Hebräische Kammeropern

Milestones of Jewish music history: ‘Saul in Ein Dor’ and ‘Die Jugend Abrahams’ The performances of the two Hebrew chamber operas ‘Saul in Ein Dor’ by Josef Tal and ‘Die Jugend Abrahams’ by Michail Gnesin were special highlights of the 25th Thüringer Tage der jüdisch-israelischen Kultur in 2017. The present disc offers live recordings of these momentous performances. Josef Tal (1910–2008) emigrated to Palestine in 1934, where he became one of the founders of classical Israeli music. His opera ‘Saul in Ein Dor’ premiered in 1955 and tells of the meeting between Israel’s first king and the prophetess of Ein Dor, who foretells his impending death: a spine-tingling masterpiece of expressionism! Michail Gnesin’s (1883–1957) ‘Die Jugend Abrahams’, in contrast, looks further back into the past and focusses on Abraham, the founding father of Israel. The textbook of Gnesin’s chamber opera is based on the legends of the Aggada. The work’s music sounds out the boundaries between late Romantic and expressionist styles, and incorporates audible Jewish elements. This the first Hebrew opera of music history – and the present production offers not only the work’s first CD recording but captures the work’s first ever performance.