Hearing Kol Nidrei in August

CURT LEVIANT

One would of course expect the iconic Kol Nidrei to be chanted by the cantor and the congregation in the synagogue just as the sun is setting on the eve of Yom Kippur, near the end of September or beginning of October, the usual date of Yom Kippur. But Kol Nidrei on a weekday night in August? Not in a synagogue, but at Tanglewood, America’s premier musical festival, in the rolling hills of the Berkshires, in Lenox, Mass.?

The problem of space and time is resolved when one realizes that this Kol Nidrei is not the cantorial one, but the concert version arranged and adapted by the German composer and conductor, Max Bruch (1838-1920).

Despite his Jewish-sounding name – it sounds like baruch, the Hebrew word for bless – Bruch was not Jewish. But his sympathies were certainly pro-Jewish. During his stint as leader of a chorus in Berlin, Jewish members introduced him to Jewish melodies, and he became enamored of the haunting quality of the Kol Nidrei. In fact, Bruch loved the famous Yom Kippur prayer so much he published several versions. The most famous of these is his piece for cello and orchestra, which Bruch premièred in England in 1880, when he was the conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic.

It should be noted that the melody for the Kol Nidrei with which most of us are familiar, is not universal. That melody stems from the Ashkenazi tradition. Sephardi Jews have their own unique chant; Italian Jews have their distinct rendition of Kol Nidrei, as do the Jews of Yemen, Syria, North Africa and other communities of Jews from around the world. In most cases, it is just a chant without a recognizable melody.

The melody that is best known to Western Jews, however, is the captivating Ashkenazi version, which was the one that Bruch learned, one that is at least 500 years old and initiates the solemn mood for Yom Kippur.

Strangely, there is an intense dichotomy between the touching minor sadness of the melody, which initiates the 25-hour Yom Kippur fast, when Jews pray for forgiveness, health and peace, and the rather mundane words, which declare that God should absolve and forgive Jews from vows made in haste to Him (for example, an absurd vow that says, Oh God, if you give me a livelihood, I will fast every other day). Actually, the eve of Yom Kippur request to abrogate vows refers only personal vows made to God, and never to any vows or promises made to another human being.

Bruch’s Kol Nidrei became so popular, he also arranged it also for viola and piano and other combinations, including double bass and piano, which is the version that was performed that August at Tanglewood, at Ozawa Hall, under its more formal title: Kol Nidrei, Adagio on Hebrew Melodies, Opus 47.

The piece was performed by Edwin Barker, the principal double bass player of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with piano accompaniment by Vytas Baksys. Barker’s interpretation was intense, passionate and prayerful. A tall man, with the singularly large double bass viol, Barker became one with instrument and with the piece. It would not be an exaggeration to say that amid the hushed attentiveness that pervaded the hall Barker’s performance was the secular equivalent of a worshipful mood.

There were quite a number of Jews in the audience, as seen by the men wearing yarmulkes, and the prolonged applause for Barker and Baksys showed how moved were members of the audience by Barker’s beautiful and introspective playing.

Also on the program, which featured the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, were works by Lukas Foss, a German Jew, colleague of Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, who escaped from Nazi Germany in time; and works by Hindemith, Bach and Mozart.

No multi-day stay at Tanglewood is complete without a place to rest your head. And there’s no better place to stay than at the Apple Tree Inn, right across the street from the Tanglewood’s grounds. Open all year round, the inn has beautiful, spacious grounds and, of course, plenty of apple trees. We chose to stay in the lodge atop the hill, where, by the swimming pool, one can hear clearly the orchestra rehearsing midweek and, on weekends, the concerts themselves. In the morning, one takes a one-minute walk down to the main house, where a delicious buffet breakfast is served on the veranda overlooking the apple orchard.

For Jews who observe the Sabbath and do not drive, the Apple Tree Inn is an ideal location, for one can buy the Tanglewood tickets in advance and stroll down from the inn to the festival’s main gate, and enjoy the Friday night and the Saturday afternoon concerts.

Tanglewood always surprises and enchants us. Last year it was Kol Nidrei in August; a couple of years ago it was the famous conductor of the San Francisco Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, in a program that accented with music, song and film, his connections to the Yiddish theatre – his grandparents were Bessie and Boris Tomashevsky, the great Yiddish theatrical stars. Who knows what surprises are yet to come?

Curt Leviant is the author of the recently published Zix Zexy Ztories.

^TOP