Jewish Dances

A live recording of Three Jewish Dances for Violin and Orchestra at the annual concert of the Thelma Yellin High School Symphony Orchestra at the Ashdod Performing Art Center, February 17, 2013:
Tal First, Violin
Menahem Nebenhaus, Conductor
The Thelma Yellin Symphony Orchestra

 

Jacques Israelievitch – Three Jewish Dances for Violin and Piano

Versions: There are 4 versions of the Jewish Dances. The dances are different in each version

• Five Jewish Dances For Piano, Opus 190: Jewish Dance, Jewish Oriental Dance, Sher, Yemenite Wedding Dance, Hora — 13:00 minutes
• Five Jewish Dances for Clarinet, String Quartet and Piano, Opus 190: Jewish Dance, Jewish Oriental Dance, Sher, Yemenite Wedding Dance, Hora — 13:00 minutes
• Two Jewish Dances for String Quartet, Opus 190: Yemenite Wedding Dance, Sher — 6:00 minutes
• Six Jewish Dances for Violin and Piano, Opus 192: Jewish Dance, Palestinian Polka, Sher, Hora Perpetuum Mobile, Yemenite Wedding Dance, Hora — 15:00 minutes
• Three Jewish Dances for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 192: Sher, Yemenite Wedding Dance, Hora — 9:00 minutes

Six Jewish Dances for Violin and Piano – a mix of tracks, 4 movements from a recording from 1956 with David Grunschlag (Violin) and Avner Aharon (Piano), and two MIDI (computer generated) recordings. Please note that the MIDI recordings are for illustration purposes only as they lack dynamics and human interpretation.

Publisher: The Marc Lavry Heritage Society

Synopsis:
A decade after immigrating to Israel Lavry wrote a compilation of Jewish dances which he collated into various versions:

• Jewish Dance: A Jewish-style tune in Israeli attire.
• Jewish Oriental Dance: Upon immigrating to Israel, Lavry was exposed to the rhythmic music of Eastern Jews accompanied by drums and percussion instruments.
• Sher (Scissors Dance): A Hassidic style dance inspired by music to which he was exposed in his childhood.
• Yemenite Wedding Dance: Lavry, like many other composers at the time, was introduced to Yemenite music by singer Bracha Zfira. Unlike typical energetic wedding dances, the wedding dance of the Yemenite bride is gentle, calm and shy. The dance is performed in small steps and soft, round movements of the hands.
• Hora: In a radio interview Lavry said: “… I remember that after I visited Kibbutz Degania where we danced all night, the dance left a huge impression on me. An endless Hora dance — with shouts and rhythmic legwork — the young people were wonderful.”
  Lavry adopted the energetic and lively rhythm of the Hora dance which he incorporated in many of his works. In the words of composer Paul Ben-Haim on Lavry: “Lavry’s Symphonic Poem “Emek” was the first example of the penetration of the Hora into concert music, and by creating it Lavry tightened the link between folk and art music”. [Wikipedia]. Lavry incorporated the melody of this movement into several of his later compositions. The most famous is the Hora song (Opus 206 No. 3) which later achieved the status of a folk song.
• Palestinian Polka: Folk dance in the “Hora” style with the polka rhythm.
• Hora Perpetuum Mobile: A virtuoso, brilliant and breathtaking dance.

Note: The original publisher for this composition, IMP (Israeli Music Publishing), which no longer exists, published only three dances for solo piano, and three dances for violin and piano. It was customary at the time for the publisher to select a subset of the movements, but unfortunately, their selection became known as Marc Lavry’s Three Jewish Dances.

The Marc Lavry Heritage Society is making available the complete set of Jewish Dances as written by the composer — Five Jewish Dances for Piano Op. 190 and of Six Jewish Dances for Violin and Piano Op.192.

Anecdote: While visiting Israel, famous clarinetist Simeon Bellison from New York asked Marc Lavry to write “something” for him. Lavry immediately arranged his Jewish Dances, which he just composed, for Clarinet, String Quartet and Piano.

 

Performances:

Jewish Dances for Violin and Orchestra:
June 5, 2013
Orsolya Korcsolán, Violin
Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra
Brahms Hall, Vienna

Jewish Dances for Violin and Piano:
December 28, 2013
A Trip to the Country – Atar Trio plays Lavry
Beit Yad Labanim hall, Haifa, Israel.

November 16-18, 2012
Music of Remembrance
Benaroya Hall in Seattle, WA

June 8, 2012
Olivia Dora, Violin
The Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, London, UK

September 21, 2012
Olivia Dora, Violin
The Parish Church in Dartford, UK

December 2012
Olivia Dora, Violin
The Frits Philips Muziekgebouw Eindhoven Hall, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Jewish Dances for Solo Piano:
November 10, 2014
“Musical Journeys of Immigrant Composers”, the Indianapolis Spirit and Place Festival
Elisabeth Hoegberg, Piano
The Ruth Lilly Performance Hall, University of Indianapolis

February 23, 2012
Zmirot Amenu: An Evening of Jewish Melodies
Shoshana Telner, Piano
Netkin Auditorium, Adas Israel Congregation, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.