Jewish Cello Music (Performance)

This afternoon I played a bundle of Jewish (and related) pieces for cello and piano at a conference of scholars and educators.  Video of my performance with pianist Robert Jorgenson is linked here.  At the page itself, just scroll down to the picture of the cellist and the header entitled “Break: Music of the Holocaust.” It should open in Microsoft Media Player…

Timings and repertoire:

0:00-8:50 tuning, etc. [nothin]

8:50-15:46  “Nigun,” by Ernst Bloch [the story of the Jewish people 犹太故事]

17:05-21:00 “Prayer,” by Ernst Bloch

21:00-23:50 “Supplication,” by Ernst Bloch

24:00-26:00  “Jewish Song,” by Ernst Bloch [犹太民歌]

28：15-38：00 “Kol Niedre” by Max Bruch

40:20-end “Trois Pieces” by Nadia Boulanger

If you’ve been hankering for some good, dark, and soulful music, this may be for you.  If you’re feeling real efficient and want the best we offered up, go for the “Kol Niedre.”

This all reminds me that I did learn a few things about Holocaust education in China which I’ll hope to share at some point soon.  Not only that, but I hope discuss a bit further Jeff Rud’s work on the U.S. bombing of North Korea, since he won an award for writing an essay which made the argument, using Raphael Lemkin’s works, among other things, that U.S. Air Force bombings of North Korea (“Operation Strangle,” etc.) should be debated as genocidal war crimes.  But in the meantime there is always the man’s blog (which includes some new primary source material on left-coast Korean War opposition in the 1950s), and some good Jewish music (which is not to be confused with West Texas heavy metal).