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The new CD \"Bayamim Hahem no. 3\"After I heard so much about this big hit from my friend in Israel, I took some time yesterday and I went to "Aderet" in 13 Ave & I bought this magnificent art CD, "Bayamim Hahem no. 3" . What can I say? Since yesterday's morning, this CD goes with me any where. From my car, to my home, to my office, I am afraid to leave him out of my sight. I keep telling my self "The Sobol's did it again" The cantors sound terrific, I actually cried when I heard Rosenblatt's "Hineni" and Mandelbaum's "Raza D'Shabbat". The philharmonic orchestra sounds so big and the choir sounds warm and exciting. After my big disappointment from the last Yossele CD, which sounded like Yossele in a bad wedding , This is the one of best CD's I ever Heard . I thought to my self that for us, the big chazanut fans, this should be a MUST CD. I did some googling today and I found this article in an Israeli site, The Greatest Cantors of the world are REVIVED!!! In Those Days at This Time - 3 Cantors of the past Orchestra and choir of today Mordechai Sobol is proud to present the third CD in the series which has changed the world of cantorial Music. The best Cantors of past generations accompanied by the philharmonic choir and orchestra S.F.Y. Conduct and arranged By: Dr. Mordechai Sobol and Ofir Sobol. We, Chazanut lovers, come across a new Chazanut disc every few weeks. A Chazzan leading Sabbath prayer is widespread as well as all the various Chazanut concerts held in Israel, sometimes even twice a month. The Chazanut "mania" began as early as in the days of the Jewish "Shtetel" in Poland. Among the "kleizmers" wandering from one town to another were musicians, singers and "Platen Shpilers" record players who for the price of a few Zloty offered to whoever was interested, to play one record on the big "Gramophone" they brought with them. And what kind of music did they play on the "Platens"(records)? Famous cantors singing. They would arrive in town, enter the town center; place a Gramophone on a folding table which they carried with them announcing the price of 2 Zloty for "Hamavdil" of Yossele, which everybody knew meant Rosenblatt. For the price of 3 Zloty you could chose" E'lu D'varim" by Hershman, and when a new record arrived, for instance by Kwartin, the "Platen Shpilers" did not hesitate to ask of demanding 4 or 5 Zloty for " Tiher Rabbi Yishmael" by Kwartin . And Reb Zishe who was known as a "man of the world" always asked for a Gershon Sirota record, for which he always paid generously. And in this town which exists no more, many more chapters were written in the lyrical Chazanut ""Shomea Kol Bichyot" of Melavsky, Elokay Neshama"" of Rosenblatt "Esa Einay" of Yardeni - ascribed to the performer Moshe Koussevitzky, and more. Part and parcel of the musical experience were the background noises of the Gramophones. Every cantor was accompanied by background noises, creaks, jumps and scratches which were sometimes louder then the actual singing. If only we could enjoy the pure singing of these great Cantors, clean of all background noises If only we could close our eyes and imagine they were recorded in our days... In 2003, Dr. Mordechai Sobol , who is credited for the thriving of Chazanut in our times, decided to make the dreams of Chazanut lovers come true. By using the newest technology of today in the field of sound, musical works world famous in cantorial music were cleared of background noises and restored. The original piano and Organ music was replaced by an orchestra of 90 musicians and a choir of 50 singers. And so came to the world in 2004 the magical project "In Those Days at This Time" - Cantors of the past together with musicians and singers of today. Two years later in 2006 the second disc in the series came out "In Those Days at This Time 2" Yossele Rosenblatt, Moshe Koussevitzky, Simcha Koussevitzky, Moshe Ganchoff, Mordechai Hershman, Zavel Kwartin, Leib Glantz, Shalom Katz, all these names are only part the list of Cantors whose music was restored, cleaned and adapted in this project. . And these days, after a year and a half of hard work, the Chazanut world is celebrating the coming out of the third disc of the series "In Those Days At This Time 3". "Hineni & Elokay Neshama" by Rosenblatt, "Shomea Kol Bichyot" by Malavsky, "Anenu" by Moshe Koussevitzky, "T'ka Beshofar" by Kwartin, and even the legendary "Retze Hashem" of Gershon Sirota, all these works and more can be heard in the new disc. We invite you to take pleasure in the music of the past, in the atmosphere of today. In the disc you can hear for the first time the restored Chazanut of Leibale Waldman, Yossele Mandelbaum and Moshe Stern נ"י, performing Alters "Akavia" in a rare recording from 1973. However the crown of the disc is the trio of the three cantors, performing "Ad Hena" by Rosenblatt, in a triple performance never before heard Yossele Rosenblatt in his original performance from 1926 , Moshe Koussevitzky in a recording from 1947, and Simcha Koussevitzky in a recording from 1952. All of them were assembled in a rare performance which even to the most sharp eared among you will sound as a trio performed in front of an audience. You will find it hard to believe that the original recordings were made at different times, in different keys and without any eye contact between the three cantors and the philharmonic orchestra. The human mind cannot fathom, but we would like to tell you that this performance was only made possible by vision, perseverance, ingenuity, and the wonders of the newest technique of our age. No more scratched recordings and jumping records, the music which we grew up on are now in digital quality, as fit to the years of 2000. In Those Days at This Time 3 - The real thing.
Posted by musicman at 11/11/08 06:22:28
A fundamental difference batween Chazzanus and popular Jewish Music is that chazzanus is the words in music and the other is music with words. Instrumental accompaniment can sometimes enhance chazzanus, but only if it too is used to help put the words in music. On this, like the first two, some of the music is in this fashion, and some is not. The original Hineni exudes a feeling appropriate to the Yomim Noraim. In my opinion, this was enhanced on Od Yosef Chai, but lost on this CD where it became an operatic piece. Other pieces were enhanced by the music and kept true to the original composition. A prime example of the production changing the piece is on the second disk in Yossele's Elokai Ad Shelo Notzarti. A solemn tefila from viduy was sped up and made jolly. This is a travesty. Tal from the first disk was similarly changed.
Libsonmo had posted a sampler on the Israeli forum, but thwre were some issues with their site and it is no longer available for download. I have it on my home computer and will try to get it uploaded. Posted by Aharon at 11/11/08 12:02:52
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