|
Reviews
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Saturday, May 16, 1998
Ben-Dor shows range at close of Israel salute
By Daniel Webster
The citywide salute to Israel's half-century of independence
closed with a concert Sunday that hauled a wide net
through the sea of Israeli and Jewish music. At the
Academy of Music, Gisèle Ben-Dor led the Concerto Soloists
Chamber Orchestra, a choir and soloists in music that
ranged from a Leonard Bernstein song to heroic Handel
choruses.
The polyglot conductor was making her local debut,
a difficult task given the variety and number of works
programmed. A Mozart aria was placed next to music by
Louis Gesensway, and Ben-Dor had to follow mezzo-soprano
Rinat Shahm from a Handel aria immediately to Gershwin's
"I Got Rhythm."
She stood, however, as a sturdy, unflappable commander
who appeared, sometimes through sheer will, to unify
and move things, and sometimes through enthusiasm to
reach some high points. She proved a flexible and helpful
accompanist with Shaham and with cellist Jeffery Solow,
and clearly had the gift for drawing concentrated and
musical singing from the chorus assembled from the Mendelssohn
Club and Singing City choirs.
The fragmentary programming worked against the idea
of building toward some dramatic high point, but the
final few pieces, including "Hatikvah" and "Haleluya"
by Kobi Oshrat established an emotional tone missing
from the earlier selections.
Ben-Dor made a large thing from Gesensway's Suite
on Jewish Themes. The piece, by the late Latvian-born
Philadelphia Orchestra violinist, used good dance tunes
in simple ways to create strong instrumental writing.
The long viola song in the first selection summarized
the best of the evening's playing.
Shaham sang an aria from Mozart's Davide penitente,
from Handel oratorios and songs by Bernstein and Gershwin.
The long line of "In Jehovah's awful sight," from Handel's
Deborah, focused the best of her singing.
In Tzvi Avni's Kaddish, Solow played a strongly
singing performance. Ben-Dor moved the orchestra firmly
from piece to piece, stressing clear rhythms and urging
playing marked by character. She began with the premiere
of David Saturen's Fanfare Halleluia, a piece
that concisely used orchestra and chorus to evoke music
from Eastern Europe and Jewish ritual. (No additional
performance).
See what the critics in the US are saying:
International Reviews:
|
|
|
|
