A New Cantata at Congregation Emanu-El

Memorial sculpture honoring twelfth-century Spanish poet Judah Halevi (photograph by Raananms, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Last night the sanctuary of Congregation Emanu-El and the Neighborhood Performance Project hosted the world premiere performance of Kanta Judezmo, an oratorio composed by Sascha Jacobsen with a libretto by poet Bobby Coleman. The title, which basically means “Jewish song,” is in Judaeo-Spanish, known more familiarly as Ladino; and the libretto text interleaves passages in Judaeo-Spanish with those in English. Coleman also served as narrator for the spoken portions of the text.

The remainder of the text was sung by mezzo Melinda Becker. Instrumental accompaniment was provided by the Musical Art Quintet, in which Jacobsen plays bass. The other four members were violinists Jory Fankuchen and Michele Walther, violist Charith Premawardhana, and cellist Lewis Patzner. They were joined by guitarist Carlos Caminos and percussionist Edgardo Cambon.

The Musical Art Quintet is an ensemble that is as comfortable with improvisation as it is with playing notation; and Jacobsen can improvise on his bass with vivid qualities that recall highly imaginative predecessors, such as Charles Mingus. Whether or not Jacobsen knew that Becker was a mezzo, his score led her into stratospheric territory, which she negotiated skillfully, showing little (if any) sign of strain. She also had to leap across any number of unconventional intervals while keeping her personal pitch impeccably aligned with the string players.

All this could have made for a thoroughly stimulating evening of music venturing beyond the usual genre boundaries had it not been for Coleman’s libretto. This ran the gamut from the merely tedious to the unbearably self-righteous. There were few signs of any awareness of the rich literary tradition of Jews on the Iberian peninsula prior to their expulsion from Spain based on the Alhambra Decree, which was issued on March 31, 1492. Ultimately, each of the vocal movements felt as if it went on forever (the entire composition stretched out over about two hours without intermission); and only Jacobsen’s instrumental work, particularly the consistently imaginative interplay between strings and rhythm, maintained a modicum of attention from the serious listener.

The good news was that the Musical Art Quintet began the evening with three selections from their own repertoire. They opened with Jacobsen’s “Milonga de San Francisco,” offering an engaging “local” interpretation of Hispanic culture. This was followed by two Jacobsen arrangements. “Alfonsina y el Mar” (Alfonsina and the sea) was composed by Ariel Ramirez setting lyrics by Felix Luna. Becker was clearly in a comfort zone with this song, and Jacobsen’s arrangement added both Caminos and Cambon to the instrumental mix. They remained for the final selection, another Jacobsen arrangement, this time of “From Within” by Michel Camilo. For this final piece Walther changed places with Fankuchen to lead the strings and played out some truly rapturous improvisations on Camilo’s tune.

All three selections were performed with just the right blend of the composed and the improvised, and both Becker and Walther heated up the mood with their solo efforts. However, with Coleman’s first utterances, things went very cold very quickly. Sadly, they stayed that way for the next two hours. Note to Jacobson: Have you considered writing a song cycle on the poems of the exiled Jews in Iberia instead?