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  Judith Clurman conducting.

A Conversation with Judith Clurman

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Classical Domain: How did the idea for this concert come about?

Judith Clurman: It's a new series, which is being held in the Central Synagogue in Manhattan. I have a beautiful acoustic space and a great organ and chorus to work with. This is the third program of the season and I waimgbox1nted particularly to do Mendelssohn's Hear my Prayer because I was fortunate enough to get Deborah Voigt to sing on this concert. Deborah also wanted to sing these two Mahler songs I had to come up with a third composer. So I thought about the wonderful music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and suddenly had three Ms': Mario, Mendelssohn and Mahler! In 1994 I was the artistic director of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Centennial at Merkin Hall, which was a two-day concert and panel discussion event, so I knew his music.

Like any artistic director of a series, I had to fit this idea together in some way to form a program that would make sense musically and in the context of the space.

So, here I am programming for a concert in a synagogue and trying to find a catch. While assembling the music for the program, I thought about that fact that the three composers had different ways of dealing with their Jewish backgrounds. Their heritage is not necessarily reflected in their music, but who they are as people. I never thought about their heritage when assembling this concert, but their backgrounds all seemed to fit together neatly. I found that I had a common thread of what could be thought of as their expressions of assimilations. Over all, with this concert and previous concerts I wanted to use the synagogue as a reference, and include some Jewish context within each program. I plan to do that in the future programs as well. This is certainly not a religious concert at all, but this is a program about spiritual kinship taking place in a religious space. I'm honored to work in this context on a program that invites a closer look at these values and to bring some unknown repertoire to the world.

By the way, there is a funny story about Mahler I recently read. Mahler was in a traditional synagogue with his father and he couldn't take the cacophony of the voices of the men praying. He screamed out: “ I want everyone on one note at one time.” Who knows if this is true. People ask if there are Jewish elements in this music. Truthfully, I do not think about that while listening to his glorious music.

CD:    What about the Castelnuovo-Tedesco pieces. They have overt and personal connections.

JC:    One of the pieces in the concert is the Preludes for Organ, they are based on themes written by his grandfather. Totally unknown, or forgotten by the family until Castelnuovo-Tedesco found them be accident under a pile of books in an uncle's house. The family gave me copies of the themes. These are liturgical themes, and finding this link to his long dead grandfather had a huge impact on Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

CD:    What are we going to hear with this work?

JC:    The pieces are based on the melodies found in the book; Castelnuovo-Tedesco gave his compositions liturgical titles to honor his grandfather. They are beautiful works.

CD:    How about the Mahler songs, what made you pick them?

JC:    As I said before, Deborah Voigt wanted to sing them, but also because they will work so well in the space, particularly the song which is part of the Forth Symphony, “Das himmlische Leben.” When I program, I want as wide a range of colors as possible, and when allowed, no limits on the musical genres I have an organ solo, piano trios, vocal solos with piano and choral works in this concert. It is my job to assemble fine music and make it flow in a program.

By the way, if performers are interested in doing something it helps the process immensely. The Claremont Trio, whose I know from The Juillaird School, has a wonderful recording of the Mendelssohn trio so I asked them to play it when I invited them to participate in the concert. The Mendelssohn trio is well known; but the Castelnuovo-Tedesco trio, as with many of his chamber works, should be better known. We forget how important a composer Castelnuovo-Tedesco was in Italy, before he left his homeland.

I also want to convey an intimate feeling in this concert and all those I program for Prism. Performers must maintain a connection with the audience, especially when performing “serious” music. I think audiences can get a better understanding of what classical music is all about in a smaller, more intimate setting than a large concert hall, and Central Synagogue offers that opportunity.

Speaking of acoustics and an intimate seating. . . one of my favorite musical experiences was in Salzburg. My husband and I went to see a Mozart String Quartet concert performed in a little palace room. The quartet playing was not great, but Mozart wrote the quartet to be performed in this room. It was a magical performance.

Next year we are going to do a program in December of Venetian composers Salamone Rossi, Marcello, Gabrieli, and others. People know how important Venice was; we want to explore the music of the Venetian Geto and San Marco and how these styles of writing influenced one another and many composers throughout Europe. Most people don't realize the great significance of the instrumental and vocal composers of the Venetian Geto. I believe that Salamone Rossi contributed significantly to the development of the trio sonata and Handel and Marcello spent time in the Geto. I have read that Handel partied with his friends during the the holiday of Purim, and lo and behold, his first oratorio was called Haman and Mordechai, which later he turned into Esther. Isn't that amazing!

In our December concert we will also include the New York Priemere of John Harbison's Abraham, for chorus and brass, which he wrote for a performance at the Vatican, as well as a new work for chorus and organ and brass. Commissioning of works, primarily with organ accompaniment, are a large part of Prism concerts.

You asked me how I put a program together, I could love a work but if it doesn't work in the space, or is not right for the audience or does not fit in a the program. . . forget it. Every program needs to maintain a flow.

CD:    So, though Mahler was happy to end the forth symphony with the song “Das himmlische Leben,” you are ending Mendelssohn?

JC:    When you have someone like Deborah Voigt you want to make sure there is a crescendo with the program. In fact, every program needs a crescendo. Let's face it, for this concert at Central Synagogue I have wonderful acoustics, a wonderful professional chorus, and a wonderful organ, and a super star singer. I am so lucky.

By the way, the first time I heard Hear my Prayer. I was in eighth grade. I came from a great school system in Hicksville, New York. My eight grade English teacher taught a unit on lieder, and he saw that I was loving every bit of his lectures. So, he gave me a tape of Kristen Flagstad singing and that included her beautiful rendition of Hear my Prayer. He also introduced me to Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. I actually had to analyze the music and deliver an oral term paper on the piece. And that was in eighth grade! It is funny, but you become a musican because of so many varied experiences. I can still see me in that classroom listening to Schuebrt songs for the first time and get excited about Heine’s poetry.