For those unaware, Even in living memory, the locus of Jewish classical music has not always been Israel or the United States of America. This month, Acis is proud to release ART SONGS OF THE JEWISH DIASPORA, a new album of songs performed by Ian Pomerantz (bass-baritone), Byron Schenkman (piano), and Sarah Freiberg (cello).

The album is “a story of stories”. It uncovers a treasury of Jewish art song through which the diversity of the diaspora experience, and the lives, countries, and compositional styles of many overlooked composers is celebrated.

Many of the songs have not been recorded in the digital age and have survived only in archives up until now. Amongst them, there is queer, female, refugee, Sephardi, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi representation.

Pomerantz and Schenkman’s research and performance project is one of the heart, and the album has been years in the making. It features nineteen works written by ten composers, with songs in six languages, together with piano and cello solo tracks. The liner notes come with modern translations and biographical details deepened through new research and the cooperation of surviving family members and their estates.

Pianist BYRON SCHENKMAN says, “This program is one of the most personally meaningful of the more than forty recording projects I have been a part of. Like so many Jews in diaspora, I was taught from an early age to hide, or at least downplay, my Jewish identity. Now it is a joy and an honor to celebrate not only my own heritage but the rich diversity of Jewish experience.”

Bass-baritone IAN POMERANTZ says, “The composers and poets here are a testament to the persistence of Jewish art music down the centuries and their legacy that continues into the present. We had to limit ourselves to what would fit on an album –– an album that will now be a door for others into a vast treasury of music that needs exploring! We were particularly fortunate to have the involvement of the living composers, as well as several descendants and estates of those who have died, to help us bring these works to life while exploring the histories of our own families in the 19th and 20th centuries.”

Three Sephardic Songs by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
1 Montañas altas
2 Ven y veras
3 Una noche

Six chansons populaires by Léon Algazi
4 Hinné ma tov!
5 Shur, dodi!

arr. Sidor Belarsky
6 Papir iz dokh vays
7 Dem Milners Trern
8 Zol shoyn kumen di Geule

Five Pieces for Piano, Op. 19 by Joel Engel
9 No. 1, Nigun

Lazar Weiner
10 Es brent, briderlech, es brent!
11 Unter dayne vayse shtern

The Seed of Dream, Lori Laitman
12 4. Beneath the Whiteness of Your Stars

Yehudi Wyner
13 Psalm 119

Three Pieces for Piano, Op. 12 by Joel Engel
14 No. 2, Mazurka in F# Minor

Darius Milhaud by Poèmes Juifs, Op. 34,
15 No. 2 Chant de Sion

Six Chants Populaires Hébraïques, Op. 86
16 No. 3 Chant Hassidique

Impressions by Henriëtte Bosmans
17 No. 2, Nuit Calme

Ilse Weber
18 Ich wandre durch Theresienstadt
19 Wiegala

This masterfully performed and recorded selection of Jewish art music opens on Three Sephardic Songs by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: the strident Montañas altas, the playful Ven y veras and the delicately-hued Una noche and then we get Six chansons populaires by Léon Algazi: the foreboding tone within Hinné ma tov! and the emboldened Shur, dodi!, and then comes a trilogy arranged by Sidor Belarsky: the all-embracing Papir iz dokh vays, the veritably glistening Dem Milners Trern and the sprightly Zol shoyn kumen di Geule.

Along next is Five Pieces for Piano, Op. 19 by Joel Engel: and the ornate No. 1, Nigun, then we get Lazar Weiner’s flighty Es brent, briderlech, es brent! and the more impassioned Unter dayne vayse shtern, The Seed of Dream, Lori Laitman’s heartfelt Beneath the Whiteness of Your Stars, and they are backed by Yehudi Wyner’s stoically crystalline Psalm 119, and Three Pieces for Piano, Op. 12 by Joel Engel: the ornate beauty that is No. 2, Mazurka in F# Minor.

The works, and indeed the collection therein, then begin to round out on Darius Milhaud by Poèmes Juifs, Op. 34: and a sombre prose that drives No. 2 Chant de Sion, the flirtatious Six Chants Populaires Hébraïques, Op. 86 piece No. 3 Chant Hassidique, Impressions by Henriëtte Bosmans and the shimmering No. 2, Nuit Calme, closing on Ilse Weber’s vocally enriched Ich wandre durch Theresienstadt and the forthright yearn heard to be threaded within Wiegala.

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