DAVID DIAMOND: AHAVA (BROTHERHOOD) and WORKS by GOULD, HARRIS and MOORE *MUSIC FOR PRAYER: DAVID DIAMOND: Mizmor L'david - excerpts (1951) MORTON GOULD:...
DAVID
DIAMOND: AHAVA (BROTHERHOOD)
and
WORKS by GOULD, HARRIS and
MOORE
*MUSIC FOR PRAYER:
DAVID DIAMOND: Mizmor L'david - excerpts (1951)
MORTON GOULD: Hama'ariv Aravim 1947)
ROY HARRIS: Mi Khamokha (1946)
DOUGLAS MOORE: Vay'khulu (1948)
Judaically
inspired works by four leading 20th-century American composers born
between 1893 and 1915 - David Diamond, Morton Gould, Roy Harris and Douglas
Moore - are featured in their world-premiere recordings on this Milken Archive
CD. Two of the four composers - Roy Harris and Douglas Moore - were not Jewish,
and only David Diamond had a background in synagogue music and wrote Judaically
related works from the outset of his career. All except Morton Gould studied
in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, and all represent varying aspects of what may
be considered mainstream 20th-century art music in this country.
The works heard here are thus indicative of the symbiotic relationship between
Jewish tradition and the world of serious cultivated American music as a whole.
This
year marks the 350th anniversary of American Jewry. David Diamond's
AÊava was commissioned 50
years ago in 1954 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the
arrival of the first Jews in North America by a consortium representing numerous
Jewish-American organizations for performance as part of the extensive
nationwide programs commemorating the anniversary. The official theme of the
nine-month, multifaceted celebration in 1954, which included concerts,
seminars, exhibitions, religious services, radio and television broadcasts and
an address by President Eisenhower, was "Man's Opportunities and
Responsibilities Under Freedom." It was perceived by Jews and non-Jews alike
as a universal vehicle for reaffirming American political, social, and
spiritual values, and for reinforcing those democratic ideals held in common by
all citizens, regardless of origin. The thrust of the commemoration was thus
to highlight the mutually beneficial relationship between the Jews, who enjoyed
unprecedented freedom to advance in this country, and American society as a
whole, which benefited from the significant contributions made by members of
the Jewish community well beyond parochial boundaries.
As
David Diamond developed the concept for this commissioned work, he realized
that the story of Jewish life in America had broader ramifications, and could
serve as a metaphor for the pursuit of freedom, justice and opportunity
everywhere. In his own words, AÊava (Brotherhood)
reflected "the big thing that I still believe should happen in this difficult
world of ours." The composer fashioned his text using various sources:
biblical passages from Jeremiah, sayings of the sage, Hillel, historical
documents including the words of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, the
prayer book of the American Reform movement, and the works of two great poets
of the "golden age" of Spanish Jewry. The resulting script is less about the
first band of Jewish immigrants to New Amsterdam in 1654 and more closely tied
to utopian sentiments of brotherhood and social justice. It is also an
expression of gratitude for the remarkable opportunities enjoyed by Jews in the
United States. Throughout the work, the narrative sections, which are set
against a rich symphonic background, alternate with purely instrumental
passages. AÊava is performed by
Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, noted for their recordings
of David Diamond's symphonies, with renowned theatrical personality Theodore
Bikel as the narrator.
A
native of Rochester, New York, David Diamond studied at the Eastman School and with Roger Sessions before spending several years in Paris, where he
belonged to a circle of composers, writers and artists that included Ravel,
Roussel, Milhaud, Joyce and Gide. His musical style evolved within a
traditional structural and contrapuntal framework; while his language grew
increasingly chromatic, he firmly rejected atonality. In addition to 11
symphonies, which were premiered under leading conductors, his oeuvre includes
string quartets and numerous vocal works based on poetic and dramatic literary
classics.
The four
additional works on this Milken Archive disc are scored for soloists, choir
and organ, and were all commissioned as part of an ambitious annual program
- "Liturgical Music by
Contemporary Composers" - at New York's Park Avenue Synagogue, directed by Cantor David
Putterman. This project encouraged both established and rising American composers,
Jewish and non-Jewish alike, to create a sophisticated body of music for use
in the American synagogue by responding to the liturgical texts in their own
individual musical styles without restrictions. The very first program, in
1943, included the Sabbath Evening Service by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco,
which was among the inaugural releases of the Milken Archive in September 2003.
For more than a quarter century afterward, prominent composers including Leonard
Bernstein, Robert Starer, Darius Milhaud, and Lukas Foss produced many of the
most significant works in the literature of American synagogue music.
David Diamond's Sabbath service, Mizmor L'david, was commissioned
in 1951 and reviewed by Harold C. Schoenberg of The New York Times, indicating
the interest in these annual new music concerts beyond Jewish circles. Four
prayer settings from this work are excerpted here. The other composers represented
all worked outside the specifically Jewish liturgical realm. Each brought his
particular stylistic and cultural orientation to his Park Avenue Synagogue commission:
Morton Gould a fascination with popular American idioms; California - born Roy
Harris an interest in folksong melodies and modalities, which he combined with
European contrapuntal techniques; and Douglas Moore a propensity towards theater,
opera and dance that impacted his expressive vocal lines. Harris and Moore
were two of several non-Jewish composers who were commissioned by Cantor Putterman
as part of his determination to broaden the field of Jewish liturgical music
from both spiritual and musical perspectives.