Psalms of Israel

Issachar Miron’s Psalms of Israel: A Hallel Oratorio, a cantata for three-part treble voices (SSA) and tenor and soprano solos, contains settings of some of the Psalms of praise that comprise the liturgical recitation Hallel (See in the notes to Yehezkel Braun’s Hallel Service in Volume 8 and Hugo Weisgall’s Four Choral Etudes in Volume 18). When performed with interpolated dramatic readings of those Psalms (designated as optional by the composer), the work becomes a quasi-oratorio; hence its subtitle. It was commissioned by the Beth Abraham Youth Chorale in Dayton, Ohio, and premiered there under the baton of its director, Cantor Jerome Kopmar, in 1973, with Cantor Louis Danto in the tenor solo role. Among subsequent performances was a showcase rendition at the 1977 American Conference of Cantors in Chicago, where it was sung by the Chicago Zimriya Youth Choir with Cantor Harold Orbach as the tenor soloist. It was one of the principal works in the repertoire of that ensemble, which performed it in numerous concerts on its Israel tour that summer—when it represented the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago at the Zimriya Choir Festival. Apart from its mandated inclusion in certain specific synagogue services, Hallel may be recited at will at secular celebrations; thus Miron envisioned this work’s performance in connection with Yom Hatzma’ut—Israel Independence Day. 

By: Neil W. Levin

Length: 16:37

Genre: Choral

Date Recorded: 11/01/1999

Venue: The Warehouse (C), London, UK

Engineer: Hughes, Campbell

Assistant Engineer: Weir, Simon

Project Manager: Levin, Neil