Voces Novae
Concert offers a day of choral delights
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By GEORGE R. HUBBARD • March 4, 2002
The Courier-Journal

I missed the Voces Novae concert of Hebrew music three years ago, and
so I was unprepared for the choral delights that Frank Heller and Angela
Vaughn Hampton brought forth yesterday afternoon in the Stem Concert
Hall at Indiana University Southeast. The featured guest artist was Cantor
David A. Lipp of Adath Jeshurun Synagogue, and his fine tenor voice lent
the stamp of authenticity to the variety of works presented.

It's hard to pick favorites -- my program is covered with stars and pluses!
But Louis Lewandowski's "Halleluyah," a setting of Psalm 150, really
rocked the rafters. Lewandowski's music is a staple of the synagogue
choral repertoire, and with this as a sample, it is easy to see why.

"Yom Gilah" ("Day of Delight") by Samuel Adler opened the program,
with Cantor Lipp joined by baritone Aaron Vowels, soprano Tiffany
Taylor and alto Robin Sutherland, highlighting portions of this text for the
Simchat Torah celebration. It was a light and lively beginning, full of the
promise of joys to come.

Bonia Shur's "Kol Haneshamah," a setting of the last verse of Psalm 150,
showed the chorus to be in tip-top choral fitness. The energetic work aptly
reflected its text, "Let everything that breathes praise the Eternal."

Salomone Rossi, a 17th century pioneer in Jewish liturgical musical
composition, was represented by "Shir Lama'alot, Essa Einai," a setting of
Psalm 121. The unaccompanied choral sound was rich and effectively
balanced, finely enhancing the serenity of the text. This was the finest
choral singing of the day, and surely among the finest to be found
anywhere.

"Eil Malei Rachamim," a movement from Max Janowski's "The
Compassion Cantata," is a work for concert usage rather than for liturgy,
but its reiterations of the text "O God, full of compassion" make it a
resounding prayer. Cantor Lipp was joined by Taylor and by alto Anne
Greenfield for brief but telling solo passages contrasting with the mass of choral sound.

"Hashkiveinu" by David Shukiar again featured Cantor Lipp in a reflective
prayer from the Sabbath Eve service, "Grant, O eternal God, that we may
lie down in peace." The cantillation of his solo mixed and matched with
the chorus to splendid effect.

Gerald Cohen's "Hinei Mah Tov/Shaalu Sh'lom Y'rushalayim" combines
texts from Psalm 133 for the choral parts and Psalm 122 for the cantor. The
delicate shading and balancing enhanced these prayers, "How good and
how pleasant when comrades dwell in harmony" and "Pray for the peace
of Jerusalem."

The program will be repeated Sunday at Adath Jeshurun Synagogue.