The Yiddish-language culture that flourished in Europe and America between the world wars is better known for its literary and cinematic manifestations than for works in the realm of classical music, but in this field, too, Jewish creative artists made distinctive contributions. The Yiddish art songs heard on this disc had their own generic classification (they were called lider). Their composer, Lazar Weiner, emigrated from Kiev to the U.S. in 1919 as a result of religious persecution; he had a Ukrainian conservatory ...
Read More
The Yiddish-language culture that flourished in Europe and America between the world wars is better known for its literary and cinematic manifestations than for works in the realm of classical music, but in this field, too, Jewish creative artists made distinctive contributions. The Yiddish art songs heard on this disc had their own generic classification (they were called lider). Their composer, Lazar Weiner, emigrated from Kiev to the U.S. in 1919 as a result of religious persecution; he had a Ukrainian conservatory education, and it was not until he came to America that he really discovered Yiddish literature and Jewish folklore. He also wrote a good deal of choral music in Yiddish. These are genuine art songs, with equal roles for singer and piano, rather than simple folkloristic settings. The various parts of Weiner's conservatory education show through the music in turn; he sounds at times like Mussorgsky (the biggest influence), like Brahms, and, perhaps more surprisingly, like Fauré. But the...
Read Less
