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A Jewish Composer for Our Time

2012; Duke University Press; Volume: 27; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/08879982-1629209

2164-0041

Anna Rubin,

Diverse Musicological Studies

Who knew that by 2012 the world of classical music would be so wonderfully eclectic, unpredictable, and adventurous? Who knew that composers would freely borrow from folk and popular styles, as well as ancient traditions? Listeners are welcoming this trend with relish, turning toward this “new” music for inspiration, soul nourishment, and a connection to ancient roots.The term “classical” is far more inclusive than a generation ago. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven are only part of the rich musical palette of today’s concert music. Composers who would once have been considered fringe for their political, social, or religious concerns are now embraced by orchestras across the country. Meira Warshauer, a composer with many commissions and works to her credit, exemplifies these new developments and speaks authentically from her Jewish identity and deeply felt spirituality. Her works reflect her fascination with Jewish, classical, and world music, and her admirable skills as a composer. She uses the power of pure music to evoke deep feelings of peace, beauty, reverence, and gratitude in which life is affirmed. And while she focuses her works on Jewish themes, her music reflects the enormous width of world music with a generous helping of Coplandesque grandeur.Warshauer’s newest album draws listeners into a lush symphonic world under the able baton of Petr Vronsky leading the Moravian Philharmonic. In it, Warshauer presents two works: Living Breathing Earth, the symphony whose title also graces the album, and Tekeeyah, scored for a shofar-trombone soloist and orchestra. Both works inhabit an accessible and rich sound world. They have a contemporary feeling, with driving rhythms and colorful percussion. And both works incorporate the strong Jewish themes Warshauer explores in most of her compositions.The first piece in the album, Living Breathing Earth, comes in four movements and follows a fast/slow/fast/ slow progression. The first movement, “Call of the Cicadas,” is extremely dynamic and exciting — an introduction portraying world-shaping energies. Strings imitate the lush sounds of cicadas, and varied percussion instruments maintain a pulsing, driving rhythm. Delicate melodies are woven together to create a sort of paean to the fertility of our fragile earth. Warshauer has a wonderful ear for the varied timbres of the orchestra and she leads the ear from soft, delicate sounds to powerful rhythmic unisons.The second movement of the piece, “Tahuayo River at Night,” is a profoundly peaceful and restful work that calms the heart and rests the soul. Lovers of Aaron Copland will hear echoes of his Appalachian Spring harmonies and tinges of Mahler’s adagio movements. Its cyclic nature builds up to a gorgeous climax and then exhales into a soft ending.The third movement, “Wings in Flight,” evokes bird flight with graceful melodies and harp accompaniment. A gentle pulsing keeps the music ever-flowing and shows Warshauer’s love of percussion and arching melodies. The last movement, “Living, Breathing Earth,” recalls elements of the opening as well as themes from the second, slow movement. The orchestra seems to be inhaling and exhaling with alternating powerful chords upon which the composer quilts ever-changing timbres and rhythms. This movement comes to a poignant and powerful climax, summing up the entire symphony, leaving the listener in an exalted and celebratory mood.The second work on the album is Tekeeyah, the Hebrew name for the long tones played on the shofar during the Jewish High Holidays. Warshauer writes in her program notes about the three distinct patterns in which the shofar is sounded: “tekeeyah, a long tone; shevarim, three shorter tones; and teruah, at least nine staccato or short notes. Tekeeyah g’dolah, a very long tekeeyah, concludes the sequence on Rosh Hashonah.” Warshaeur incorporates all three in this composition.Tekeeyah opens with the aptly named “A Call,” with a slow and mysterious texture. Breath sounds fuse with gongs, all surrounding the low, haunting call of the shofar. Warshauer alternates winds and strings in another evocation of the cycle of breath. The piece’s second movement is called “Breaking Walls.” The shofar player, virtuoso Haim Avitsur, switches seamlessly to trombone, starting with its lowest sounds and reaching into its upper reaches as the piece becomes filmic in its drama. This middle section is full of Warshauer’s signature pulsing textures and varied orchestration. The raw call of the shofar returns to round out the movement. The final section, “Dance of Truth,” celebrates the nine short sounds of the teruah sounded by the shofar during the Rosh Hashanah service; it features a solo by the shofar and concludes in an exciting climax — just as the service ends with the final tekeeyah.In her program notes, Warshauer writes movingly about the shofar’s symbolic significance to Jews:The shofar calls us. It calls us before we are born. It calls us to enter the world. It is our touchstone as we move through life’s challenges. It helps break through walls we construct around our essence. Those protective walls may be the very ones that keep us from our true knowing. The shofar calls us to return.Warshauer’s earlier album, Streams in the Desert, features her re-creation of the Shacharit (morning service). A narrator leads the listener through the piece. Warshuaer writes in her notes, “The Sabbath morning service is a spiritual journey of praise, revelation, prayer, and exultation.”Like any true work of art, Warshauer’s work casts the familiar in a new light. For Christian and even Jewish composers, the Catholic Mass has served to inspire countless symphonic and choral works — composers in the twentieth century ranging from Stravinsky to Bernstein have tried their hand at reinterpreting this ancient rite. Very few works inspired by the Jewish liturgy, however, have been accepted into the classical canon. Warshauer’s works deserve to be included in that canon.The majestic Ahavah (love) is also on this album. The piece calls for large forces — mezzo soprano or alto soloist, full choir, and orchestra. The text of the full Sh’ma prayer is divided into three large movements. In the first movement, “Listen and Love,” the soloist beautifully soars above the choir and orchestra while the choir intones a three-note chant of the word “ahavah” that becomes a kind of soul mantra. The second movement, Hishamru (beware), is spiky, rhythmic, and reminiscent of early Stravinsky. Warshauer’s expert handling of orchestral colors paints an ominous sonic landscape that highlights the admonitions of this movement, which warns of what befalls those who do not align themselves with the divine purpose. The last movement returns to the comforting golden hues of the opening as the Sh’ma completes the promise of divine love.This music has the potential to touch everyone from classical music aficionados to appreciators of world music to people new to these genres: Warshauer’s work is the kind of music that nourishes the soul, expands the heart, and gives us the repose and nourishment to continue our work in the world.