Days of Awe: Music for the Jewish High Holy Days; Part 1

On American Public Radio. Oh. As she had seabaugh, delegate of the congregation, emissary to God, the thought of it alone makes me scared. Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller talks about the most solemn and introspective days of the Jewish year and even talking about it now, I picture being in front of the arcs of the different congregations which

I've served. And for me, I feel love emanating from that chorus girl behind that arc. For me, I feel the love and support of that congregation. I feel that especially on the high holy days, people open themselves up for that love. There's also that fear. But there's a deep hope in every one of us that despite our sins and despite our failings and frustrations and our limitations, that we will be accepted, that we can live with our conscience, and that we can turn the page and go on. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins a 10 day process of teshuvah, of intensive soul searching, returning toward God and forsaking sin that culminates with Yom Kippur, these 10 days are known as the days of all, as Jews traditionally prepare to stand in all before God's thrones

of justice and mercy. This is Days of Awe: Music for the Jewish High Holy Days. A program produced by Judy Fertig at WSKG Public Radio in Binghamton, New York, I'm Gregory Keeler. In this hour, you'll hear a full spectrum of Jewish sacred music, from traditional chants to contemporary settings of prayer. The music tells the story of traditions preserved and traditions transformed in modern synagogues. The high holy day service incorporates poutine or liturgical poems. They speak of God as the creator of the universe of God's sovereignty and oneness avenue. Makina is perhaps the most well-known piece, but it's found at the high point in almost every service of the high holy day liturgy. Here's the late Cantor and opera singer Jan Peerce performing a traditional setting of Avenue Marcano. Oh, Veenhof marker.

One day, neuborne on. We know Mark Warner, no other name. He has more. Oh. Oh, sir, you are not stalker.

Simon. Sorry.

S Verhoef. Oh, she. Oh, you know, my girl. Oh. Warning of the. Oh, well, you know, McCain, you know, they know they are.

Cantor, Jan Pearce, in a few moments, a Dutch setting of Avenue Marcano. Cantor Benji Allen Schiller teaches at the School of Sacred Music of the Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. The Avenue Makina offers both the fear and trembling, which we would do in front of Mellark Makina, our asking our sovereign and the embrace which we would only expect from Avenue, our father, our parent, it talks about the fact that we really are nothing before God, and it is that sense of utter humility that resounds in all of us. Next, a contemporary setting of Avenue Makhanya composed by Cantor Hants Blumenthal of Amsterdam, his setting carries on a tradition dating back at

least to the Middle Ages, the practice of having mesh cream or male helpers humming under the counters. Free improvization. These humming tones serve as a memory aid to the cantor in finding his place in the prayer mode's known as NewSat hotfix, La Cantor Blumenthal sings with the Choir of the Netherlands Jewish Main Synagogue in Amsterdam, conducted by Girvan Lewyn. Whoa, whoa, whoa. All right. Oh, me, too, Malikai. Some of like you who sort off her. Oh, oh.

Called. Oh, owe me more than. Oh, I see very, very close mirrors only. Owe me. So all I could do was say, no, Rudy,

I. Oriol. He to order. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, Sandborn, always. Oh, no

more to. You may call. Oh, know. Thomas. Oh, wait. All day long was all in all, you know. Oh, he was.

O o o o o n o. Was. V o. No more crying. What was done by screaming through hard work or hard? Oh, Schoomaker.

Oh, for. And I know. Over the ages Avenue McCain, who grew as lines were added or deleted with each new moxa or high holiday prayerbook, occasionally a musical setting spoke so profoundly to its generation that the music influenced future changes in the text. A setting by the late Max Danowski of Chicago is one example. Caterpiller. Avenue Volcano of Dynarski represents so much of the drama of the high holy days, it seems to be embodied within that soaring high line of the cantor. And it has in the baseline a non ending peddle point that keeps getting louder and fuller and keeps the drama going and builds its intensity and it builds and builds.

It's very gratifying for any voice to sing. It has its energy within within itself and we just sing on top of that. Walking with my kids. Oh, shit. Mark, we love you, my kid. Oh, my. One. Talking. Oh.

Max Genachowski conducted his setting of Avenue Makhanya soprano Theresa Brancaccio sang the Canters role, joined by members of the K.M. Isaiah Israel Congregation Choir and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Next, a recent setting of Avenue Makhanya by Michael Isacson of Los Angeles. This setting represents new directions and attitudes in Jewish holiday music. It's a waltz, it's it's actually very feminine aspect of God, I

hear there, it's a different kind of pleating it it's a graceful kind of pleating. Harvey. Mark. When you go online, create more. We must move on with the same. Third horse, Manu. Well, Carrie holidayed. O k.

On one. Michael Isaacson's Avenue Marcano performed by Cantor, Nathan Lamb with the Steven Wise Temple, combined choirs in Los Angeles and the National

Symphony of Israel conducted by the composer. One of the most solemn and poetic prayers of the high holy day service is uneaten autocephaly. It details an account of God's decrees filled with dread of his true judgment. But the unity of Toca is never fatalistic. It reminds the worshiper that repentance, prayer and charity tempered judgment, severe decree. According to Jewish folk legend, the archbishop of 11th century minds insisted that Rabbi Amnon abdicate his Jewish faith. Rabbi Amnon continually refused. But just before one Rosh Hashanah, when severely pressured, Rabbi Amnon asked for three days to think about it. When forced to reply, the rabbi only regretted he had not immediately and unequivocally rejected the challenge to leave Judaism. For this rabbi Amnon was tortured and mutilated, dying. He requested he be brought to the synagogue.

With his last breath, he affirmed God's oneness and composed the uneaten Ataka. An angel carried his words to Rabbi Calamus Ben McCullom, who set them to music. This legend rang true to many Jews of the Middle Ages. Minds was one of two cities hit hard by massacres of Jews from the crusade of 10 Ninety-Six. Rabbi Amnon story carried the emotional trauma experienced by the Jews of Europe. The intensity conveyed by the uneaten Itokawa is present in the music composed by the great Cantor Solomon Sulzer. In the early 1980s, Sulzer was the premiere musician of the Reformed Jewish Movement. He composed simplified cantorial settings, blending the newsa or Jewish prayer modes and Western music. His compositions were widely adopted and came to be thought of as traditional. This is unattainable. Folk have performed by Cantor, Shandor, Kovalchuk and the chorus of the Dohan Street Synagogue of Budapest with organist Maria Lenya.

De. The. The. Should peaceful.

Seishin, you must be Shavitt or. He gave me. Oh. Hello.

You see, I see a. And the. Oh. A section of the unwritten autocephaly known as the shofar Goodall

was set separately by Sulzer. The great shofar is sounded, a gentle whisper is heard, the angels quaking with fear declare the day of judgment is here to bring the hosts of heaven to justice. Performing so far got all our baritone Rachel Flunkey organist Georgie Kasman and the Goldmacher Chorus of Budapest, led by Amy Adam. So. More.

Oh, yes. Oh. We'll have much more with. Or. Oh. Some 130 is an introductory psalm traditionally recited on Rosh Hashanah,

it was recently set to music by Sarah Elizabeth Katz of New York City. Her piece is entitled Out of the Depths, and it's performed next by the Harper Chorale of the State University of New York at Binghamton, conducted by Bruce Borton. Head to.

More and more. Oh. Oh, oh, oh. Out of the depths by Sarah Elizabeth Katz, sung by the Harper Chorale, directed by Dr. Bruce Borton, and recorded for this program in the studios of SKG Public Radio.

I'm Gregory. This is Days of all music for the Jewish High Holy Days from APM, American Public Radio. A highlight of the high holy days is the blowing of the shofar known as the tackiest shofar, the shofar is a hollowed ram's horn Saadia got on. The medieval philosopher gave 10 reasons for using the ram's horn among them to proclaim God is king, to remind Jews of the near sacrifice of Isaac and the substitution of the RAM instead of Isaac. The revelation on Mount Sinai and the stirring of the people to repentance. The shofar symbolizes God's mercy and forgiveness. Shofar blowing consists of three types of blasts taqiyya a long sound. Shavar him three broken notes and are a tremolo or staccato notes. Takio.

Cheverly, Teruo. You. One contemporary composer captivated with the majesty and of the shofar service is Simon Sargon, stately, yet exuberant. His setting musically incorporates inflections heard in the call before each shofar blast. We'll hear several verses from Sargon Shofar Service, sung by the Temple Emanuel Choir of Dallas, Texas, conducted by Simon Sargon

and recorded Four Days of All by Paul Schumann. Three. Oh, my God. Mark. Oh.

Oh, see

the. You I'm to kill. Following the sounding of the shofar, it's customary to include Hayam, Harat, Olam, the text reads. This is the day of the world's birth, this day, all creatures stand before you, whether as children or its servants, as we are your children show us a parent's compassion as we are your servants. We look to you for mercy. Heym Harat Olam is performed here in the Sephardic or Spanish tradition

by Reverend Al López Cardosa of Congregation Sharath Israel of New York City. Right, you're a rock and roll. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh. Oh. It's on. And. A.

Oh. All right. Oh, I. I don't know your. O o o o o o o o o o. Ashkenazic or Eastern European cantorial singing reached its zenith

in the late 19th century, this style of chanting was transplanted to America, where it flourished in Orthodox synagogues. Joseph Rosenblatt rose to great fame in the early 1980s. His singing exemplified the style which captured every nuance of the soulful longings of songs. Rosenblatt's tremendous range and impressive vocal flexibility created great demand, and he traveled widely. He received lucrative offers from the Chicago Lyric Opera, which he declined because he said his voice belonged to God. Rosenblat understood the power of a new technology, the phonograph, and recorded hundreds of liturgical compositions. One is Irish. It's 42. You'll hear rosenblad singing in a falsetto voice, imitating the sound of the shofar. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.

All right. Yeah. Oh, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Hi. Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba. Oh.

O o o o o o o o o o o o o o or. More than. Joseph Rosenblatt with Irish, it's 42 in a new generation, Shlomo Carlebach echoes the rhythmic patterns in Rosenblatt's recording. Voices are replaced with a synthesizer. Carlebach incorporates into his settings the nigun, a core element of Hasidic music. The nigun is a simple melody that repeats and builds upon itself. Often, it is said in Hasidic music, the music becomes the prayer itself.

Zequinha Let Him Remember US for Life, composed by Shlomo Carlebach comes from a portion of the Rosh Hashanah Sharrett or Morning Service. Oh, I know, uh, I you know, I love my life of faith. Oh, you, yeah, my life, my life. Oh, thanks. I am this horse behind this. I bet I'll call. I saw them, I

felt like I.