Introducing World of American Jewish Music (Milken Archive of American Jewish Music)

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(5 stars) - Wonderful introduction to a distinguished new series
I can't express how excited I am about this new series from Naxos and the Milken Archive! There is some absolutely stunning music on this sampler, and I can't wait until the full recordings are released. Especially notable are Ernst Toch's "Cantata of the Bitter Herbs" (what gorgeous choral & orchestral writing), Paul Schoenfield's Viola Concerto (utterly fantastic excerpt "King David Dancing Before the Ark"), the excerpt from Joseph Achron's suite from The Golem, "Open the Gates" from Dave Brubeck's Gates of Justice, and the lovely duet from Joseph Rumshinsky's Yiddish operetta "Di goldene kale." Also, if you're not familiar with Jewish liturgical music or with klezmer, there are wonderful examples on this disc. My only disappointment is that, because of economic reasons, most of the recordings had to be made with European ensembles. Although the performances are excellent (under directors Gerard Schwarz, Neville Marriner, Yoel Levi and others), it's just a shame that this music, which, in addition to being Jewish, is also very AMERICAN, cannot be preserved on CD by American ensembles. At any rate, I'm pretty certain that within the next couple of years, I'll have collected all the 50 discs in this project. You don't have to be Jewish to appreciate this great music. And at around $7.00 a disc, they're an incredible value. This marvelous sampler will get you hooked on some fabulous music.

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