A radio program from the European Institute of Jewish Music hosted by Hervé Roten
MUSIQUES JUIVES D’HIER ET D’AUJOURD’HUI – October 24, 2017, JUDAÏQUES FM (94.8), 21H05. Radio program in French
Hervé Roten invites the cellist Virginie Constant who just published at the EIJM Editions a new CD entitled The Hourglass – a musical journey through the Jewish soul.
Accompanied by the pianist Simon Zaoui and the cellist Katarzina Alemany, Virginie Constant conceived a disc like the incarnation of a musical “verb” that would sing the Jewish soul through the strings of the piano and the cello. The majority of the works chosen for this disc have been written in the first half of the 20th century by composers in search of their Jewish identity, such as Ernest Bloch, Lazare Saminsky or Joseph Achron. Some of them, like Gideon Klein died tragically during the Holocaust. Others such as Mieczyslaw Weinberg or Serge Kaufmann, perpetuate their heritage.
We will hear in this program famous musical works (Oyfn pripetchik), and other works much less known (Voix dans le désert by Ernest Bloch or also the sonata n°1 for cello by Mieczyslaw Weinberg), which will be resituated in their historical context.
A musical journey of great spirituality !
Order the CD The Hourglass
Listen to the works of Serge Kaufmann performed by Virginie Constant in the CD Ima ou la mère dépossédée
Officer of the Ordre of Arts and letters, PhD in musicology at Paris University Sorbonne, prize-winning graduate from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Hervé Roten is the director of the European Institute of Jewish Music since its creation in 2006.
Ethnomusicologist, he quickly developed an interest in the safeguard and digitization of archives, subjects he taught for several years in Reims and Marne-La-Vallée universities.
Author of many articles, books and recordings related to Jewish music, producer of radio programs, Hervé Roten is recognized today as one of the best specialists of Jewish music in the world.
