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5
Hemsi: Chamber Works
Alberto Hemsi, composer; ARC Ensemble
Chandos Records (October 2022)
Expertly performed by ARC, the chamber musicians in residence at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and curated by ethno-musicologist Simon Wynberg, Hemsi: Chamber Works forms a series that features oppressed and marginalized musicians. Composer Alberto Hemsi’s early training as a concert pianist in Italy was cut short by the ravages of wartime in 20th-century Europe. Flight led to shelter in postwar Paris as a liturgical music director. (Contemporaries of Hemsi such as Herman David, a graduate of École Normale de Musique of Paris, trod a similar path, finding safety teaching piano in Montreal conservatories.)
Hemsi celebrates Sephardi musical heritage, using music to mark joy and sorrow. Danze nuziali greche, celebrates the magnificence of music in Sephardic wedding ceremonies. The mother-in-law, the bride and the godfather, respectively, are honoured in each of these dances.
In Tre arie antiche, three ancient airs from the Coplas Sefardies for String Quartet liturgical and folk music are seamlessly comingled.
As a characteristic of Hemsi’s style, dialogue is created through gentle repetition. The effect is prosaic and poetic, one of serenity and comfort in marked contrast to the bombastic historic backdrop. Pilpúl Sonata for violin and piano, Op. 27, articulates the query and response technique which frames the road to learning. Quintet for viola and string quartet, Op. 28, highlights the warmth and welcome strains of comfort embraced by the artistry of the violist, while Méditation, Op. 16, is reminiscent of the solemn prayer, Kol Nidrei. Use of vibrato and embellishments, like the tossing of phrases between the strings in the first movement of the Quintet, weave cohesion among performers as well as throughout Hemsi’s music.
Culture outlasts evil. Hemsi’s message is eloquently communicated and the project’s mission, accomplished. This is a recording to treasure.
This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en:
Francais (French)
