Birkat Hachodesh
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Recordings:
#1 - c.2005 Studio recording in Detroit, with midi playback
#2 - arrangement for male choir by Stephen Glass;
Cantor Gideon Zelermyer with Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Choir
SCORED FOR:
Soloist, SATB, piano
OCCASION:
Shabbat
COMPOSITION DATE:
1985 - Commissioned by Cantor Chayim Frenkel
in honor of Sara Frenkel’s 65th birthday
DESCRIPTION:
This setting of the text of the Prayer for the New Month
has a number of interesting features:
• the optimism implicit in the harmonies as the Cantor
expresses his wish for the coming month, “hachodesh hazeh”;
• the lyrical melody sung first by the Cantor as he/she prays
for a long and peaceful life:
“v’titen lanu chayim aruchim, chayim shel shalom”
which is then taken over by the choir,
before the Cantor makes a surprising entry
at “chayim shel parnasa";
• the harmonic word painting as the Cantor sings of
“the fear of heaven and fear of sin”
– “yirat shamayim v’yirat cheit";
• the opening motifs of the song reappear at
“chayim shel osher v’chavod” – “a life of wealth and honor";
• the mood of anticipation and expectation at
“chayim sheyimal’u mishalot libeinu l’tovah”
– “a month in which our heartfelt desires
will be fulfilled for the good";
• a triumphal and optimistic “Amen, Selah”.
BACKGROUND:
One of Cantor Finkelstein's earliest pieces.
It juxtaposes cantorial lines with more contemporary passages
and harmonies.