This is a significant
recording of a work important in Milhaud's
output. Its standing is enhanced by
being conducted by the 66 year old composer
who proudly declared himself ‘a Frenchman
from Provence and of the Israelite faith’.
This Service sacré
pour le samedi matin is the most
ambitious of his patently devotional
works. It was written in June 1947 at
Mills College, California. The premiere
took place on 18 May 1949 at the Eman-El
Temple, San Francisco with the San Francisco
Symphony Orchestra, the choir of the
University of California at Berkeley
and the baritone Edgar Jones.
I had wondered if the
passage of almost fifty years might
have added a certain shrillness to the
sound of this recording. In fact the
violins are still surprisingly ripe
and sweet. The choral sound, best heard
in Avinou (tr. 8), glows with
resonance imparting a muscular radiance
to the proceedings (Yihyou Leratzon,
tr. 9) without over-modulation. Etzhayim
(tr. 14) palpably conveys the spirit
of serene pilgrimage. There is also
a joyous march of the faithful in Adon'olam
(tr. 15).
This is the second
time I have heard this work in recent
years. It has been re-recorded in a
similarly fervent performance as part
of the Milken Archive project on Naxos.
The work emerges again as one of religious
commitment and compositional mastery.
There is little or no ethnic Jewishness
in the piece. Milhaud himself was prone
to the use of atonalism during his later
years. There is none of that here. The
music has its roots struck deep into
lyrical mulch. If you like the works
of Vaughan Williams (Flos Campi,
Hodie, Tudor Portraits),
Canteloube (for those pastoral moments),
Dyson (Canterbury Pilgrims),
even Delius and Roy Harris (Mi Kamoka,
tr. 4) you will like this. The Fourth
Part of the Service (trs. 15-20) is
the most concentrated and affecting.
The Sacred Service
is presented in twenty tracks. Sadly
the booklet does not provide texts or
translations.
Serenity and devotion
are the watchwords in this archival
recording still in excellent audio fettle
and especially potent as evidence of
the composer's expression of faith.
Rob Barnett
Heinz Rehfuss (bar) 
