{"id":42803,"date":"2023-11-24T01:31:46","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T09:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=42803"},"modified":"2023-11-23T20:15:18","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T04:15:18","slug":"a-fresh-take-on-hanukkah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/11\/24\/a-fresh-take-on-hanukkah\/","title":{"rendered":"A fresh take on Hanukkah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago a cappella in June 2022. The ensemble released Miracle of Miracles: Music for Hanukkah last month. <\/em>(photo by Kate Scott)<\/em><\/p>\n

The CD Miracle of Miracles: Music for Hanukkah<\/em> arrived at the Jewish Independent<\/em> unsolicited. The album, released last month by Cedille Records, features a range of songs from the American Jewish musical tradition, performed by Chicago a cappella vocal ensemble. As someone who spent a good portion of her teenagehood in a choir at a Conservative synagogue and about a decade singing in another Conservative synagogue choir later in life, I have been happily singing along to this recording, enjoying the fresh take on songs with which I am mostly quite familiar.<\/p>\n

Miracle of Miracles<\/em> will appeal most, I think, to someone like me, who grew up in a Conservative Judaism milieu where a cantor and choir formed a large part of the service, or someone who appreciates classical music, as Chicago a cappella are classically trained A-listers, who perform a repertoire of music from the ninth to the 21st centuries. The current artistic director is John William Trotter, and Miracle of Miracles<\/em> was recorded over a few days last January at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>The CD opens with an arrangement of \u201cOh Chanukah \/ Y\u2019mei Hachanukah\u201d by Robert Applebaum that the liner notes describe as \u201cmodern versions of the song form from the confluence of at least two streams, the first springing from Hebrew lyrics, the second flowing together from Yiddish and English sources. Turning again to [composer] Harry Coopersmith\u2019s mid-20th-century collection \u2026 to create something of a mash-up of \u2018Oh Chanukah\u2019s\u2019 popularity.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are several Applebaum arrangements. His \u201cHaneirot Halalu<\/em>\u201d (\u201cThese Lights We Light\u201d) mixes English translation and commentary into the traditional Hebrew lyrics, and his \u201cMaoz Tzur\u201d is a cantor-choir interplay that comprises elements most of us will recognize and be able to join initially, but then becomes more complex. His finger-snapping arrangement of Samuel E. Goldfarb\u2019s well-known \u201cI Have a Little Dreidl\u201d \u2013 called \u201cFunky Dreidl\u201d \u2013 is in English with the Hebrew \u201cnes gadol haya sham<\/em>,\u201d \u201ca miracle happened there,\u201d as a kind of chorus. It\u2019s followed on the CD by a lively rendition of\u00a0Mikhl Gelbart\u2019s Yiddish \u201cI Am a Little Dreidl (Ikh bin a kleyner dreidl).\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Yiddish offerings are Mark Zuckerman\u2019s arrangement of \u201cO, Ir Kleyne Likhtelekh<\/em>\u201d (\u201cO, You Little Candle\u201d), the lyrics of which were written by poet and lyricist Morris Rosenfeld, and an arrangement by Zuckerman of \u201cFayer, fayer<\/em>\u201d (\u201cFire, Fire\u201d) by Vladimir Heyfetz, about burning the latkes while frying them.<\/p>\n

Applebaum\u2019s jazzy \u201cAl Hanism<\/em>\u201d (\u201cFor the Miracles\u201d) is one of three versions of the song on this recording. There is also an arrangement by Elliott Z. Levine that is the traditional, fast-paced version I\u2019ve sung countless times and love, and the expansive, movie soundtrack-sounding arrangement by Joshua Fishbein.<\/p>\n

Levine also contributes \u201cLo v\u2019Chayil<\/em>\u201d (\u201cNot by Might\u201d), based on text from the Book of Zechariah, which is not a Hanukkah song per se, but, as the liner notes say, \u201crather the more transcendent spirit that underlies the commemoration of Hanukkah.\u201d Translated from the Hebrew, the verse is: \u201cNot by might nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other composers\/arrangers whose work is featured on this CD are Steve Barnett (\u201cS\u2019vivon<\/em>\u201d \/ \u201cLittle Dreydl\u201d), Gerald Cohen (\u201cChanukah Lights\u201d), Daniel Tunkel (four movements of his \u201cHallel Cantata\u201d), Jonathan Miller (\u201cBiy\u2019mey Mattityahu<\/em>\u201d \/ \u201cIn the Days of Mattityahu\u201d).<\/p>\n

Two bonus tracks are included: an arrangement by Joshua Jacobson of Chaim Parchi\u2019s Hanukkah tune \u201cAleih Neiri\u201d and Stacy Garrop\u2019s take on the prayer for peace \u201cLo Yisa Goy\u201d: \u201cNation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the program notes, Miller, who is Chicago a cappella\u2019s artistic director emeritus, talks about the limited number of Hanukkah songs that are appropriate for an ensemble to perform, commenting that \u201cJewish choral music is a recent phenomenon, begun in earnest only about 200 years ago in Berlin, so there\u2019s a simple quantity issue: we have much less repertoire to peruse than in other choral traditions. Given all of this, we are especially grateful for the composers and arrangers whose persistence and skill have given us the works found here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Chicago a cappella artistic director\u00a0John Trotter. (photo from Cedille Records)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the dearth of Hanukkah choral music, Trotter, the ensemble\u2019s current artistic director, observes that the CD comprises \u201ca sprawling variety of styles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are at least two reasons for this breadth,\u201d he writes. \u201cOn the one hand, we are in debt to the fertile imaginations of our composers, who envisioned so many different sound worlds and so many different ways to clothe these texts. But there is also the nature of Hanukkah itself, which offers so many different modes of personal, social and spiritual practice. Consider just three of these. Hanukkah offers the chance to reflect on the historical significance of the Maccabean revolt, with its consequences echoing through to the present day. It invites quiet contemplation of the candle flames, set aside from any utilitarian purpose. And it provides an opportunity to gather with family and have a really great party with really great food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miracle of Miracles<\/em> would provide a perfect acoustic background for a Hanukkah gathering. To purchase a CD or buy or stream the music digitally, visit cedillerecords.org\/albums\/miracle-of-miracles<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicago a cappella in June 2022. The ensemble released Miracle of Miracles: Music for Hanukkah last month. (photo by Kate Scott) The CD Miracle of Miracles: Music for Hanukkah arrived at the Jewish Independent unsolicited. The album, released last month by Cedille Records, features a range of songs from the American Jewish musical tradition, performed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781,788],"tags":[22779,2517,22781,22780,21777],"class_list":["post-42803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","category-music","tag-cedille-records","tag-chanukah","tag-chicago-a-cappella","tag-choral-music","tag-hanukkah"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}