Review of Volume
One
This is the second
volume of the Naxos-Milken Archive’s
series devoted to songs of the Yiddish
stage. Two of the leading composers
were Sholom Secunda and Alexander Olshanetsky,
both born in the Ukraine within a couple
of years of each other. Secunda emigrated
to America in 1907 and Olshanetsky followed
much later in 1922. Secunda wasn’t an
admirer of Gershwin but took lessons
from Bloch, whereas Olshanetsky tended
to popularise melodic romances in his
music. Of the other composers whose
works are presented here Louis Gilrod
was another Ukraine-born musician though
his family had emigrated to America
long before even Secunda’s. Herman Wohl
was, like the eternal emigrant Joseph
Roth, a Galician; Ilia Trilling was
German (from Elberfield).
The selections here
are Second Avenue ones – products of
the American Yiddish music theatre –
or derived from films, radio and vaudeville.
Whilst the products of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, such as Wohl, would have taken
naturally to Viennese operetta in effect
all of the composers took the form as
their musical nutrient, spicing it with
Eastern European, Ukrainian or gypsy
styles.
It’s been necessary
to orchestrate these songs since in
the vast majority of cases the orchestrations
no longer survive if indeed they ever
existed (they certainly wouldn’t in
the case of small band works). All the
orchestrations have been based on sound
scholarly research and to my ears they
sound just right.
Whether exuberant and
yearning, uplifting or mournful these
songs captivated their listeners – and
even reached out beyond the confines
of Jewish theatre. The title track for
instance is best known in its souped
up and big band form as Bei Mir Bist
Du Schon and was a huge hit
for the Andrews Sisters (they of the
sexy legs and Bugle Boy fame). In the
laments we can hear the fruity vibrato
of Amy Goldstein – try Ikh hob dikh
tsufil lib and the yearning tenor
of Simon Spiro can be heard duetting
with her in Eyn kuk af dir, one
of Olshanetsky’s typically wistful numbers
- or try his strong string-based romanticism
in Nu, zog mir shoyn ven.
There’s fiddle and
klezmer in A malke af peysekh
complete with avuncular parlando
and a sort of Jewish can-can in Lebn
zol kolumbus. Benzion Miller, who
has appeared in this series before,
reprises his cantorial vocal chords
in Secunda’s Dos yidishe lid
and splendidly florid he is too, summoning
up the departed Mordecai Hirshman himself
(who first recorded it incidentally).
With coloratura and dramatic theatricality
this is a mini-scena. There are also
lighter moments – try the cornball vaudeville
Hudl mitn shtrudl (you can guess
what it means) with its klezmer clarinet
played by David Krakauer, a veritable
star of the genre. Then there is the
genuinely moving and slow Olshanetsky
song Unter beymer, one of the
highlights of the disc, and eloquently
sung by Spiro and the frolics of the
last track with its scraping fiddle
and high jinx.
The notes are extensive
and panoramic in their sweep not least
with regard to the shows from which
these songs derive and the performances
are all effervescent – and that includes
Bruce Adler, Robert Abelson and Robert
Bloch who have slightly less to do but
do it splendidly.
Jonathan Woolf
NAXOS MILKEN ARCHIVE 8.559432 [68.45]
