish composers and performers during the 1980s, I realized that while much of this music had
become a vital force in American and world culture, even more music of specifically Jewish content had
been created, perhaps performed, and then lost to current and future generations. Believing that there
was a unique opportunity to rediscover, preserve, and transmit the collective memory contained within
this music, the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music was founded in 1990. This project would unite
the Jewish people's eternal love of music with their commitment to education, a commitment shared
by the Milken Family Foundation since our founding in 1982.
The passionate collaboration of many distinguished artists, ensembles, and recording producers has
created a vast repository of musical resources to educate, entertain, and inspire people of all faiths
and cultures. The Milken Archive of American Jewish Music is a living project, one that we hope will
cultivate and nourish musicians and enthusiasts of this richly varied musical genre.
Lowell Milken
The Milken Family Foundation was established by brothers Lowell and Michael Milken in 1982 with
the mission to discover and advance inventive, effective ways of helping people help themselves and
those around them lead productive and satisfying lives. The Foundation advances this mission primarily
through its work in education and medical research. For more information, visit www.milkenarchive.org.
A MESSAGE FROM THE MILKEN ARCHIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
The quality, quantity, and amazing diversity of sacred as well as secular music written
for or inspired by Jewish life in America is one of the least acknowledged achievements
of modern Western culture. The time is ripe for a wider awareness and appreciation
of these various repertoires--which may be designated appropriately as an aggregate
"American Jewish music." The Milken Archive is a musical voyage of discovery
encompassing hundreds of original pieces--symphonies, operas, concertos, cantorial
masterpieces, complete synagogue services, and folk, popular, and Yiddish theater
music. The music in the Archive--all born of the American Jewish experience or
fashioned for uniquely American institutions--has been created by native American or immigrant
composers. The repertoire is chosen by a panel of leading musicians, musicologists, cantors, and
Judaic scholars who have selected works based on or inspired by traditional Jewish melodies or modes,
synagogue or other liturgical functions, language, Jewish historical subject matter, role in Jewish
celebrations or commemorations, and content of texts (biblical, literary, etc.), as well as their intrinsic
musical integrity.
The initial dissemination to the public of the Archive will consist of fifty CDs devoted to particular
composers and musical genres. In this first phase of the project, more than 200 composers in
recordings of more than 600 works are represented. Additional components of the Archive, planned for
release at a future date, include rare historical reference recordings, expanded analytical background
information, contextual essays, and a special collectors edition--according to historical, religious, and
sociological themes.
The Milken Archive is music of AMERICA--a part of American culture in all its diversity; it is JEWISH, as
an expression of Jewish tradition and culture enhanced and enriched by the American environment;
and perhaps above all, it is MUSIC--music that transcends its boundaries of origin and invites sharing,
music that has the power to speak to all of us.
Neil W. Levin
Neil W. Levin is an internationally recognized scholar and authority on Jewish music history, a professor
of Jewish music at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, director of the International Centre and
Archives for Jewish Music in New York, music director of Schola Hebraeica, and author of various articles,
books, and monographs on Jewish music.
About the Composer
Although DAVE BRUBECK (b.1920) possesses
one of the finest pianistic gifts in the entire
jazz world and has performed with his trio
and quartet throughout his career to worldwide
ovations, he considers himself "a composer
who plays the piano." For many decades
a contemporary jazz icon, he has also been a
pioneer in combining jazz with symphony
orchestra and large choral forces.
A California native, son of a cowboy/rancher
father and a classical-pianist mother who
was a pupil of two of the century's great
piano masters, Tobias Matthay and Dame
Myra Hess, Brubeck majored in music for
his undergraduate degree. He returned
from service during the Second World War
to study composition with Darius Milhaud,
who encouraged him to pursue both jazz
performance and composition. Brubeck began
by writing for his quartet. His first work for
orchestra was Elementals (1963), combining
jazz and symphony orchestra, and his first
major choral work, The Light in the Wilderness
(1967), was both premiered and recorded by
the Cincinnati Symphony.
In the 1950s, as his quartet was in constant ballets; a musical; the mass setting To Hope!
demand throughout the country and especially A Celebration; several oratorios and cantatas;
on college and university campuses, Brubeck the Chromatic Fantasy Sonata, inspired by
began to integrate irregular meters and Bach and premiered at Washington's Kennedy
jazz forms. His own "Blue Rondo a la Turk" Center by the classical chamber group An
reflected that development, and the work die Musik; and numerous piano pieces and
was included on the album Time Out, along orchestral works. Brubeck is a recipient
with the 1959 recording of Paul Desmond's of many honors and awards--including a
"Take Five," the first jazz instrumental record Lifetime Achievement Award by the National
to reach sales of one million. Among Brubeck's Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences--and
major works written since the '60s are two the National Medal of the Arts was presented
to him by President Clinton in 1994. In 2000 he
was elected to the American Jazz Masters, a
group recognized by the National Endowment
for the Arts for unparalleled achievements
and contributions to this American art form
of jazz.
--Neil W. Levin
Program Note
Dave Brubeck has always maintained that
he wrote his second large-scale sacred
composition THE GATES OF JUSTICE (1969)
to bring together--and back together--the
Jewish people and American blacks. The
natural bond forged between them during the
civil rights movement in the early 1960s had
weakened and was starting to break down
by 1969, especially after the assassination of
Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. As leadership
became increasingly fragmented following that
tragic loss, there were emerging anti-Semitic
suggestions among spokesmen for some
marginal black groups; mainstream Jewish
commitment to the civil rights cause appeared
to be cooling, especially as the focus of the
struggle spread from the South to encompass
northern cities; and the pursuit of common
goals and mutual support were no longer so
automatic. The continuing war in Vietnam was
fueling political and generational divisions
unparalleled in recent memory, and the
growing and sometimes militant disruptions
on university campuses appeared to symbolize
a collective angst. It was a time of much anger,
disaffection, fear, and distrust. Against the
backdrop of that turbulent atmosphere, one
of the largest and most influential American
Jewish organizations invited Dave Brubeck to
create a work underscoring and resurrecting
the spiritual parallels between Jews and blacks
and their common causes.
The Gates of Justice is a cantata based on
biblical and Hebrew liturgical texts--together
with quotations from Martin Luther King's
speeches, as well as from Negro spirituals
and from the Jewish sage Hillel, and with
lyrics by Brubeck's wife, Iola, with whom he
collaborated on this and other works. It was
a joint commission by the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations (UAHC)--the lay umbrella association of Reform synagogues
in the United States--and the College
Conservatory of Music of the University of
Cincinnati. During the exploratory discussions
with the UAHC, Brubeck pointed to the explicit
connection between the historical experience
of the Jewish people and that of American
blacks, and he expressed his conviction
that both peoples possess traditional
spiritual values with important meaning for
contemporary society. The world premiere of
The Gates of Justice was given at the fiftieth
General Assembly of the UAHC on October
17, 1969, in Miami, Florida, preceded by a
preview performance at the dedication of a
new building at Rockdale Temple in Cincinnati.
Nearly thirty years later, Brubeck still described
its message as humanistic and universal, an
echo of the prophetic calls in the Bible for
social justice. And his belief in the common
ground between American Jews and blacks
was undiminished: "They were both enslaved,
uprooted from their homelands and wandered
in the diaspora," he said in connection with a
1997 performance. "When I began exploring
the music, I was thrilled to hear the similarities
among Hebraic chant and spirituals and blues."
He has therefore suggested that wherever
possible, the tenor role should be sung by a
bona fide cantor and the baritone role by a
black singer familiar with the sonorities and
style of spirituals and blues.
--Neil W. Levin
The following is the composer's original
program note on The Gates of Justice:
The essential message of The Gates of Justice
is the brotherhood of man. Concentrating
on the historic and spiritual parallels of Jews
and American blacks, I hoped through the
juxtaposition and amalgamation of a variety
of musical styles to construct a bridge upon
which the universal theme of brotherhood
could be communicated. The soloists are
composite characters. The cantor tenor, whose
melodies are rooted in the Hebraic modes,
represents the prophetic voice of Hebrew
tradition. The black baritone, whose melodies
stem from the blues and spirituals, is the
symbol of contemporary man, and a reminder
to men of all faiths that divine mandates are
still waiting to be fulfilled.
The structure of the piece somewhat resembles
a bridge; the interlacing of the improvisations,
solos and choral responses are like the
interweaving cables that span from anchoring
piers. The piers are in the form of three related
choral pieces (Parts II, VII, XII) based primarily
upon texts from the Union Prayer Book
and the Psalms. The first of these choruses,
O Come Let Us Sing (II), written in rather
traditional style with hints of the present in its
harmonies and rhythms, is a call to worship. A
complex of musical styles (jazz, rock, spirituals,
traditional), just as a congregation is a mixture
of individuals, Shout unto the Lord (VII) is
a celebration. It expresses the ecstasy and
release of communal joy. However, at its core
is the sobering message from Martin Luther
King, Jr., our contemporary prophet: "If we
don't live together as brothers, we will die
together as fools." In Part XII, Oh, Come Let
Us Sing a New Song, the enumeration of the
attributes of God in whose image we are
created, is a reminder of man's potential.
Quoting from King Solomon's prayer at the
dedication of his Temple, the cantor opens the
cantata by presenting the work as an offering
to God, and invokes His attention to the
prayers of all people.
Because of their long history of suffering,
Jews and American blacks know better than
any other people the consequences of hate
and alienation. It is impossible to concern
oneself with the history and tradition of either
without feeling overwhelmed by the inequities
and injustices that have pervaded all strata of
society. The spiritual and emotional ties, born
of suffering, which bind these people together,
have much to teach all of us on this shrinking
planet. It is the strength of such moral fiber
that will be our ultimate salvation.
The black baritone sings: "The stone that the
builders rejected has become the cornerstone"
(Psalm 118). The cornerstone for our survival in
America as an ethical society is the acceptance
of all minorities as equal, sharing members,
integral to our entire social structure. Just
as Isaiah drew a blueprint of how to build
a society that would allow man to fulfill his
dream, so Martin Luther King dramatized to
the white conscience that it must erase injustice
to redeem its own soul: Let the oppressed go
free. Feed the hungry. Open doors to the poor
and the cast-out. Shelter the homeless. Clothe
the naked. And when men have fulfilled their
obligation to each other, they will no longer
need to ask: "Where is justice? Where is God?"
It will be self-evident: "HERE I AM!"
Using the chorus as the voice of the people
who have been pawns of history, I've tried
dramatically to depict the awesome force of
the unheard millions battering at the man-
made barriers which have separated men from
each other, and consequently from knowing
the nature of God. The heart of the cantata is
in the plea, demand, and exhortation..."Open
the gates of justice!"
Many of our beleaguered cities were riot-torn
when I began to set the text "Except the Lord
build the house, they labor in vain that build
it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman
waketh but in vain."¡¨ I wished there were
some way to engrave this warning into the
mind of every policy-maker,
on every level from national
defense systems to police
enforcement.
The deeper my involvement
in the composition, the more
apparent it became that I was
no longer thinking in terms
of social justice, as evidenced
in the histories of Jews and
American blacks. Rather,
through their unquenchable
will to survive and to be free, I
had been led inevitably to the
more basic problem of man
(universal and individual), his
relationship to other men,
and ultimately to God.
A paradoxical truth became
shockingly clear. We call upon
God in our distress. Yet the divine instrument
capable of transforming society is man himself.
One of the basic tenets of Judaism is that
man can become God-like by the pursuit of
holiness; and the answer to alienation is to
realize that man is not separate from¡Xbut
part of¡XGod¡¦s total creation. If only our minds
could grasp this fact as well as do our cells that
turn to dust!
The symbol of the newly awakened conscience
of modern man, the baritone, asks the same
question as the ancient psalmist: What is man?
Both his glory and his curse are his unique
position in the order of creation; but little
lower than the angels, the blind forces of
nature and the all-seeing eye of the divine
are wrapped in mortal skin, within which is
continually fought the relentless battle of
good versus evil. Man is good. Slowly he is
learning that the witless destruction of any
part of creation is evil. Man is good. Although
1 I. Lord, the Heavens Cannot Contain Thee
he has continually throughout history martyred
his spiritual leaders, he still remembers and
honors them, not their assassins. Man is good.
From the beginning of time we have all shared
in "a dream"--a vision of peaceful men and
free men living as brothers. Have we not all
one Father? If God created man in His image
and likeness, surely He accepts all men in their
diversity. Throughout the Old Testament there
is reference to all generations. Overlaying texts
from Isaiah, Martin Luther King, Hillel, the
Psalms, and music from The Beatles, Chopin,
Israeli, Mexican and Russian folksongs, Simon
& Garfunkel, improvised jazz and rock, I wrote
a collage of sound for the climactic section,
The Lord Is Good.
When I completed writing The Gates of
Justice, I found in Micah 6:8 a summation of
my thinking: "It hath been told thee, O man,
what is good and what the Lord doth require
of thee: Only to do justice, and to love mercy
and walk humbly with thy God." Only?!!
--Dave Brubeck
Text and Translation
THE GATES OF JUSTICE
Sung in English
Text adapted from the Hebrew Bible, the
Union Prayer Book, the speeches of Martin
Luther King, Jr., and the writings of Hillel;
with original texts by Iola Brubeck.
[1]I. Lord, the Heavens Cannot Contain Thee
I Kings 8:27¡V30, 41¡V43
O Lord, the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee;
How much less this house that I have builded!
Yet have Thou respect unto the prayer of Thy servant,
And of Thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place.
Yea, hear, and when Thou hearest, forgive.
Moreover, concerning the stranger that is not of Thy people Israel,
When he shall pray toward this house, hear Thou;
And do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee,
That all the peoples of the earth may know Thy name.
[2] II. Oh, Come Let Us Sing
Union Prayer Book, based on Psalms 95-98
Oh, come let us sing unto the Lord;
Let us raise our voice in joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Sing unto the Lord a new song.
Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
Sing unto the Lord, bless His name,
Proclaim His salvation day to day.
Honor and majesty are before Him.
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Tremble before Him all the earth.
Let us sing unto the Lord.
Let us raise our voice in joy to the Rock of our salvation.
The Lord reigneth.
The world is established that it cannot be moved.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice,
Let the field exult and all that is therein.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Oh, ye that love the Lord, hate evil.
He preserveth the souls of His servants.
Light is sown for the righteous,
And gladness for the upright in heart.
Be glad in the Lord, ye righteous, give thanks to His holy name.
He hath remembered His mercy and faithfulness toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
The Lord our God is holy.
[3] IIIa. Open the Gates
Psalm 118:19-23; Isaiah 62:10; 57:14
Open the gates, open the gates.
Open to me the gates of justice,
I will enter them and give thanks to the Lord.
The gate is the Lord's, the just shall enter in.
I will give thanks to Thee, for Thou hast answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing, and is marvelous to behold.
Go through, go through the gates;
Clear ye the way for the people.
Make way! Cast up the highway, gather out the stones.
Clear the way.
Take up the stumbling block out of the way of the people!
[4] IIIb. Open the Gates Chorale
Psalm 118:19-23; Isaiah 58:6-7, 9, and 12
Open the gates. Throw wide the gates to me.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen,
to loose the fetters of wickedness,
to undo the bands of the yoke,
And let the oppressed go free?
And when ye break every yoke, is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry?
Open the doors to bring the poor that are cast out to thy house.
When thou see the naked thou shalt cover him.
Then thou shalt call and the Lord will answer;
Thou shalt cry, and He will say, "Here I am!"
Out of the way of the people!
They shall build the old waste places.
Thou shalt raise up the foundations.
Thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of the paths to dwell in.
Open the gates. When will you open the gates?
[5] IV a & b. Except the Lord Build the House
Psalm 127:1
Except the Lord build the house
They labor in vain that build it.
Except the Lord keep the city,
The watchman waketh but in vain.
6 (Improvisation on "Except the Lord Build the House")
7 V. Lord, Lord
Iola Brubeck; I Kings: 8:27-30
Lord, Lord, what will tomorrow bring?
Today I felt an arrow stinging in a wound so deep,
My eyes refuse to weep.
What will tomorrow bring?
Lord, how can I face this day?
Each dawn I walk the city's silence with a sense of peace.
They speak!
Nigger! Whitey! Jew!
There is no peace.
They speak!
There is no peace.
What will tomorrow bring?
Lord, when will the ill wind change?
We're all just little children crying in a world of hate for love,
and still we wait for love, and still we wait!
What will tomorrow bring?
O Lord! The heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee.
How much less this house that I have builded.
Yet have Thou respect unto the prayers of Thy
servant, and Thy people, Israel,
when they shall pray toward this place.
Yea, hear, and when Thou hearest, forgive.
[8] VI. Ye Shall Be Holy
Leviticus 19:2, 18, 33, 34
Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Thou shalt not take vengeance nor bear any grudge
against the children of Thy people,
but thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.
If a stranger dwell with thee in your land,
ye shall not do him wrong.
And thou shalt love him as thyself.
For ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
[9] VII. Shout unto the Lord
Psalms 95-98; Isaiah 2:4; 50:8; 57:19
Martin Luther King, Jr.; Hillel
Come, let us shout unto the Lord!
Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation.
Shout for joy, oh shout for joy!
Sing to the Lord and shout for joy with voice and trumpet.
Let us sound the trumpet!
With the sound of the trumpet, the sound of the cymbal,
we praise His name.
Let us praise Him with dance and the sound of the timbrel and harp.
Make a loud noise! Make a loud noise!
Let the seas roar with joy, and floods clap their hands.
Praise the Lord with the harp, with the drum!
Thou hast kept us in life.
Thou hast not let our footstep stray.
Thou hast watched over us in the night of oppression.
Thy mercy sustains us in the hour of trial.
Now we live in a land of freedom.
Let us continue to be faithful to Thee.
May Thy law rule the life of our children,
and Thy truth unite their hearts.
We must stand for freedom!
Stand!
Knowing that one day we will be free.
If we don't live together as brothers,
we will die together as fools.
We are living in a land of freedom!
Shout!
Free at last! I'm free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we're free at last!
I'm free! Free!
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
If the time for action is not now, when is it?
Peace to him that is far off. Peace to him that is near.
Peace!
Let them beat their swords into plowshares,
and spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
nor learn war anymore.
Make peace, not war!
Let them beat their swords into plowshares,
and spears into pruning hooks.
No more war, give us peace.
Make a loud noise, shout!
[10] VIII. When I Behold Thy Heavens
Psalm 8:4-7, 10
When I behold Thy heavens, the works of Thy fingers,
the moon and the stars which Thou hast established;
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man,
that Thou thinkest of him, yet Thou hast made him
but little lower than the angels,
and hast crowned him with glory and honor?
Thou hast made him to have dominion over
the works of Thy hands,
Thou hast put all things under his feet.
O Lord, how glorious is Thy name in all the earth.
[11] IX. How Glorious Is Thy Name
Psalm 8:2
How glorious is Thy name in all the earth!
[12] X. The Lord Is Good
Psalm 133:1; Isaiah 60:18, 20; Psalms 100:3-5; 91:4;
quotations from various popular and folksongs
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity.
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land,
desolation nor destruction within thy borders,
but thou shalt call thy walls salvation,
and thy gates praise.
And the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
It is He that hath made us, and we are His.
We are His people and the flock of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
Enter into His courts with praise!
Give thanks unto Him and bless His name.
Bless His name, for the Lord is good!
His mercy endureth forever.
And His faithfulness unto all of His beautiful people,
Where do they all come from? It's the sound of silence.
Go through the gates of justice;
then God's will shall be done.
All people are created by the same God; we are one.
And the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land.
He will cover thee with His pinions,
and under His wings He will give you refuge,
refuge for all when we are one,
all generations, when we are one.
[13] XI. His Truth Is a Shield
Martin Luther King, Jr.; Psalm 91:5
There are knives and there are other arms.
You have called on all of us to put them away,
To bear instead, the weapon of nonviolence,
the breastplate of righteousness, the armor of truth.
His truth is a shield and a buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night,
nor of the arrow that flyeth by day.
[14] XII. Oh, Come Let Us Sing a New Song
Psalm 149 (adaptation)
O come, let us sing a new song to the Lord.
O come let us sing a new song unto the Lord!
©1969 St. Francis Musical Co. and Malcolm Music Co.
About the Performers
In the late 1940s DAVE BRUBECK was encouraged by his teacher, composer Darius Milhaud,
to pursue a dual career in jazz and composition. Brubeck and other Milhaud students at Mills
College in Oakland, California, formed an octet. Its early members included Cal Tjader and
Paul Desmond, as well as clarinetist Bill Smith, who still appears frequently with Brubeck. The
DAVE BRUBECK TRIO was established in 1949 when Brubeck, Tjader, and Ron Crotty cut their first
records in San Francisco, winning Best Small
Combo awards in the prestigious Down Beat
magazine. Paul Desmond joined on alto
saxophone in 1951, creating the quartet
that caused a stir in the jazz world with a
distinctive harmonic approach that became
known as "West Coast" or "cool" jazz.
During the '50s the quartet performed at
hundreds of college campuses as well as at
jazz clubs in major cities, where "package
shows" featured Brubeck's ensemble
with Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy
Gillespie, and others. The Dave Brubeck
Quartet won the first jazz poll conducted
by the Pittsburgh Courier, an American
black newspaper, and continued to take
top honors in Down Beat's reader polls.
International tours by the quartet have
made it one of America's foremost goodwill
ambassadors. It entertained world leaders at
the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Moscow
in 1988 and has performed regularly for
American presidents, other heads of state,
and Pope John Paul II.
Always striving to expand the horizons of jazz, Dave Brubeck and his quartet appeared and
recorded with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1959. Brubeck continues to
appear as composer-performer in concerts of his choral and symphonic works. He celebrated his
eightieth birthday with the London Symphony Orchestra, performing an all-Brubeck program
that featured him along with four of his sons as soloists.
The Milken Archive recording of Gates of Justice features Dave Brubeck and the rhythm section
from his quartet. Bassist MICHAEL MOORE recently joined the ensemble after an illustrious
performing career, having started at the age of twenty with Woody Herman in New York.
British-born drummer RANDY JONES, who has worked with such jazz greats as Gerry Mulligan,
Bill Watrous, and Harry James, was invited to join the Brubeck Quartet in 1979 and has remained
a member ever since.
The American bass baritone KEVIN DEAS, a graduate of The
Juilliard School in New York, has received international acclaim
for his portrayal of Gershwin's Porgy in concert performances of
Porgy and Bess with the Philadelphia and Montreal symphony
orchestras, at the Saratoga Festival, and--all with Bobby
McFerrin conducting--at the Ravinia Festival, with the St. Paul
Chamber Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the San Francisco
Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the National Symphony, the
New York Philharmonic, and the Israel Philharmonic orchestras.
Some of Deas's other notable appearances include Mozart's
Requiem with the Atlanta Symphony; Siegmeister's A Tooth for
Paul Revere with the Bronx Arts Ensemble; Dave Brubeck's Gates
of Justice, at Carnegie Hall; and Brubeck's mass To Hope!, in
Moscow. In 1992 he made his debut with the Chicago Symphony
in a concert version of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, by Anthony Davis. Deas has also
toured the United States and Europe as the lead vocalist with Riverdance and has appeared
at the Spoleto Festival (Italy) in a new production of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors
in honor of the composer's eighty-fifth birthday. Deas has sung in concert performances and
for the recording of Wagner's Die Meistersinger with the Chicago Symphony under the late Sir
Georg Solti, and he has recorded Varèse's Ecuatorial with the ASKO Ensemble under Riccardo
Chailly, as well as Dave Brubeck's To Hope! with the Cathedral Choral Society. Deas is currently
on the faculty of Princeton University.
CANTOR ALBERTO MIZRAHI, one of today's most prominent
interpreters of the Hebrew liturgy as well as a versatile stage
performer, is among the very few American cantors at home
in both cantorial art and the classical secular repertoire. Born in
Greece to a Sephardi family that emigrated soon afterward to
the United States, Mizrahi has also distinguished himself as an
exponent of the Ashkenazi cantorial tradition. He is a graduate
of the Jewish Theological Seminary's Cantors Institute (now the H.
L. Miller Cantorial School), where he studied with Hazzan David
Kusevitsky and numerous other leading figures in Jewish music.
After firmly establishing an international reputation, he became
a protege of the legendary cantor Moshe Ganchoff, from whom
he received much of the transmitted tradition. In addition to
serving prestigious American congregations, Mizrahi has appeared as a guest cantor throughout
the United States, Europe, and Israel. His extensive list of appearances includes a concert
at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington and at Auschwitz liberation commemorations in Hanover
and Hamburg. He has also made numerous recordings, including The Voice of a People; Die
Stimme der Synagoge; Chants Mystiques; and Songs for Jerusalem.
The BALTIMORE CHORAL ARTS SOCIETY was founded in 1967 as a performing outgrowth of
the choir of Baltimore's Cathedral of the Incarnation, and it has evolved into one of Maryland's
leading cultural institutions, recognized nationally for its artistic excellence and imaginative
programs. The Society, which comprises a ninety-voice chorus, a professional thirty-five-member
orchestra, a professional chamber chorus, and an educational outreach ensemble, performs
regularly in Baltimore's Meyerhoff Symphony Hall as well as in other venues throughout the
mid-Atlantic region. The chorus has appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra at the
Kennedy Center under such conductors as Roger Norrington and Claudio Scimone, as well as
with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, in New York's Merkin Concert Hall, and at the Festival
of the Costa del Sol in Spain. Choral Arts concerts are broadcast locally, and the ensemble is
often featured nationally on The First Art (Public Radio International) and Performance Today
(National Public Radio). In 1991, under the direction of TOM HALL, music director since 1982,
Choral Arts premiered Peter Schickele's Blake's Proverbs, composed in honor of the ensemble's
twenty-fifth anniversary, and in 1997 it premiered Billy the Kid by Libby Larsen, commissioned
jointly with the King's Singers and the City of Birmingham (England) Chorus. The Choral Arts
Society also encourages the creation of new choral works, sponsoring an annual competition.
RUSSELL GLOYD has established a diverse
career as conductor, producer, and arranger.
Since 1976 he has conducted many symphonic
and choral performances with the Dave
Brubeck Quartet in the United States and
around the world. As a guest conductor, he
has appeared with such organizations as the
Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, and National
symphony orchestras and the Handel and
Haydn Society of Boston. He made his London
debut with the London Symphony Orchestra
in 1989 and his Vienna debut in 1995. He has
recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra
as part of their prestigious "LSO Live" series, and he has also recorded a two-CD set with the LSO
entitled Classical Brubeck.
The Gates of Justice (more info)
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I. Lord, the Heavens Cannot Contain Thee - 3:08
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II. Oh, Come Let Us Sing - 3:45
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IIIa. Open the Gates - 4:34
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IIIb. Chorale - 5:04
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IVa. Except the Lord Build the House - 2:05
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IVb. Except the Lord Build the House (improvisation) - 2:17
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V. Lord, Lord - 5:59
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VI. Ye Shall Be Holy - 1:05
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VII. Shout unto the Lord - 8:24
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VIII. When I Behold Thy Heavens - 3:02
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IX. How Glorious Is Thy Name - 1:49
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X. The Lord Is Good - 3:45
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XI. His Truth Is a Shield - 4:14
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XII. Oh, Come Let Us Sing a New Song - 0:58
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