Music in Exile Vol. 1: Chamber Music by Paul Ben-Haim

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The [Piano Quartet's] spirit suggests a clean bill of health to contrast with the feverish outpourings of Vienna's hothouse fin de siecle...Ben-Haim's style has a distinctively lyrical slant... — Gramophone Magazine, September 2013 More…

Release Date: 3rd Jun 2013
Catalogue No: CHAN10769
Label: Chandos
Series: Music in Exile
Length: 86 minutes

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Ben-Haim: Piano Quartet, Op. 4

Work length29:27

$7.00

$9.05

$12.25

ARC Ensemble
Recorded: 14-16 January 2013
Recording Venue: Koerner Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I. Allegro moderato, ma energico

Track length11:19

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

II. Adagio molto espressivo

Track length8:46

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

III. Un poco grave

Track length9:22

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Ben-Haim: Two Landscapes, Op. 27

Work length8:50

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Steven Dann, Dianne Werner
Recorded: 14-16 January 2013
Recording Venue: Koerner Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I. The Hills of Judea (Harei yehudah).

Track length5:35

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. The Spring (Hama'ayan).

Track length3:15

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Ben-Haim: Five Pieces for Piano, Op. 34: IV. Canzonetta

Work length2:56

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Dianne Werner
Recorded: 14-16 January 2013
Recording Venue: Koerner Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Ben-Haim: Improvisation and Dance, Op. 30

Work length8:26

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Erika Raum, Dianne Werner
Recorded: 14-16 January 2013
Recording Venue: Koerner Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I. Improvisation. Molto rubato

Track length4:02

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Dance. Allegro grazioso

Track length4:24

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Ben-Haim: Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet, Op. 31a

Work length27:20

$6.00

$7.75

$10.50

Joaquin Valdepeñas, ARC Ensemble
Recorded: 14-16 January 2013
Recording Venue: Koerner Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I. Molto moderato

Track length8:31

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

II. Capriccio. Molto vivo

Track length6:55

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Tema con variazioni

Track length11:54

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Ben-Haim: Three Songs Without Words

Work length9:49

$3.00

$3.90

$5.25

Erika Raum, Dianne Werner
Recorded: 14-16 January 2013
Recording Venue: Koerner Hall, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I. Arioso

Track length3:45

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. Ballad

Track length2:40

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Sephardic Melody

Track length3:24

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

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About

This is Volume 1 in a new chamber series which explores the music of composers who were forced to flee Europe during the 1930s. The survey begins with works by the German-born Jewish composer Paul Ben-Haim (né Frankenburger) who immigrated to Palestine in October 1933. Ben-Haim was an accomplished pianist, conductor, choral coach, and composer who made a significant cultural contribution to his adoptive country. The list of musicians who commissioned, performed, and recorded his music includes Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Menahem Pressler, and Leonard Bernstein. Among the Israeli composers he taught are Eliahu Inbal, Avraham Sternklar, Noam Sheriff, and Shulamit Ran.

The Piano Quartet was completed in Munich during the summer of 1921, long before any thought of emigration. Until the ARC Ensemble’s performance of the work in 2012, it had not been played since a broadcast in July 1932. It it strongly rooted in the music of Brahms, Strauss, Reger, and Fauré, whilst retaining Ben-Haim’s own strength of ideas, sense of form, and bold, confident use of colour.

By the late 1930s / early 1940s, Ben-Haim’s musical language had adapted to life in Palestine, and we find strong Hebraic elements scattered throughout both the Two Landscapes and Improvisation and Dance. The ‘Canzonetta’ is the fourth of the composer’s Five Pieces for Piano, and a direct descendent of the nineteenth century’s Song without Words.

The amalgamation of Eastern and Western influences in Ben-Haim’s life are beautifully realised in the Clarinet Quintet. While the European technique originates in the two mainstays of the clarinet’s chamber repertoire, the quintets by Brahms and Mozart, the ‘Capriccio’ in the Scherzo is a complete quotation of ‘Elohei Tzidki’ (God of my righteousness), a traditional hymn. ‘I was very satisfied,’ wrote the composer, ‘because I felt that I had succeeded in consolidating a new style.’

Over the last ten years the ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory, Toronto) has become one of Canada’s pre-eminent cultural ambassadors, raising international appreciation of The Royal Conservatory and Canada’s rich musical life. Its first two CDs, On the Threshold of Hope and Right through the Bone (devoted respectively to the music of Mieczysław Weinberg and Julius Röntgen), were both nominated for Grammy Awards in the ‘Best Chamber Music Recording’ category. Its recordings enjoy regular airplay around the world, and its concerts have been broadcast on CBC Radio, National Public Radio in the US, and on public radio throughout Europe.

Reviews

September 2013

The [Piano Quartet's] spirit suggests a clean bill of health to contrast with the feverish outpourings of Vienna's hothouse fin de siecle...Ben-Haim's style has a distinctively lyrical slant all its own...Superb playing by the members of the ARC Ensemble, excellent sound and useful booklet-notes

17th October 2013

It’s all beautifully and wonderfully captured by the players and the Chandos recording team...This is a fascinating disc which begins to open up the world of a truly significant composer who should be much better known.

21st July 2013

All are expertly played by members of the eight-strong ARC Ensemble.

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