Toch: Cantata Of Bitter Herbs / Jephta
$25.00
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ERNST TOCH
Toch: Cantata Of Bitter Herbs / Jephta
Theodore Bikel / Prague Philharmonic Chorus, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz Gerard
[ Naxos American Classics / CD ]
Release Date: Monday 28 February 2005
This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.
"Fetters fell, the captive rose. Old is the memory of Israel's escape from Egypt. Told and retold for thousands of years, the story has given strength to the weary, hope to the disheartened." Thus begins Toch's Cantata of the Bitter Herbs, a unique musical-dramatic work begun during the great German-Jewish composer's forced exile to the United States, and premiered in Los Angeles in the midst of World War Two. Toch's retelling of the Passover story is cast as an appeal for universal justice and liberation from oppression. The composer's ultimately triumphant vision is set to luminous late Romantic music and includes a solo quartet that recalls the beauty of the famous trio from Der Rosenkavalier.
"What an interesting and rewarding composer Toch is! The Cantata of the Bitter Herbs for narrator, soloist, chorus and orchestra comes from 1938, four years after he had left Nazi Germany to settle in the United States. It is neo-romantic and at times even Straussian (he had, incidentally, gone with Strauss to Florence in 1934 to a musical conference). No doubt prompted by the death of his mother in Vienna, it is a work of much inventive resource and undoubted expressive eloquence. The Fifth of his seven Symphonies comes from 1962-3 and, like the Cantata, is based on Exodus. It is subtitled 'Rhapsodic Poem' and is altogether freer in style than Nos. 6 and 7, to which he turned in the last year of his life. Both works are of quality and very well performed and recorded: at a fraction of the price of a concert ticket, this is a real bargain which will well repay curiosity." Penguin Guide 3 Stars
