Episode 13: Best of the Series

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A look at some of the most outstanding recordings in the Milken Archive, with some personal reflections by founder Lowell Milken.

Episode Transcript

Leonard Nimoy
Over two millennia, Jews have inhabited many lands and coexisted with many cultures. In each place and time there has been an exchange between peoples – a sharing of ideas and language and, often, music. In the 350 years that Jews have lived in the United States this process has continued, as Jews have maintained their traditions while contributing to the larger culture.

Leonard Nimoy
Hello, I’m Leonard Nimoy. Welcome to another program in a 13-part series that celebrates three and a half centuries of uninterrupted Jewish life in the United States through music, as documented by the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, and issued on the Naxos label. On today’s program, the founder of the Milken Archive reflects on its origins and mission. And we’ll listen to several examples of the outstanding orchestral and operatic music recorded by the Milken Archive, including works by David Amram, Ernst Toch, and Frederick Jacobi.

Leonard Nimoy
In a recent interview, Lowell Milken – Chairman of the Milken Family Foundation – talked about a number of factors that influenced him to create the Milken Archive.

Lowell Milken
Well, I don't think it was a singular event. I think it was really a confluence of a number of different elements. First and foremost, I've always had a great interest and appreciation of music, generally. And that was originally instilled in me by my father at a very early age. I studied piano at an early age, and that was really combined with very fond memories of Jewish music in my synagogue and in other synagogues I would attend. I attended concerts at a very early age, and I really came to see how music would affect within a service, a congregant's effective experience. And I know it did for me. It had a profound impact on me. And I began to study these subjects in much greater detail. And I soon came to realize the tremendous breadth and depth and diversity of Jewish music.

Leonard Nimoy
Lowell Milken. We’ll hear more from Mr. Milken throughout this program.

Leonard Nimoy
To begin our music today, we have a concerto by Frederick Jacobi, who was born in San Francisco in 1891. He spent much of his professional life in New York, where he taught on the faculty of the Juilliard School from 1934 until 1950, two years before his death. He composed several works of Jewish inspiration, including a Sabbath Evening Service, but was also attracted to Native American music, which he studied in the Southwestern United States for several years in the 1920’s. Here is a recording, made by the Milken Archive and released on the Naxos label, of Frederick Jacobi’s Cello Concerto. It’s played by Alban Gerhardt, soloist with the Barcelona Symphony/National Orchestra of Catalonia conducted by Karl-Anton Rickenbacher.

Frederick Jacobi's Concerto for Cello  

Leonard Nimoy
The Cello Concerto by Frederick Jacobi. Karl-Anton Rickenbacher led this performance by cellist Alban Gerhardt, with the Barcelona Symphony/National Orchestra of Catalonia, from a Naxos release.

Leonard Nimoy
You’re listening to a program from the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music; I’m Leonard Nimoy. In a moment we’ll hear a rather different work by Ernst Toch. But first, the founder of the Milken Archive, Lowell Milken, talks about his initial vision for this project, and about some future directions.

Lowell Milken
The original vision was really a recording project. It was really the idea to rediscover, preserve, and disseminate this body of music. And obviously, over the past 15 years, the interaction with other very talented people and our editorial and advisory boards have come to see that the project can have a much greater reach. One of the aspects that we've developed our oral histories. We have today more than 800 hours of interviews with outstanding composers, conductors, artists, historians. Unfortunately, I would say that as many as 40% of the individuals we've interviewed have passed away. And we are using these oral histories to tell much of the story of American Jewish music. In addition, we have also embarked on a project to create a curricula, and this will be used at universities and at secondary school levels, and also for lay education for adults. At the present time, we're also exploring other avenues along the lines of doing a documentary of the music in American Jewish life. So our project is constantly expanding as I learn more, and I've learned a great deal every day. I would envision that the future of the Milken Archive will be very bright and will be even more expansive.

Leonard Nimoy
Lowell Milken.

Leonard Nimoy
Next on today’s program is a symphonic rhapsody on a Biblical theme composed by Ernst Toch – born in Vienna in 1887, died in Los Angeles in 1964. He sometimes referred to himself as “the world’s most forgotten composer.” Though he scored over a dozen Hollywood films, his concert music was eclipsed for many years. Late in his life, however, he composed some seven symphonies, and the third won the Pulitzer Prize in 1956.

Leonard Nimoy
Ernst Toch’s Symphony No. 5 is based on an episode in the Biblical Book of Judges, in which the warrior Jephta vows to sacrifice the first thing to emerge from his house if he is granted victory in battle. Tragically, it is his own daughter who comes out of his house to greet him on his return. The conflict and emotional turmoil of this episode are captured in Toch’s rhapsodic poem, performed here by the Seattle Symphony conducted by Gerard Schwarz. Here is Ernst Toch’s Symphony No. 5, “Jephta.”

Ernst Toch's Symphony no. 5  

Leonard Nimoy
Gerard Schwarz conducted the Seattle Symphony in that rhapsodic poem by Ernst Toch entitled “Jephta,” his Symphony No. 5. It’s a Milken Archive recording, released on the Naxos label.

Leonard Nimoy
You’re listening to the concluding program in a 13-part series presented by the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music. In a recent interview, the founder of the Milken Archive, Lowell Milken, talked about the universality of music that grows out of a particular experience.

Lowell Milken
I think music really transcends the boundaries of origins of individual cultures. I think that's what's so powerful about music is that it has the ability to speak to each of us in a very personal way. And one of the most gratifying aspects of the Archive has actually been the interest in the non-Jewish world of what we have recorded. And I think that confirms the universal qualities of the music and how it speaks to people of all faiths and cultures. I was particularly touched by the remarks of Sir Neville Marriner when after recording a number of pieces, indicated to us that he had been totally unaware of the quality of this particular music, and that he was now going to incorporate it in the repertoire for a number of his concerts. And the same is true of the Vienna Choir Boys. So I think that this music has great applicability. I think that there is a tremendous resurgent within the United States today of almost all kinds of ethnic music. And I see this as contributing and telling part of the story of American culture, not just of Jewish culture. Ultimately, perhaps the greatest compliment that we will have for the work that we've done is when the pieces of the Milken Archive are effectively integrated, really, just into the greater story of American music, and we don't even have to speak of American Jewish music.

Leonard Nimoy
Lowell Milken, founder of the Milken Archive. We’ll hear more from Mr. Milken in the second half of our program, along with a piece of music that was once performed at the Hollywood Bowl. I’m Leonard Nimoy.

Leonard Nimoy
Welcome back to this program from the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music. I’m Leonard Nimoy. In a moment, a work inspired by the building of a Jewish state in Palestine. First, though, Milken Archive founder Lowell Milken talks about why he is so enthusiastic about this immense undertaking.

Lowell Milken
Each one of us looks for ways to contribute to the community. And here I was, a amateur pianist, not of sufficient talent to play professionally. I always had a dream of composing music, but I did not possess sufficient talent to be a successful composer. So with a great appreciation of music and a great interest in music, I tried to seek out in my life something that I could do in this particular realm and leave this as a lasting legacy for people of future generations. Fortunately in my life, I've been successful in business and I've had the opportunity and I've had the resources to do what I wanted to do from a foundation point of view. And that's why I'm so enthusiastic about this project. It's not a project that anyone would have ever embarked on in a commercial venture, I can assure you of that. But it is a project that I think is of historic proportions, and I only hope that it will continue to enrich and people will enjoy this vast repertoire long into the future.

Leonard Nimoy
Lowell Milken, Chairman of the Milken Family Foundation.

Leonard Nimoy
Walter Scharf is best known for his film scores. In a career that spanned three decades, he composed the music for wartime pictures like “Flying Tigers” and “The Fighting Seabees,” and was music director for two great musicals, “Hans Christian Andersen” and “Funny Girl.” He also furnished the music for a series of Jerry Lewis movies. The founding of the State of Israel moved him to compose his “Palestine Suite,” which was premiered by Leopold Stokowski at Hollywood Bowl in 1948. We hear it now in a performance on Naxos, recorded by the Milken Archive, with the Barcelona Symphony/National Orchestra of Catalonia conducted by Karl-Anton Rickenbacher.

Walter Scharf's The Palestine Suite  

Leonard Nimoy
Karl-Anton Rickenbacher led the Barcelona Symphony/National Orchestra of Catalonia in the “Palestine Suite,” by Walter Scharf, from a Naxos release.

Leonard Nimoy
Lowell Milken, who founded the Milken Archive in 1990, talked about a new activity that he hopes will raise awareness of the project’s work.

Lowell Milken
One of the projects that we have begun work on is a documentary of music in American Jewish life. We would envision this would be perhaps a three to five part series of each one an hour in length. It would be a story far beyond, of course, to just the Milken Archive, but the music of the Milken Archive would be part of this project. And at the present time, we are working with a few potential individuals who do documentaries, and I am very hopeful that within the next 2-3 years that this project is going to happen. So that's one thing that's very exciting.

Leonard Nimoy
In 1953, a Yiddish short story was published in the Partisan Review in a translation by Saul Bellow, and it created a sensation. It was written by Isaac Bashevis Singer, who until then had been largely unknown to English-speaking readers. The story is called “Gimpel the Fool,” and it is just one of many Singer stories that were to be adapted for the stage and screen. Composer and critic David Schiff, who is based in Portland, Oregon, composed an opera in 1979 that tells the story of this simple man Gimpel who never loses his belief in the goodness of human beings, even through countless humiliations.

Leonard Nimoy
Here is an excerpt performed by the Michigan Opera under the direction of Kenneth Kiesler, with soprano Jennifer Larson, mezzo-soprano Pei Yi Wang, tenor Christopher Meerdink, baritones Gary Moss and Tyler Oliphant, and bass Mark Kent. The narrator is Theodore Bikel; the speaker is Isaiah Sheffer.

David Schiff's Gimpel the Fool

Leonard Nimoy
Kenneth Kiesler led the Michigan Opera in an excerpt from David Schiff’s opera “Gimpel the Fool,” a Milken Archive recording released on the Naxos label. The soloists were Jennifer Larson, soprano; Pei Yi Wang, mezzo-soprano; Christopher Meerdink, tenor; Gary Moss and Tyler Oliphant, baritones; and Mark Kent, bass. The narrator was Theodore Bikel; the speaker was Isaiah Sheffer.

Leonard Nimoy
You’re listening to a program from the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music. I’m Leonard Nimoy. The founder of the Milken Archive, Lowell Milken, was asked how he hopes these recordings will affect the people who hear them.

Lowell Milken
I don't really have any designs as to how it should affect the people that listen to music. I think that's a very personal thing. That's the nature of music. It affects each one of us differently. But I can tell you that one of our great hopes is that this music will definitely inspire young composers and performers to include Jewish themes in their music and also to encourage musical directors and so on to include part of this repertoire in their concerts and so on. For me personally, this has been an incredible learning experience. I had a vision to preserve and to disseminate this music, but I never truly understood the depth and the breadth of the music. And every day that I work with the Archive and with all of our talented people and all the other community of composers and so on, I learn more every day about the project.

Leonard Nimoy
Lowell Milken, Chairman of the Milken Family Foundation.

Leonard Nimoy
The final piece of music on today’s program is by David Amram, born in 1930, who was described by The New York Times as “multicultural before multiculturalism existed.” His work incorporates folk music, jazz, and film and theater music, as well as concert pieces. Amram’s “Songs of the Soul,” completed in 1987, taps ethnic music from diverse sources, all of them Jewish.

Leonard Nimoy
The first movement, “Incantation,” draws upon a chant from the Jews of Ethiopia. The second movement, “Niggun” – or, “song without words” – derives from the Hasidic music of central and Eastern Europe. The last movement, a “Dance of Joy,” or “freilekh,” fuses European, Yemenite, and Sephardi sources. David Amram’s “Songs of the Soul” is heard here in a Milken Archive recording issued by Naxos, with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christopher Wilkins.

David Amram's Symphony: Songs of the Soul  

Leonard Nimoy
“Songs of the Soul,” a symphony by David Amram. In this Naxos release from the Milken Archive, Christopher Wilkins conducted the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Leonard Nimoy
Lowell Milken, who founded the Milken Archive for American Jewish Music in 1990, took a moment to look back on its accomplishments, and contemplate its future.

Lowell Milken
It's been extremely gratifying and humbling to see one's vision become a reality. But I recognize that I I am really only a small part of this greater community that has created the Milken Archive. I will say, however, that I see the Archive as perhaps the most historic project that we've ever created at the Milken Family Foundation. We are actively involved in trying to find cures for cancer, and certainly if we're successful, I would rate that as one of the great achievements of our time. But I see the archive having a growing impact and having a great relevance 50, 100, 200 years from today as it continues to educate and to enrich the lives. And that's one of the reasons why the Archive is expressed in my mind as a living project. It's really as much about the future as it is about the past.

Leonard Nimoy
Milken Archive founder Lowell Milken. You’ve been listening to the final program in a 13-part series devoted to the recordings of the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, currently being issued on CD by the Naxos label. The Milken Archive was created by Lowell Milken, chairman of the Milken Family Foundation.

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