(first published in The Cincinnati Post March 24, 2001)
A smile can be a dangerous thing.
It was for Jewish folk musician Mordecai Gebirtig, shot by a Nazi guard as he was being herded onto a train for Auschwitz.
The provocation? Gebirtig smiled and couldn't stop.
Composer Joel Hoffman has captured this moment in "The Smile," a tone poem commissioned by Hebrew Union College in honor
of its 125th anniversary. Based on materials Hoffman has written for an upcoming opera about Gebirtig, the work received its
world premiere by Jesús López-Cobos and the Cincinnati Symphony Friday morning at Music Hall.
The music is not literal, but gets "inside" Gebirtig's head,
creating impressions of his final thoughts and feelings.
The opening bars sound assured enough, but are soon overcome by an
upsurge of brass and some big dissonances. A string unison
penetrated by shards of cimbalom (hammered dulcimer) and mandolin, plus
snatches of melody in cello and winds, lend an atmosphere
of suspension. Snarly brasses followed by an extended passage for
cimbalom encase the tension leading to the fatal shot, whereupon
a dramatic string glissando trails off in broken echoes of mandolin.
Guest artist was violinist Gil Shaham in Dvorak's Violin Concerto
and Three Pieces from "Schindler's List" by John Williams.
Shaham joined in a stylistic collaboration with López-Cobos and the CSO
in the Dvorak, which was marked by a velvety Adagio
and mini-fireworks in the finale. Williams' Three Pieces were the
program's emotive highlight. Indeed, the hall grew hushed
at Shaham's soft-breathed statement of the plaintive theme. In "Jewish
Town," his plummy tone unfolded over a gentle oom-pah
in the CSO, while he waxed rhapsodic in "Remembrances." Distinguished
contributions by CSO winds enhanced the music's heart-tugging
effect.
Mahler's "Todtenfeier" ("Funeral Rite"), first thoughts for the opening movement of his Symphony No. 2, was a bit of
an anticlimax, not just coming at the end of a long concert, but by contrast to Mahler's mature work. Much of the material
is the same, but it tends to ramble here. Mahler's inspired moments came through vividly, though, as in the CSO's final headlong
descent, capped by a striking "Doppler effect" in the trumpet.
Repeat is at 8 tonight at Music Hall.
From Music in Cincinnati
CSO Brings to Life "Smile" from Depths of Holocaust
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By Mary Ellyn Hutton
Mar 24, 2001 - 6:22:17 PM
Mar 24, 2001 - 6:22:17 PM
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