Boston Camerata & Joel Cohen - The Sacred Bridge: Jews And Christians In Medieval Europe (1991)
Artist: Boston Camerata & Joel Cohen
Title: The Sacred Bridge: Jews And Christians In Medieval Europe
Year Of Release: 1991
Label: Erato
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks + .cue, log, artwork)
Total Time: 65:21 min
Total Size: 274 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:Title: The Sacred Bridge: Jews And Christians In Medieval Europe
Year Of Release: 1991
Label: Erato
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks + .cue, log, artwork)
Total Time: 65:21 min
Total Size: 274 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
01. Songs Of Exile: Boray ad ana
02. Songs Of Exile: Al narahot bavel
03. The Sacred Bridge: In exitu Israel - Gregorien et Ashkenase
04. The Sacred Bridge: Mi al har Horeb (Eloge de Moise)
05. Jewish Minstrels At Christian Courts: Par grand francaise - Mathieu le Juif (XIII)
06. Jewish Minstrels At Christian Courts: Wa heb'uf
07. Jewish Folklore Of The Mediterranean Basin: Cansoun d'Ester
08. Eftach sefatai
09. Morena me Ilaman
10. Yo hanino, tu hanina
11. En ciudad noble y encina
12. Desde hoy mas, mi madre
13. La rosa enfloresce
14. Songs Of Mystical Spain: Respondemos, Dio de Abraham
15. Virgem madre gloriosa
16. Kaddish
17. Dos oge mas quer eu trobar
18. Gran dereit
19. Cuando el Rey Nimrod
20. Ahot ketana
21. Muit e benaventurado
22. El nora alila
Originally recorded in 1989, The Sacred Bridge contains a speculative program linking various genres of Christian and Jewish religious music, most of it medieval. The Boston Camerata continued to perform the program in various forms in subsequent years. A 2011 reissue on the Warner Classics and Jazz label stripped the packaging of its notes, which included justifications by longtime Boston Camerata conductor Joel Cohen of many of the musical decisions he made. But the basic idea of Jewish-Christian musical interchange comes through clearly enough for the general listener. Cohen makes the daring decision to interleave verses of Psalm 114 in Gregorian and Ashkenazy chant versions and finds a striking similarity between them. This is not a total surprise, given the roots of Christian chant in the Near East (and ultimately in the ancient world), but the family similarity has rarely been so concisely and dramatically demonstrated. The rest of the album features various forms of European Jewish music that have close or more distant links to the wider culture. There are Spanish Sephardic pieces rendered in the Cohen's usual sparse style; later performers have done it more evocatively, but in this genre, as in so many others, the Boston Camerata was ahead of the curve. Especially intriguing are two pieces from Carpentras in Provence, apparently originating in the 18th century, classified here as "Jewish folklore of the Mediterranean basin" but definitely reflecting the influence of Classical-period practice. Sample the Circumcision Song, track 8, for the rather haunting effect. The last part of the album features another alternation, juxtaposing Sephardic religious songs with pieces by Spanish King Alfonso X "El Sabio"; this technique casts the tolerant world of medieval Spain uniquely as a society rooted in ancient musical practices. An interesting release whose interest goes well beyond its purely ecumenical qualities. -- James Manheim
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