What
the critics are saying...
"Amy Goldstein is gorgeous in a
romantic duet with Simon Spiro from Ellstein's 1946 Second Avenue Theatre
musical, 'Ikh Bin Farlibt' ('I'm in Love')."
--The Washington Jewish
Transcript
"The performances are
nothing short of terrific. The Milken Archives have done things up with a
ribbon and a bow. Nothing chintzy here. The singers all know how to put over
a song, and, amazingly...Elizabeth Shammash, Nell Snaidas, and Amy Goldstein
play the ingenue in love, each from their own point of view. Tenor Benzion
Miller and baritone Robert Abelson tug at the heartstrings, depicting,
respectively, an immigrant wondering about his small town back in Europe and
an old man working as a dishwasher, thrown out by his grown children -- a
Jewish Lear. Bruce Adler, a terrific comic singer, does the Yiddish mega-hit
"Ikh bin a 'Boarder' bay mayn Vayb" ("I'm a boarder at my
wife's"). In fact, my only complaint is that he doesn't do all the
verses (did reasons of "propriety" enter into this decision?).
Elli Jaffe, leading a Spanish (!) orchestra, provides clean, close, and
lively accompaniment.
"One of my favorite Naxos
discs. I'm on the lookout for volume 2."
--S.G.S., Classical CD Review, March 2004
(To
view the entire review, please go
to:
http://classicalcdreview.com/milkensongs.html.)
Great Songs of the Yiddish Stage Volume 1:
Abraham Ellstein and Other Songwriters of His Circle
(Milken Archive) ***
"Yiddish songs don't always mean klezmer music
from eastern Europe. Ellstein (1907-1963) worked in the golden age of
Broadway, just not in English... He was the only major Yiddish composer of the
era born in the United States. His papers also included a Juilliard School of
Music education. Ellstein's songs share their melodic gifts like Richard
Rogers, just without the rhymes of Oscar Hammerstein. The jarring thing is
hearing clearly American stage music in a language that once belonged to
Eastern Europe. Yiddish is now mostly an American language, which is
ironic considering the effervescent orchestra on this recording is European,
the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. The inspired singers include Simon
Spiro, Elizabeth Shammash, Amy Goldstein and Robert Bloch."
--Frederick Kaimann, NJ Star Ledger
"The composers represented
in this set are Abraham Ellstein, David Meyerowitz, Ilia Trilling, Abraham
Schwartz, Reuben Doctor, and Herman Yablokoff. Nine singers, all
excellent, do the honors: Robert Paul Abelson, Bruce Adler, Robert Bloch,
Benzion Miller, Elizabeth Shammash, Joanne Borts, Amy Goldstein, Simon
Spiro,
and Nell Snaidas. Because complete or authoritative orchestrations for the
Yiddish stage have not survived, the Milken Archive commissioned new but
historically considered orchestrations, which capture the flavor of the
Yiddish theatre. The Vienna Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Ellie Jaffe,
evokes its ambience.
"I found this a joy, and because
good music well played and interpreted is ecumenical, one need not be Jewish
to
enjoy it. There are copious notes, including the texts (in English) of all
the songs. Excellent sonics." -
-- Gerald S Fox, American Record
Guide, Jan-Feb, 2004
"...In
Abraham Ellstein: Great Song of the Yiddish Stage, Volume I, 10 singers
collaborate in 16 songs of one of America's great, neglected songwriters and
some of his colleagues. In this, as in all of the vocal recordings, translations
are supplied, as well as richly informative essays. These five discs are, in
imagination, price, value, performance and presentation, a model of what the
record industry should be doing to meet the challenges of the 21st
century..."
--Joe McLellan,
classical music critic emeritus of The Washington Post,
September 26, 2003
"RECORDINGS: JEWISH MUSIC. The
first 5 of 50 compact discs carrying more than 600 newly recorded sacred
and secular works of American Jewish music are to be released today on the
Naxos label. Since 1990 the Milken Family Foundation has spent $17 million
on this project, and it said that the release of the first recordings was
timed to herald the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the first Jews on
American soil, to be celebrated next year. The 50 CD's are to be released
over the next several years. The first five recordings include the world
premiere of scenes from "The Eternal Road" by Kurt Weill;
"Great Songs of the Yiddish Stage, Volume 1"; Judaic
compositions, including "Service for Sabbath Eve," by Mario
Castelnuovo-Tedesco; klezmer-inspired concertos and encores by
20th-century composers, and a sampler disc, "Introducing the World of
American Jewish Music."
Includes
the world premiere recording of