A concert in Joseph Roth’s synagogue
mainThis is what remains of the Great Synagogue in Brody, once a thriving mainly-Jewish town on the Austrian-Russian border, birthplace of the great writer, Joseph Roth.
The Nazis wrecked the building, the Soviets neglected it.
This week, the Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv led a performance of part of Leonard Bernstein’s Kaddish to mark the 125th anniversary of Joseph Roth’s birth.
Report here.
so sad and tragic, yet at the same time oddly wonderful. thank you for sharing this item…
sorry but Bernstein wrote sub-mediocre music which is not worth performing.This fake myth needs be busted.With the exception of his West-Side story musical which is partly cute.But this is not classical music.
Also his Serenade is a quite worthwhile piece. And even if you abhor his music the fact remains that interpreters who also compose are generally more interesting than those who dont.
As interpreters – yes indeed it is true in many cases. But as far as I know LB considered himself a composer who also interprets – not the other way around. And by the way, I believe that WSS is not just “cute” but a masterpiece of its genre.
I certainly share your enthusiasm for West Side Story – I think the score is at once challenging for the performers, and rewarding, but also telling in terms of what it represents in terms of telling a fantastic story. There is also a great amount of ‘word painting’ by the composer – AND, much of it really pulls at the heart-strings.
He was an equally brilliant politician as he was a composer…but…doesn’t it all smell of just that – politics?
No, not really.
Just because many of us absolutely love Berstein’s music including those organising this concert, it doesn’t mean your opinion is superior and we are musical morons. This is about the synagogue and the Jews, and it pays to be gracious and generous in life. You obviously don’t like Berstein’s music or anything it stood for, then simply don’t listen to it!
What absolute nonsense you just posted. A great deal of his music is absolutely great the symphonys, the violin Serenade, Chichester Psalms. If you don’t like his music don’t listen to it but don’t post this rot
Chichester Psalms (!!) – Good grief !!! It’s Fauré and Stravinsky in a Broadway show set in Puerto Rico and Jerusalem parallelly !!! – personally, I’ll settle with the one’s Requiem and the others Symphony of Psalms…
Oh, and yes, the Serenade is quiet cute.
Busted fake myth will be truth though.
I thought this was about Joseph Roth. But perhaps the name wasn’t familiar, so you took the opportunity to blast Bernstein. By the way, what’s a “fake myth”?
Thank you, Sorin Braun for express my opinion on LB composition!
…..not sure there’s a border between Austria and Russia (or the Soviet Union), it looks like Czechoslovakia and Hungary are in the way……………
Ever heard of the Habsburg Empire?
When Roth was born, in 1894, there was a border between Austrian Galicia and Russian Ukraine. The former had a very large Jewish minority.
formerly in Poland, now part of Ukraine. Seems that Norman needs a map…
…and you need a history lesson. At the end of 19th century when Joseph Roth was born, Ukraine was a part of the Russian Empire and there was definitely a border between it and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Brody was subject to the Austrian Crown until the collapse of the Empire at the end of the First World War.
There isn’t now but there was then.
Brody is in Ukraine – Lviv Region. It’s not in Russia.
At the time of Joseph Roth’s birth, Ukraine was a part of the Russian Empire; later it became a part of the Russian-dominated Soviet Empire until its collapse after more than seven decades.
Brody IS in Ukraine. End of.
Of course it is. No one here says that it isn’t. Until perhaps Putin will declare otherwise.
Lemberg*
A truly great writer, still not well enough known.
Oh, and by the way Normy, “Austrian-Russian border”, check out the map of Europe just in case, unless you are back to the days of the Habsburgs…
Obviously he’s back to the days of the Habsburgs: the entire context of Roth’s relationship with Brody and the central theme of some of his greatest work. You have read Roth’s work, I take it?
C_Porumbescu: You bet. I devour Radetzky March once a year with equal pleasure each time.
Then you understand that that was Roth’s world.
That sentence did obviously refer to those very days.
The past is a foreign country, and clearly a lot of the commenters on this thread don’t get out much…
Simple: “once a thriving mainly-Jewish town on the FORMER Austrian-Russian border” would have made a difference.
That would definitely be wrong. The word “once” is a sufficient indicator that the sentence refers to the time of JR’s birth when it was a “thriving mainly-Jewish town” and the border was NOT “former” but very much current indeed.
Patience, amici. Mr. Lebrecht is still looking for music to proof-read by. NMext stop for me: Kiwipedia and “Reader’s Encyclopedia” to look up Joseph Roth.