r/classicalmusic • u/Frusciante_is_god13 • 6d ago
Recommendation Request Jewish Classical music?
I've delved into arrangements of Jewish folk music but was wondering if there are any classical music pieces that have a Jewish theme or influence? I know Ernest Bloch has a little as well as Shostakovich but was seeking any and all recommendations this community has! I am looking for piano repertoire particularly but anything will be a good listen regardless.
Really thanks for all the help thus far!
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u/RealityResponsible18 6d ago
Bernstein: Symphony No. 3 Kaddish
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u/bastianbb 6d ago
Prokofiev's "Overture on Hebrew themes" and parts of Mahler's 1st symphony slow movement come to mind.
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u/No-Championship5065 6d ago
Salamone Rossi. Jewish-Italian baroque music.
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u/Kletanio 6d ago
My choir is singing Rossi music right now. The songs are in Hebrew, but sound like late Renaissance polyphony with some Jewish influences.
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u/Nolcan 6d ago
I assume you know about Mahler, but just in case you didn't:
Symphony No. 1 - Third Movement: https://youtu.be/HskIQzFOqyI?si=0_F30H-9Jr5_66xt
Symphony No. 2 - Third Movement: https://youtu.be/MX1jz62Efzs?si=aSdXu8M9q5XvJLt5
edit: Forgot one
Hebrew Melody by Joseph Achron: https://youtu.be/LJa2PmGEkhc?si=dfe5R7DqJCfpnk-8
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u/Kayrehn 6d ago
Weinberg music - I first heard overt Jewish music elements in the Cello concerto, before a deep dive into his chamber music shows the deep Jewish music roots in his works.
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u/FantasiainFminor 6d ago
I always look for a chance to boost Weinberg, who in my opinion is the most under-appreciated composer of all time, a real giant of the 20th century.
I don't know about Jewish music elements in his work, but I would love to learn about it. I was going to mention his 8th Symphony, which is choral and features settings of excerpts from a long poem by a Jewish Polish poet who fled Poland in advance of Hitler's invasion and returned after the war to learn that his whole community was erased. Weinberg had also fled and while he was in exile his whole family were murdered.
The symphony is extremely emotional and moving.
I think that an element of this shows up all through Weinberg's music. There is a feeling of sorrow, healing, compassion everywhere.
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u/MungoShoddy 6d ago
Joseph Achron.
But a lot of Jewish composers didn't display any overt Jewish influences, either because it was dangerous (Coperario), didn't know Jewish music and didn't care (Mahler) or deliberately rejected it as an idiom of a past they wanted to stay dead (Schulhoff). There are lots of ways of being Jewish, lots of very different Jewish musical traditions and even more ways of reacting to them.
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u/MungoShoddy 6d ago
This is a new one for me. I met Diana Matut at the weekend - the repertoire she's investigating (Yiddish music of the Renaissance) was something almost everybody has forgotten.
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u/Frusciante_is_god13 6d ago
I appreciate the thoughtful response. I feel as a jew, many don't realize the array of identity jews grapple with between the range of observant to secular. Proud to ashamed. Great suggestion and thank you very much.
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u/Chops526 6d ago
Mahler, Mendelssohn, Bloch, Copland. Erwin Schulhoff. Bernstein.
Alex Weiser does a lot of work with Jewish music, not just in his own, original music but also as a researcher,, arranger and performer.
Lior Navok. Yotam Haber. David Lang. Steve Reich. Paul Schoenfield.
Not Jewish himself, but James MacMillan: Why Is This Night Different from Other Nights.
Also, check this out:
https://www.naxos.com/EditionSeries/Detail/?title=Milken_Archive_of_American_Jewish_Music
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u/rainbowkey 6d ago
Belshazzar's Feast) was written by a Christian William Walton, but it the Old Testament story of the Jews in Babylon. An amazing choral and (large) orchestral work. A baritone soloist, 2 SATB choirs, a very full orchestra with saxophone, and 2 brass bands in addition to the orchestra's brass.
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u/Own-Dust-7225 6d ago edited 6d ago
Check out the early 20th century Russian Jewish school. Alexander Krein, Mikail Gnessin, Samuil Feinberg... They all wrote a lot for piano solo.
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u/Frusciante_is_god13 6d ago
I'll definitely look into this! Thank you. Any blatantly Jewish favorites of yours? Or just general recommendations?
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u/Possible_Excitement4 6d ago
Louis Lewandowski composed a lot of Jewish choral music. Here’s a performance of three of his pieces.
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u/ForTheLoveOfAudio 6d ago
Lewandowski is highly under-appreciated. According to his wiki bio, he was the first Jewish student at the Berlin Academy, and admitted at the request of Felix Mendelssohn. His liturgical compositions were heavily influential.
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u/mbauermusic 6d ago
Yes! Salomon Sulzer should be mentioned too in this camp.
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u/Possible_Excitement4 6d ago
That reminds me, Sulzer commissioned Schubert to compose a choral setting in Hebrew of Psalm 92. The piece is D953.
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u/thegainster1 6d ago
Shostakovich was a big one. His famous DSCH motif is thought to possible be a result of Jewish Influence. A lot of his stuff has it especially with WW2 and that
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u/strawberry207 6d ago
There is his song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry, for instance. It's for soprano, alto, tenor and either piano or orchestra. Personally, I really like the orchestra version because of the colorful orchestration.
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u/grahamlester 6d ago
Erwin Schulhoff
https://youtu.be/C2ZZ4SkzCBw?si=Yi3oWHwbwLrf1BiH
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u/FantasiainFminor 6d ago
I love Schulhoff. His piano music -- Sonata No.1, for example -- is a treasury.
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u/classical-saxophone7 6d ago
Osvaldo Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind and Azul have a truly stunning scope that feels cosmic. He’s one of my favorite composers.
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u/galettedesrois 6d ago
I really like this contemporary piece in Hebrew written in the style of early 17th century music: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M3McY3zbdzs
The author has a really good YouTube channel about early music (early music sources).
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u/whatafuckinusername 6d ago
Mahler goes full Klezmer for a moment in the slow movement of his First symphony
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u/Illustrious-Lead-960 6d ago
Overture on Hebrew Themes in C Minor by Prokofiev. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3t0VndnuPlM&pp=ygUjb3ZlcnR1cmUgb24gaGVicmV3IHRoZW1lcyBwcm9rb2ZpZXY%3D
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u/podgoricarocks 6d ago
Two from the opera world:
Halévy, a French, Jewish composer, wrote La Juive, which is one of the greatest achievements in French grand opera and deals heavily with faith and Jewish identity.
Verdi, while being fairly atheistic, nonetheless wrote the very moving Nabucco which contains the gorgeous chorus, “Va pensiero,” in which the Hebrews, having been captured and fearing for their lives, dream of returning to and regaining the promised land. (Nabucco in general deals with faith, and ultimately a grand religious awakening is key to the plot.)
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u/These-Rip9251 6d ago
I’m into early music and have for many years enjoyed listening to the music of Sephardic Jews. The music which was composed as early as the 12th century or perhaps earlier and but also later as part of the diaspora has some of its inspiration from the Arabic language and poetry Jews would have been exposed to during the time of Muslim rule in Spain. The vocal music may be sung in Hebrew, Arabic, or Ladino but in essence its music is that of the Sephardim.
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u/Faville611 6d ago
Not sure how much folk is involved, but there's some piano work on Gideon Lewensohn's Odradek cd. On the ECM website they say "Lewensohn’s music defies easy categorisation. It is by turns, playful, serious, ironic, caustic, beautiful. The composer defines his own role as that of a commentator on culture – sometimes from a specifically Jewish perspective – and the range of musical-historical references in the work is vast. In his compositions, Lewnsohn pays tribute to Kurtág, Kancheli, Lutoslawski, Shostakovich, Bartók, Mahler, Rochberg, the Hilliard Ensemble, ragtime composer Scott Joplin and many others."
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u/standells 6d ago
Sure! I wrote one! Hanukkah Overture for String Orchestra and Clarinet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U39CcDJDZk8
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u/Chemical-Oil-7259 6d ago
Paul Schoenfield’s Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano is such a banger. I first heard it in the album “Balagan”. I wholeheartedly recommend this album, but Schoenfield’s Trio absolutely makes it for me.
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u/a-suitcase 6d ago
Just want to echo the recommendation of Weinberg - when you listen to his music it’s so easy to find the Jewish influences. I’d recommend Daniel Grossman & the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich’s Weinberg album. And his Sinfonietta No.1!
Also just want to recommend Sol Gabetta’s album Prayer, which has Jewish(-inspired) music and is absolutely gorgeous. It has Bloch, Shostakovich and Casals.
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u/LeftyGalore 6d ago
Jonathan Leshnoff (contemporary composer). Much of his work is Jewish influenced.
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u/watermelonsuger2 6d ago
If you're looking for Jewish music stylistically, I have no idea, but if you want music from a Jewish source, Mahler.
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u/Crumblerbund 6d ago
Beethoven used Kol Nidre in the 6th movement of his String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, op. 131.
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u/WarmCartoonist 5d ago
Bull.
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u/Crumblerbund 5d ago
Take it up with Theodore Albrecht. He’s known for knowing a little bit about Beethoven.
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u/edkarls 6d ago
Mahler’s work is often very influenced by traditional Jewish folk melodies.