The springtime Jewish holiday of Passover is about liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt, and the Passover seder is filled with music that celebrates liberation and freedom. Join us in the last hour of Classical Coffeehouse, Saturday, March 27th from 11 AM to noon on WRTI 90.1 FM, as violinist Itzhak Perlman shares Passover music from many traditions, plus songs and memories from his childhood in Israel. The program draws its shape from the Passover seder and, like that ancient family ritual, the music gets progressively more gleeful as the show moves along.
Selections include music from familiar classical works (Handel’s Israel in Egypt), and from lesser-known classical pieces (Halévy’s opera La Juive, with Jan Peerce; Dessau’s 1934 German setting of the Haggadah; Korngold’s glorious Passover Psalm). Perlman’s playing is represented by a duet with Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, as well as the beloved theme from Schindler’s List. Other recordings include unusual takes on traditional tunes, like a swing “Dayenu,” “Who Knows One?” in Ladino, the zany Moishe Oysher treatment of “Chad Gadya,” and “Go Down, Moses” sung by Paul Robeson.
Program playlist:
Dayenu Variations
Arr. Jon Simon
Jon Simon, piano
Jon Simon Solo PianoSilver Lining Records
He led them through the deep (from Israel in Egypt)
George Frideric Handel
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
Israel in Egypt
Ha Lahma Anya
Moishe Oysher; arr. Simon Spiro
Cantor Simon Spiro and Schola Hebraeica
Traditional Cantorial and Concert Favorites
Ma Nishtanah
Jewish Holiday Songs, Vol. 3
Knechte waren wir dem Pharao in Ägypten (from Hagadah Shel Pessach)
Paul Dessau; text by Max Brod
Alfred Muff, bass; North German Radio Choir; Hamburg Alsterspatzen Children’s Choir; Gerd Albrecht, conductor
Hagadah Shel Pessach
Theme from Schindler’s List
John Williams
Itzhak Perlman, violin; John Williams, conductor
Chassidic Medley: Adir Hu/Moshe Emes
Andy Statman, clarinet; David Grisman, mandolin
Songs of Our Fathers
Rally (from The Prince of Egypt)
Hans Zimmer
The Prince of Egypt
Children’s Dance (from Cantata of the Bitter Herbs)
Ernst Toch
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, conductor
Cantata of the Bitter Herbs
Go Down Moses
Paul Robeson
He smote all the first-born of Egypt (from Israel in Egypt)
George Frideric Handel
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
Israel in Egypt
The Ten Plagues (from Cantata of the Bitter Herbs)
Ernst Toch
Theodore Bikel, narrator; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, conductor
Cantata of the Bitter Herbs
He rebuked the Red Sea (from Israel in Egypt)
George Frideric Handel
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
Israel in Egypt
But the waters overwhelmed their enemies (from Israel in Egypt)
George Frideric Handel
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
Israel in Egypt
Dayenu (swing version)
Sam Medoff and The Yiddish Swingtet
Music from the Yiddish Radio Project
Kama Ma’alot Tovot – Dayeinu
Yaffa Yarkoni
Jewish Holiday Songs, Vol. 3
O Dieu, Dieu de nos pères (from La Juive)
Jacques Fromental Halévy
Jan Peerce, tenor; Victor Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Wilfred Pelletier, conductor
Lebendige Vergangenheit
Zog, Maran
Shmuel Bugatch; lyrics by Avrom Reisen
Martha Schlamme, singer; Robert DeCormier, conductor
Raisins and Almonds
Chassidic Medley: Adir Hu/Moshe Emes
Andy Statman, clarinet; David Grisman, mandolin
Songs of Our Fathers
T’filas tal
Itzhak Perlman, violin; Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot; Rusell Ger, conductor
Eternal Echoes
Passover Psalm, op. 30
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Bavarian Radio Chorus, Munich Radio Orchestra; Marcello Viotti, conductor
Paradisi Gloria Psalms
Oh, Freedom [actual track name is “Spiritual Trilogy”]
Odetta
Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues
Miriam’s Song
Debbie Friedman
The Journey Continues
Ani Maamin
The Western Wind
The Passover Story
Shir Ha’ma’alot
Yossele Rosenblatt
Best Yiddish Songs
Eliyohu hanovi
arr. Zalmen Mlotek
Children’s Chorus of Workmen’s Circle Schools, Zalmen Mlotek, conductor
Hodu Lashem (Psalm 118)
Rabbi Samuel Elyahu Taub
Benzion Shenker and the Modzitzer Choral Ensemble, Elliot Birnbaum, director
Sholosh R’golim: Modzitzer Melodies
Adir Hu
arr. Moni Amarilio
Yehoram Gaon
Songs for Passover in the Sephardic Tradition
Adir Hu
Shlomo Carlebach and Neginah Orchestra
Yisroel Btach BaHaShem
Ken Supiesse y Entendiesse
Fortuna
La prima vez: kantes judeos espanyoles
Khad Gadyo
arr. Zalmen Mlotek
Children’s Chorus of Workmen’s Circle Schools, Zalmen Mlotek, conductor
Chad Gadya
Shoshana Damari
Greatest Songs
Un Kavritico
Arr. Flory Jagoda
Cantor Gastón Bogomolni
Pesach With an Accent
Chad Gadya [actual track name is “Concluding Folk Hymns”]
Moishe Oysher
Moishe Oysher - Passover Seder, Kol Nidrei & Chanukah Party
Le’Shana Ha’ba’ah
Jewish Holiday Songs, Vol. 3