Amram’s Symphony is
a melting pot of Jewish musics, a polycultural
exploration that embraces disparate
traditions and does so with colour and
verve. Whether it’s Ethiopian chants
in the first movement – with attendant
brass and percussive high points – or
his own Nigun melody, an original Hassidic
invention, in the second, the ear is
constantly beguiled by incident. Affectionately
warm one moment, joyously brassier the
next, ever laced with the rhythmic dramas
of the percussion section, we come face
to face with a spirit of optimism and
involvement. Few others than Amran would
mine a Yemenite dance for his third
movement finale, by some way the longest
of the movements. Here we find more
avuncular cymbal clash and klezmer meld;
colourful, exciting with a real openness
of mind and spirit; and a delightful
way of reintroducing the earlier themes
at the finale’s conclusion.
The Symphony was written
in 1987 when Amran was fifty-seven.
The excerpts from The Final Ingredient
and Shir L’erev Shabbat are much
earlier works, 1966 and 1965 respectively
(though there seems to be a conflict
between the jewel case and the notes,
which claims 1961 as the date of the
premiere of Shir L’erev Shabbat).
The latter is a sacred piece and the
excerpts are twelve minutes long. They’re
enough to indicate the use of original
themes, the clever and effective organ
solo at the start of Mi khamokha
and the increasingly fervent solo
for the solo tenor in the same movement
(Richard Troxell) as well as the robustness
and moments of parlando in the Kiddush.
The Final Ingredient
was Amran’s second opera and is
concerned with faith. We have extracts
from scenes 5, 9 and 10 though the central
scene is only two minutes long. A lullaby
is cut short by crude interjections
from German guards – the opera has a
Holocaust setting – and we hear a hymn
of faith in the tenth scene, with a
noble melodic line, juxtaposed with
a keening Jewish chant. The fixity of
the story generates a more universal
resonance in the "consequences
of hatred" though we can garner
only a very partial perception of how
the opera would work on stage from so
brief an amount of extracts.
As usual with this
series no expense has been spared on
the richness of the booklet material.
And this is especially important in
a project of this kind where so much
has to be, perforce, left behind. The
texts are here and the full synopsis
of the opera as well. Inevitably one’s
focus is on the Symphony but the wholehearted
and commendable performers ensure that
no aspect of this disc should be overlooked.
Jonathan Woolf
University of Michigan Opera Chorus and Orchestra/
Kenneth Kiesler, (The Final Ingredient, recorded
University of Michigan, 2001) 
