Paul Ben-Haim: Violin (1960)
Paul Ben-Haim
Born 5 July 1897 in Munich
died 14 January 1984 in Tel Aviv
Composition:
1959-60 in Tel Aviv
CD recordings:
Itzhak Perlman 1990
Michael Guttman 1998
Itamar Zorman 2017blandit.
Paul Ben-Haim, born Paul Frankenburger in Munich, was an artist caught between two worlds. He made his first career as a conductor in Germany (as assistant to Bruno Walter and Hans Knappertsbusch, among others), eventually becoming first Kapellmeister at the Augsburg theatre, where he was dismissed as a Jew in 1931. He became unemployed. And so he moved to Palestine, where he developed as a pianist, conductor and composer. After the Second World War, his music was not experimental enough for some, not Jewish or Arab enough for others. In Israel, he changed his name from Paul Frankenburger to Paul Ben-Haim (son of Haim). Haim is reminiscent of his father Heinrich and also means life in Hebrew.
As piano accompanist to the singer Braha Zephira from Yemen, he learnt about music from Palestine and Yemen. He arranged songs from the region for her, but he emphasised: "I don't take actual
melodies. I invent them. It is now my language influenced by my surroundings."
In 1960, he composed his violin concerto in the "Mediterranean style", traditionally shaped but with some references to Middle Eastern and Jewish elements. At the time, Ben-Haim was one of Israel's most important composers and increasingly attracted international attention. The critic of the San Francisco Cronicle wrote at the American premiere of the Violin Concerto in 1962: "It is wonderfully written for the violin as a lyric and virtuoso instrument; it weaves the solo line in and out of a symphonic whole with masterly effect; and it uses a few Orientalisms with the utmost tact and elegance."
Today, in view of the warlike excesses of violence in Israel and Palestine, Ben-Haim's 22-minute violin concerto can only make people dream of a Jewish-Arab synthesis in culture and
life.
Listen here!
Listening Companion:
I. Allegro
The orchestra begins détaché with a march-like, rhythmically bouncy first theme, progresses urgently and prepares the entry of the violin. The solo violin enters liberamente rubando in a hesitant and recitative-like improvisation and then accelerates into the tempo of the bouncy main theme. It takes over its inner drive with virtuosity. After an energetic climax and finale, a second theme in the woodwinds follows in a 3/2 bar, less agitated, meno mosso, underpinned by harp chords. It has a calming effect and its melodiousness is delicately accompanied and taken over by the violin and passed on to the horns. The drive of the beginning soon reasserts itself, boldly and playfully swinging back and forth between the violin and orchestral instruments. The violin then introduces the development of the two themes and draws the orchestra into its playing. The music develops in a neoclassical manner until the trumpets in the orchestra begin the recapitulation and the violin immediately follows. The violin begins the reappearance of the second theme with its long note and creates a magical moment of listening silence. A harp solo and a violin transition open up the space for a mysterious woodwind melody (of Jewish liturgical origin?), accompanied by the violin with virtuosity. In an energetic coda, the violin returns to its bouncy opening drive. An effective finale with the expected timpani beat concludes a virtuoso and brilliant violin concerto movement.
II. Andante affettuoso
Soft chords from solo violas, cellos and solo winds create a mood characterised by seconds, which one might associate with both the Orient and synagogues. A lone flute quietly plays a melismatic melody that is echoed by the solo violin. Together, violin and flute, they spin the melody further and bring it to a close. Then the cor anglais takes over the melismas, the violin carries the melody to the highest heights and finally the oboes join in with their melismas. Everything is peaceful and calm until the orchestra rises to a slightly threatening forte. The violin with its melismas also sounds more threatening and takes refuge in a recitative-like solo. Suddenly, heavenly harp and celesta sounds are heard as if from beyond, accompanying the violin's high, silvery song. Clarinets mingle with their melismas in the melodious sound, again the lonely flute, until the violin takes over again and slowly sings itself out.
III. Vivo
The third movement is introduced by a virtuoso violin solo cadenza that becomes increasingly prominent rhythmically. Everything brooding and mystical is now wiped away. A rondo-like, dance-like violin motif that moves tonally within a second now takes over the action with lustful energy. The orchestra then takes over the violin theme like a dance band and the violin and orchestra take turns storming ahead in their dance until a surprising halt, which begins with a long, high resting note. Then first the flute and horn, then the solo violin sing an enchanting, slow, Sephardic-Spanish-sounding theme. It sounds like contemplation and longed-for peace as the basis of all joie de vivre. This joie de vivre then emerges again with rhythmic movement and exuberance. In the euphoric final climax, the first, march-like theme from the beginning of the concerto sparks up again in the solo violin, leading to an exciting final climax with the passionately played seconds of the rondo theme of this movement. Conclusion and applause.