Transcript of Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar Show 508, Guest 255, Baruch Skeer, broadcast February 26, 2005 (Interview starts 00:14:08 into the broadcast.) Kalvos: Charles Coleman, "Streetscape," Riga Festival Orchestra, Normunds Sne, conducting. Damian: You're sure about that pronunciation? Kalvos: I'm absolutely certain, because it's got these little diacritical marks. Damian: Oh, we don't want to be that critical Kalvos: No, well, speaking of critical, we have a critical guest today, and that is Baruch Skeer, who's here, and he's just going to say, "hi," because we're going to give him fifteen minutes of nervous-making preparation. Skeer: (in background) Hi. Kalvos: Hi. Damian: That's enough, yeah... Kalvos: That's good, oh, we have to turn his microphone on. How's that? Skeer: (louder) Hi. Kalvos: Hey, there he is, all right, very good! He's going to be joining us at the top of the hour. In the meantime, since his sort of request is kind of a Nice Jewish Boy show, wasn't that sort of what you were talking about? Skeer: (pause) Perhaps. Kalvos: In one of your e-mails, you suggested it could be that. Anyway, we're going to play some excerpts from various other pieces in the meantime, including... Skeer: (laughs) Kalvos: Yes, including some - ah, you'll just love this! - music starting out from a CD called... [00:15:08 Three choral and one cantorial selection played] Kalvos: So there's our sort of introduction for Baruch Skeer... Skeer: Oh, I'm so at home. Kalvos: Who's going to tell us why he's here. Damian: Yeah? Kalvos: You had a point for coming today which was... Damian: Lunch. Kalvos: Well, certainly that. Damian: Hmm. Skeer: Lunch. Damian: Yeah. Kalvos: Which was more than the usual K&D, which sort of concentrates on exclusively musical content. You have more to say, so start us off. Skeer: About why I am here? Kalvos: Well, about the music you heard, about the music we're going to hear. Skeer: Yes, we are going to hear, I guess, Jewish music, that I compose. Though it's... "Mim'kom'cho" would have been liturgical, meaning, actually used during a service, and I must admit that I've done background music for services, but I've never actually re-set some of the liturgical texts for use within a service. And so we're going to hear some stuff that uses Hebrew, we're going to [hear] stuff that doesn't use Hebrew, that uses translations from Hebrew, and stuff that may have been used during a wedding but not as part of the liturgical text itself. But that stuff you were playing there would have been in the huge Reform synagogue movement of cantors with choirs, and actually during services. Damian: But still used today. Skeer: I don't know whether they have orchestras behind them. Kalvos: Right. Skeer: I don't know that the Reform movement can afford that, but... Kalvos: But it's interesting, [be]cause no composer's actually credited, it just says, "composed for," and it speaks about the cantor and it speaks about the singers, but one assumes that maybe the cantor had a hand in actually doing that arrangement. Skeer: Well, I do know some composers who do write for that and they do get credited. And a lot of times the cantors themselves write it, though in this case, if there's an orchestra, there's gotta be somebody doing arranging, et cetera and so forth. Kalvos: Right, exactly. Skeer: For example, Elliot Levine has certainly written liturgical things, as well as being a cantor and singing with the Western Wind, et cetera and so forth, so there's more recently, within the last twenty, thirty years I think, a tendency to, when you publish something for use in the synagogue, for the composer to be credited, and there are some famous composers within that world that I'm not personally in, and they're known and they have a list. They come out of, what's the music publishing company? It's skipping my mind at the moment, but there's one big music publishing company that publishes most of that liturgical music for the Reform movement, and they're big shots in that world. Kalvos: Our guest is Baruch Skeer, we'll be right back. [00:30:35 Station ID] Kalvos: You wanted to introduce the program with a particular piece, so why don't you bring us right to that one. Skeer: Yeah, you want me to say what it is? Kalvos: Well, an introduction, what it's about. Skeer: Okay, it's called "Song of Songs," or "Shir Ha'Shirim." The text itself, a portion of it is the text that the female in a wedding ceremeny can respond [with], it's a traditional thing, it's not required. "Ani l'dodi, v'dodi li," "I am my beloved's, my beloved is mine." Kalvos: This is the Solomon one? Skeer: It's attributed to King Solomon, from Song of Songs, and it's in Hebrew, and I'll say a little bit more about it maybe after, but, it's 1994... Kalvos: This is yours, this is our guest's? Skeer: Baruch Skeer composed this, Cynthia Richards Wallace is singing, it's solo a cappella. [00:32:04 "Song of Songs" by Baruch Skeer] Kalvos: Baruch Skeer. Is this one of the "Love Poems from the Hebrew"? "Song of Songs" is not from "Love Poems from the Hebrew"? Skeer: It's not from "Love Poems from the Hebrew" at all. No. Kalvos: This is a stand-alone version? Skeer: This is a stand-alone piece. It combines, if you're looking up the verses, from VI:3 Song of Songs and V:10 to 16 of Song of Songs. And normally the first line would be spoken as part of marital vows by the female to the male, and the male has a different line that he's required to say to the female. So I just decided to set it. So obviously this is not a bride singing it. Damian: Would this work with civil unions, too? Skeer: Would it work with civil unions? Sure, hey, I'll take any performances I can get. Kalvos: Like all of the rest of us. Damian: Mm-mm. Skeer: That's exactly right. Kalvos: I knew we had something in common. Skeer: And un-civil unions as well. Kalvos: The contour of the melodies seems to have this similar heritage to some of the stuff we just heard. What is this sort of relationship? There's a real sensibility inside the Jewish music tradition, which is pretty clear, can you put that into words? Skeer: Well, I mean, the use of the mordent I think is from Bach, or from the Baroque period. The mode, obviously, and the use of Hebrew itself, gives it some of its Jewish sensibility. Kalvos: And by mode, you mean, modal music has a scale which is not major or minor, from the sort of Western... Skeer: Exactly right. So the use, in this case, and in most cases in Jewish music, the use of a minor mode, but, nevertheless to be used for something that's happy, or something that's joyous, or something that's lovely, is a long -standing tradition within Jewish music. So when you heard the rhythmic stuff in that first selection you played in 7/8 but it's minor but it's happy, so the modals come into it. But there are four or five specific Jewish modes that you could compose in, and I don't necessarily hew to that, I just use my own sense and my own background and... Kalvos: I guess what I'm asking is, what is unique about the tradition? You're here to sort of present that. Aside from the text, is there something musical that we can point to? Skeer: I'm going to give you an answer you're not going to expect, is that all right? Damian: No! Kalvos: I come here with no expectations whatsoever. Damian: We have lots of expectations. Kalvos: I didn't even expect that I was going to be here. Damian: Okay, are you here? Skeer: He is, I can vouchsafe in radio space that he actually is physically there. Damian: Asbestos man. Skeer: Asbestos man. [joke from opening essay] What we don't talk about much, is the act of composition itself, what you're physically doing when you're composing. And for me something very, very special is going on when I'm composing this music which I was surprised to discover. Some people, they try to write kind of selfless, faceless music and to take themselves out of it and for some reason while I am composing this so-called Jewish music I experience that while I'm actually composing. Kalvos: You experience what? Skeer: I experience a feeling that there's someone else kind of in charge... Kalvos: Okay. Skeer: That there's someone else directing it, and... Kalvos: Well, give him credit and stand out of the way. Skeer: Well, I don't attribute it to G-d directly, but... Damian: No, no, we're talking about the giant muffin. Skeer: I don't credit it to the giant muffin, either. Other people may believe, may not believe. I do believe in G-d, and in this case while I'm actually composing, I have this feeling that I experience, I guess it's kind of a servant feeling, that I'm doing it for some greater purpose, for some other purpose, and that's the answer I have to give. Kalvos: Do you think that that is the reason for the sound or the quality or the tradition that is distinct from, say, a Bach-like tradition or not? I mean, you say you use, like in this piece, sort of a Baroque mordent, but then there's that modality and modality is found in most of the musics of the world before that kind of Western lock-in took place a couple hundred years ago. Skeer: Well, there's something else that even separates me from the pieces you played before and that is much more traditional and that has to do with the fact that it's a cappella and that I'm not using orchestra and I'm not using choral back-up and that the lines themselves are by themselves. And the Reform Jewish movement accepts in organ and orchestra and guitar and et cetera and so forth, and I come from the Orthodox tradition where after the destruction of the Second Temple you're not supposed to be using instruments anymore. There are lots of textural references to using the psalm [sic] and the harp and et cetera and so forth when the Temple was in existence, but then there became a tradition after the destruction of the Second Temple to no longer allow in musical instruments. So that separates me out from the Reform kind of music that we were listening to. The modal stuff we have in common, but the fact that I'm doing it a cappella and that they're using the orchestra or organ or whatever it might be makes us come from very different worlds. Kalvos: Let's hear some more. What's a good follow-up to what you just explained? Skeer: Well, uh... Kalvos: Nothing, right? You're just about to contradict yourself! Ha, ha, ha! Skeer: Well, we could jump ahead to another 1994 piece that is a cappella, would you like to...? Kalvos: Entirely up to you. Skeer: Why don't you... Damian: He's reading notes! Skeer: Well, I have to get the track number for him. I think it's track 17. Kalvos: The name of it is? Skeer: The name of the piece is "Prélude à l'après-midi Noces", "Noces," how do you pronounce it? Kalvos: Prélude à l'après-midi Noces. Skeer: Which, of course, is a double joke both on the Debussey and as well as on the Stravinsky. Kalvos: The Stravinsky, yeah. Skeer: But it literally means "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Wedding," and in this case this music was used for a wedding and this particular selection is for the appearance of the wedding party and there will come a point in the piece where the music suddenly builds and gets very dramatic and that's where the bride actually appears and this was actually used in a wedding. Kalvos: Do we want to hear just a single one or the whole three in the set? Skeer: Let's just hear the one. Kalvos: Okay. Here it is, our guest is Baruch Skeer. [00:43:32 "Appearance of the Wedding Party" from "Prélude à l'après-midi Noces" by Baruch Skeer] Kalvos: Music by Baruch Skeer, that from a privately released CD we have in front of us, the "Prélude à l'après-midi Noces," the "Appearance of the Wedding Party." Skeer: Yes, the "meeshteh," when it suddenly gets that beautiful music, that's where the bride appears. That was performed by Cynthia Richards Wallace, Jennifer Lane, Greg Purnhagen and James Bassi. Kalvos: This is a live performance? Skeer: That's a live performance, actually at a wedding. And the text is from Genesis, there's a description of a wedding feast where Laban marries off Leah (First, right? Rachel comes later). So there's a statement where it says, "Laban gathered a crowd for a wedding," so it seemed like an appropriate text for opening up a wedding with. The appearance of the wedding party, first the groom, then the whatever, then, finally the bride appears and there's a processional. Kalvos: This ain't Randall Thomson, but it isn't like the first piece, either. [There] seems to be a more sort of bleached ethnic character to this one. I don't think I could have told, other than the language... Skeer: Well, I tend to change a lot from piece to piece. Kalvos: Okay. Skeer: And we're going to hear hopefully some other pieces as well which are going to sound absolutely nothing like this as well. Kalvos: Good, all right, then! Skeer: And some of them are actually going to be in English, too, thank G-d, for your audience, so that I don't have to stand here translating. Kalvos: All of our audience is in Latvia Damian: Again? Kalvos: (laughs) Damian: I thought they left? Skeer: (laughs) Damian: They're back. Skeer: In fact if you'd like to... Kalvos: Yes, we would. Skeer: Why don't we do, the piece is called "Love Poems from the Hebrew" but it is an English translation from the Hebrew. And there are four songs, why don't we just do one of them, one of them I like the most. They're all very different from each other. So from that point of view, the second one is kind of Cagean, the first one, et cetera. Why don't we do the third one... Damian: You mean Cagean as in 4 minutes and 33 seconds and no one says anything? Skeer: Cagean in kind of the Violin and Piano Sonata, small little snippets that repeat and are used in different combinations, that kind of Cage. There's lots of different [stages] of his entire life, musically, that kind of Cage, so, not silent, but at least reminiscent of... Kalvos: They're all turning their radios off! Skeer: We're not going to play that one! No, what we're going to do is "The Love of Thérèse du Meun." Kalvos: Ah, but zat is English and French! Skeer: Yeah, and it's a really interesting text. What I did was I selected three poems by modern Hebrew poets and the fourth poem is again from Song of Songs, from King Solomon, but I didn't set them in Hebrew, I set them in English, and in this case, "The Love of Thér" - am I pronouncing the "Thérèse" right, with the accents? Kalvos: Good enough for us. Skeer: "The Love of Thérèse du Meun" was - I'm not sure which century it was, 16th century? Something like that - there was an actual woman, a poet, I believe, and Goldberg - I forget her first name, maybe it's Leah - she was a female modern twentieth century Hebrew poet and the poetry of this woman from centuries before was lost. They knew it existed, they knew that she had written these poems, and so she did a kind of a reconstruction of these love poems that Thérèse du Meun may have written and I selected one of those to put into the song cycle, "Love Poems from the Hebrew," and that for you is track number 4. Damian: Oh, that was Ruby, Ruby Goldberg, better known as Rube. Skeer: No, it wasn't Damian: Yeah, I think so. Skeer: Nah, that was a guy. [00:50:15 "The Love of Thérèse du Meun" from "Love Poems from the Hebrew" by Baruch Skeer] Kalvos: Music by Baruch Skeer there, "The Love of Thérèse du Meun." Who's the performer on that? Skeer: Okay, that was Eve Roshevsky singing and Nicholas Underhill on piano. Eve Roshevsky actually commissioned the song cycle, it was composed in 1985 and that's from the premiere in 1987. Kalvos: That's straight art song, my friend. That's art song, art song! Skeer: That's exactly what it is, though it's not. In this case, the soprano, I felt she did a lot of singing and didn't pay a lot of attention to the words she was singing, and my intention was to write a set of character pieces where each of the pieces, there's a real character, there's a person who is talking about something, and to try to encourage her to think about the meaning of the words of what she was singing and the character that she's portraying. So, art song sometimes can be abstract or it can be about the mist or it can be, you know, a description from a poem, and these poems in particular, there's a voice, it's a character speaking and describing an experience, and I wanted it to kind of help her deal with that side of not just singing the notes but enacting a character. Kalvos: The Kalvos & Damian eternal question: Does anybody ever get that with art song? Do they listen to this stuff? Do they understand any of that notion of verbal meaning out of art song? Skeer: I think that's based on the performance. I mean, when you see someone like Dora Ohrenstein perform and actually get up into costume and perform art song that are appropriate and written that way then you get the fact that there's a character. When there's a piece that's a scena, that's a dramatic scene, when you do something like that, you portray a character, then people get that it's not just song. So in this case, this is specifically a piece which is a song cycle but it's meant to be a dramatic song cycle, not just a series of four. So, that's the intention. Whether people get it is more going to be for the performer, whether the performer actually conveys it in their performance. And, obviously, here, we're listening to a recording of it, but when you're watching a live performance there are then opportunities to engage the audience and for them to see you become these different characters. Damian: Particularly with the costumes and the big boas and hats. Skeer: If you're going to show up as an operatic diva and then just, "Blah," then, yes, obviously you're not performing characters, but if you're going to, instead, you know, be sad when you're sad and be happy when you're happy and not dress up in the typical diva song recital kind of thing... Kalvos: Ha, ha, happy and sad. Skeer: No, and I agree, [but] I think there is a tendency now to try to get a better connection in song recitals, when you think about the New York Festival of Song in New York City and some of their recitals, that they bring in a director, so the singers are not just there singing a song, there's more of an attempt to get a connection between the audience and for them to understand what the singers are singing about and for there to be a portrayal of some sort. In this case it's explicit that the person actually has to portray four different characters. And there's a kind of a little storyline in terms of "Love Poems from the Hebrew" starts, in the first piece, with "Come, Let Us Exult in Love's Passion," so there's a night of passion, and then the second one is "Awakening" which is kind of a "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning." It's a Cagean version of "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," it's from a Carmi poem, T. Carmi, where the lover is talking about how I don't want to leave the bed because my lover's here in bed and I don't want to wake up, and then this third one is very dramatic and it's full of these flourishes. And the scale by the way is an octatonic scale, which is not particularly a Jewish scale... Kalvos: Yeah, explain first of all about the scale. Skeer: Yeah, the whole piece, "Love Poems from the Hebrew," I don't know, for some reason I was just maybe getting octatonic scale out of my system or something. Kalvos: Which is what? Skeer: An octatonic scale is an eight - "octa" for eight - eight note scale comprised of, not whole tones... Kalvos: It's different from a scale we know because... Skeer: It's not a well-tempered scale, it's not a modal scale, no. Kalvos: Well, let's clarify it a little bit. One of the scales that we normally use, either major and minor, will be seven notes to the octave. This is eight. Skeer: This is eight. There are twelve notes in the well-tempered scale, and I think of the octatonic scale as two out of three of the diminished seven chords that are embedded within the twelve, so you take two of those, you slide one over, and four notes are left out. Kalvos: Except that there are multiple octatonic scales, so... Skeer: Yeah, well, that's what's really great about the octatonic scale, it has no center, how do you end? What key is it in? Because technically it's four different keys or eight different keys, there's no way of it resolving because you never... You do get perfect fifths in it, but there are four of them and... Kalvos: It doesn't come with the same set of relationships, so it doesn't imply the same kind of harmonic progressions. Skeer: Right. Kalvos: Let's hear some more. Damian: Are we going to get an example of this scale? Kalvos: Didn't we just? Damian: Well, I want to hear it, I want to hear someone sing it. Skeer: You want me to attempt to sing an octatonic scale? Damian: Sure, yes, yes. Skeer: (pause) Doo, doo... (laughs) Damian: Okay, close enough, go on to the next piece! Kalvos: Dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee. Damian: There's the leading note. Kalvos: Okay. Skeer: (If I remember the fourth piece...) Kalvos: Next piece! Skeer: Why don't we do a theater piece next. Kalvos: Excellent! Skeer: We['ll] still have a piano. And let's indulge ourselves, we won't be doing just one. Kalvos: Indulge yourself. Skeer: Indulge myself. Please indulge me... Kalvos: I don't want any indulging going on! (laughs) Skeer: In four selections from "Love and Idols", which is subtitled, "A Jewish Opera," which for you will be tracks 7, 8, 9 and 10. What we're going to hear is the "Adam and Eve Scene," and then the transition into the next scene, which is an aria for an operatic baritone, then we will hear "I'm Hahmahlehch Hahmahveht." "Hahmahlehch Hahmahveht" is the Hebrew for the destroyer angel, the angel of destruction. Kalvos: For any of you who saw "Dogma." Skeer: In this case it's a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song. And then, if we do track 10, we'll finish with the title song of "Love and Idols." I don't know, for some reason I always think of this as the Barbra Streisand song, but she never recorded it. Kalvos: You'll all understand when you hear it and you'll all go home singing it. Skeer: Yes, you will. Kalvos: The studio doors are locked so please keep your weapons at home. Skeer: I think in the recordings there's a portion missing that would normally occur between tracks 7 and 8, so that'll shorten it a bit, so you won't hear the the full [Adam and Eve] scene, but you'll hear most of it. Kalvos: Four clips from "Love and Idols" by Baruch Skeer. [01:01:27 "Adam and Eve Scene" from "Love and Idols" by Baruch Skeer] [01:05:17 "In Egypt" from "Love and Idols" by Baruch Skeer] [01:07:35 "I'm Hahmahlehch Hahmahveht" from "Love and Idols" by Baruch Skeer] [01:11:04 "Love and Idols (title song)" from "Love and Idols" by Baruch Skeer] Kalvos: Four cuts from "Love and Idols" by Baruch. Some of those re-mastered from some sort of almost PDQ Bachian master tapes. Damian: Underwater eight-track. Skeer: Yeah, "Love and Idols" has never been performed, that was just a demo recording made in a room, in an apartment with a piano. Kalvos: A piano, a bottle of liquor... Skeer: A bottle of liquor and the whole deal. The primary voice you heard in two of those cuts is Elliot Z. Levine as the operatic bass, the duet, Adam and Eve... Damian: Adamant Eve, was that when she was... Kalvos: In Vermont. Damian: Oh, yes, of course! Skeer: A duet, Adamant, Eve, there are two different people. Adele Robbins as the theater alto, and Barry Drogin as the theater baritone, Nicholas Underhill is on piano and a little bit of Eve Roshevsky was in there making believe she was a child soprano. It's written for child soprano and she's not, but we just heard a little touch of that. Kalvos: All the child sopranos are recovering from the bris. (laughs) Skeer: I think one thing that I have to say is about the patter song, of course. Kalvos:Yeah, that was really right in the tradition of Gilbert and Sullivan. Skeer: I studied not only Gilbert and Sullivan patter songs, but I think there's some kind of tradition amongst certain theater composers that everyone must at least at one time in their life try to write a patter song in the Gilbert and Sullivan tradition, and I studied everybody else's and what they tried to do and, immodestly, I believe they all got it wrong. Kalvos: Including Gilbert and Sullivan? Skeer: Gilbert and Sullivan got it right, and the key behind a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song is that, if you slow it down... Kalvos: It's all about imperial England. Damian: And polishing up the handle on the big front door. Kalvos: And nobility. Skeer: That's right. There's one patter song which is one of the most famous ones, I guess it's the nightmare song which is primarily on one note... Kalvos: It's for baritone, isn't it? Skeer: But most of the patter songs are, when you slow them down, they make melodies and then he just quickens them up and sings them fast. And when I studied other people's versions of Gilbert and Sullivan patter songs, they all, when you slowed them down, they didn't work as melodies, and mine does. It makes it a little more difficult to sing because it's a more modern melody and it does some tricky things with minor seconds and stuff. And Elliot Levine, it's just a demo recording, he didn't obviously have a long time to rehearse it, so if he made some slips of tongue or slips of pitch, it's just a demo recording of him, but he did a really good job, and he looks great for the part, so if anybody ever wants to do "Love of Idols," I highly recommend Elliot Levine for the part of the angel of death, Hahmahlech Hahmahveht, "It's a job but I love it." Kalvos: (laughs) Skeer: And I mentioned there are two theater voices, then there's the operatic baritone and there's the child soprano, and because of that it hasn't been produced because it keeps slipping through the cracks. So the opera companies think it's a theater piece and the theater companies think it's an opera and then you add on top of it the fact that it's theological, I mean, "Love and Idols," you listen to what it's about, it's basically a piece about idolatry. Kalvos: So you've got to produce it yourself or produce it among a group of friends or something in that order. Is that how it's done? Skeer: No, it's just not done. Kalvos: Well, it can't be just not done! Skeer: Well, what can I say, what was this, 1986, it simply hasn't been done. Kalvos: You go down the street and you knock on doors and you get contributions. Skeer: I would love for a Jewish community center somewhere to do it. Kalvos: Our guest is Baruch Skeer, look at kalvos.org, we'll have his page up there, you can contact him to help him produce "Love and Idols." All right, let's move on to something else before we get polemic about production. Skeer: Correct. Well, what I'm going to do is a collab[oration], the music was from "Love and Idols" and then the words were written by Barry Drogin. Damian: Is there some kind of a relationship between....? Skeer: Oh, we're very, very close, he and I. Damian: I see. Skeer: In this case, as Baruch Skeer, I have to apologize for the words, because the words are kind of silly. But when Barry had his son, Max, he ran a competition called "The Lullaby Project," where people wrote lullabies and submitted them and the trick was to see which one would put the young Max to sleep, and we had about 18 entries and none of them put Max to sleep, but this one did, but obviously he couldn't put his own piece in the competition, so what we did was, we took the prize money and broke it up amongst everyone and everybody won so everyone was happy. Damian: Except Max. Skeer: Well, Max is really happy, he loves the piece, and his brother, Abe, gets put to sleep with this piece now, because, this was eight years ago - what's the date on the piece? 1997 is when the piece was written. Damian: Haven't you heard of Children's Prozac? That puts them to sleep real quickly. Skeer: (pause) I'm not going to respond to that one. (laughs) Kalvos: Well, what are we listening to? Skeer: So I'm going to sing for you... Kalvos: Introduce something. Skeer: I'm going to sing for you "Sleep." Kalvos: Oh, "Sleep." Skeer: From "The Lullaby Project" with music by Baruch Skeer and words by Barry Drogin and I'm just going to sing it, right here. Kalvos: This is a cappella? Skeer: A cappella. Kalvos: Oh, then we'll bring our microphones down and let you go for it. [01:20:30 "Sleep" by Baruch Skeer and Barry Drogin] Kalvos: Baruch Skeer's our guest live in Studio A! Damian: Is that what we are? This is A? Kalvos: This is A, B is over there. Damian: And Z is not. Kalvos: Z is down... Skeer: Z is down there, and to give you an idea of how perverse this is, the original words are, "Why Does She Have to Die?" (laughs) Kalvos: Oh, that's just great, that's just great! Skeer: That's the original aria, but he rewrote the words to turn it into a lullaby. Kalvos: Sounds like something they're going to say about me. Damian: What, you mean, dye your clothes? Kalvos: Yeah, something like that. Uh, no. Okay, if we're not careful we're going to run short on time, so let's move on to another piece and talk about it briefly and... Damian: Yes! Skeer: We really want to do some stuff from "Yisroayl B'Mitzroyim,"which is an oratorio. Damian: And the translation? Skeer: "Israel in Egypt." Damian: Ah. Skeer: "Yisroayl" "B" "Mitzroyim" "In" "Egypt," and this is from 1991 and what we have is three recordings. The first recording is of a rehearsal recording that the Gregg Smith Singers did. In the beginning, you hear the two soloists kind of supported by the piano, the piano is not supposed to be there. And then the chorus comes in, and you'll hear that, but they're a little under tempo, and the energy... Kalvos: About 40 percent under tempo. Skeer: Yeah, yeah. And there's a little story in that Gregg Smith called me on the phone, Mr. Smith - I think he deserves that, he's one of the greatest conductors of contemporary music - called me and said, "Shall we do all 18 pages of it?" And I said, "I'll be glad if we can get to page 6." And we got to about page 5 and a half. Damian: Didn't we hear this story last time with Mr. Drogin on? Kalvos: He might have mentioned it, but I think... Skeer: No, I don't think we played anything from "Yisroayl B'Mitzroyim." Damian: No? Kalvos: We might have heard the story, though. Damian: Yeah, I thought there was a Gregg Smith story. Skeer: There was a Gregg Smith story, perhaps. Damian: With a similar outcome. Skeer: Oh, ouch! [The story was told privately to the hosts off-the-air. There was an on-air discussion of professional and amateur choruses, but no mention of the Gregg Smith Singers.] Kalvos: So, we're going to hear the rehearsal take. Skeer: We're going to hear the rehearsal take. Kalvos: And then we're going to hear a little excerpt of it that's been carefully remastered to speed it up but keep the pitch the same. Skeer: Correct, which... Damian: What, no chipmunks? Kalvos: No. (fast and high pitched) No chipmunks! Damian: Oh. Skeer: And the sound engineer? Kalvos: Nobody here that we know. Skeer: Nobody here that we know [Dennis Bathory-Kitsz]. And then we're going to hear a MIDI realization of all 18 pages. Should I say anything about the text, because it's in Hebrew, first, or you want it after? Kalvos: Oh, just very briefly, we are going to run out of time if we don't hear this piece and a few others, so... Skeer: Okay, obviously, this is just the beginning of Israel in Egypt. It starts with the blessing in the two voices, Joseph's blessing saying that you are going to have blessings of the breast and the womb, and that's followed by, "And the people were numerous and swarmed..." and there're seven words in the Hebrew that are used to talk about this sudden outburst, and in the MIDI realization that will then go on to the birth of Moses and his being put into the river, so there's this kind of river music at the end. Kalvos: Our guest is Baruch Skeer, here we go. [01:25:28 "Yisroayl B'Mitzroyim," rehearsal excerpt by Baruch Skeer] [01:28:10 "Yisroayl B'Mitzroyim," rehearsal excerpt a tempo by Baruch Skeer] [01:29:16 "Yisroayl B'Mitzroyim," MIDI realization by Baruch Skeer] Kalvos: Three selections, oh, there we are, I was a little quiet there. Damian: You were quiet. Kalvos: Three selections from "Yisroayl B'Mitzroyim," "B'Mitz...", I can't say it because it's got too many apostrophes. Please. Skeer: I'm Baruch Skeer and you're listening to Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar, your one stop for non-pop on the non -pop international network. Kalvos: Here on WGDR, Plainfield. Oh, thank you, Dr. Skeer, for that delightful... Skeer: Oh, I've earned a doctorate, now. Damian: It's the award-winning program, too. Kalvos: Oh, award winning. The award of.... Damian: A? Kalvos: WGDR's broadcast excellence award. Damian: And B? Kalvos: The ASCAP-Deems Taylor. Damian: And C? Kalvos: And C? Skeer: (laughs) Damian: And C? Kalvos: We have...? Skeer: See? Kalvos: The award for show that goes on and doesn't play enough music and talks too much. Damian: Right, okay. Kalvos: Okay, three selections there from that, and what should we know about it? No, we already talked about that. Let's go on to some more music, and where is this nice Jewish boy connection you insisted on in your e-mail to us? Skeer: The nice Jewish boy connection is the publisher. I'm published by Not Nice Music which is run by Barry Drogin who did come with me to the studio and was on your show a couple of years ago. Kalvos: He was, two years ago. Skeer: And after that appearance he wrote a piece which is actually dedicated to Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar. Kalvos: Kalvos & Damian, oh, wow! Skeer: He's back there, he wants to come in and he wants to sing it for you here on the show. Kalvos: Oh, no, my G-d. Damian: Hm. Kalvos: We have to give him some pitches and stuff so he knows what's coming. Damian: We do? Kalvos: Yeah, we have to help him with that. I think he can hear it, let's just give him a pitch. Okay, there's the pitch. Drogin: Got it. Skeer: Okay, so, do you want the piece named, or just sing? Kalvos: Well, yeah, he's going to sing it and you're going to name it. Skeer: Okay, I'm going to name it for him. Damian: Or, he can name it for you, and he can... Kalvos: But it's named for us. Damian: Is it named for us? Kalvos: Yeah. Damian: Oh, okay. [The piece is "Dedicated to Dennis Bathory-Kitsz of Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar."] Skeer: He premiered the a cappella version... Damian: Ya cappella. Skeer: Of the first "September 11 Song," called "After," and this is the second "September 11 Song," which is called, "Breakfast." Kalvos: And because we don't have a real pianist in the studio, we have a little cue note at the beginning that really doesn't go with the piece, but it'll help our singer to do it. Here we go. [01:36:56 "Breakfast" from "September 11 Songs" by Barry Drogin] Kalvos: Here in Studio A, Barry Drogin singing the music of Baruch Skeer. Gosh, gosh, gosh! Skeer: No, singing the music of Barry Drogin. Kalvos: What? Skeer: That was not a piece by Baruch Skeer. Kalvos: Oh! Skeer: That was a piece by Barry Drogin. Kalvos: Barry Drogin singing Barry Drogin? Skeer: Yeah. Kalvos: Oh, my goodness, all right. Damian: I'm a little confused, but there were lots of eggs, I mean, if you count the number of eggs that were on the roll, there are a lot of eggs. Kalvos: That's right, how many eggs were there, did you count all the eggs? Skeer: You mean, the number of times the word "eggs" is used in the song? Kalvos: The number of times "two eggs" is used in the song. Damian: "Two eggs," yes. Skeer: "Two eggs" is used in the song? I have not counted. Kalvos: I bet it's some really important number. Skeer: I'm sure it is. Kalvos: We still have more to play. We have the most eclectic pile of stuff from Baruch Skeer here. And he did have two eggs on a roll, by the way, at some point, and he certainly had a roll with butter today. I noticed that. Skeer: You noticed it? Kalvos: I did. Skeer: When were you there when Baruch Skeer was eating two eggs on a roll? Kalvos: No, no, the butter on the roll. Skeer: Okay, the butter, that's true, I did have butter on a roll today. Kalvos: You did, all right. Skeer: Shabbat Shalom to everyone out there. Kalvos: What are you doing next? Before we go on to playing some more of the pieces that we have here, what are you doing next with your composition, production, even? Skeer: Speaking for Baruch Skeer, the "Yisroayl B'Mitzroyim" is basically a commissioning project to complete the oratorio. There's a theater work that I have some sketches for but until I have lined up one or two opera companies that might be interested in that, that is also kind of on hold. As to what Barry Drogin is up to, aside from the "September 11 Songs," which you just heard the second one... Damian: And how many will there be? Do you know, does he know? Skeer: There are four, three of them are complete, and the fourth one which is the third one has been started but it's not yet completed. Damian: Also for piano and voice? Skeer: They're all for piano and voice, all four of them, though there may be a cappella moments here and like so. "After" is the one we performed two years ago a cappella, so it has an a cappella version, but the other ones, like "Breakfast" that you just heard, just wouldn't make any sense without the piano being there. There's something called "Portraits," I don't call it "The Portraits Project," though it is a project, I work with individual singers on some pieces, so there's a singer out in California, another one in Woodstock, so I'm working on some pieces with them. And we're trying to market around a different music-theater piece called "The Couch." Beyond that, the biggest thing that Barry Drogin's involved with is a book, trying to get a literary agent and get it published. And that's quite enough to keep one's selves busy for quite some time. Kalvos: Let's hear one more piece. Skeer: I don't have one more piece. I didn't bring any. (laughs) Kalvos: I have seven cuts we haven't played yet. Skeer: You want to play something from something we already did? Kalvos: Well, we haven't heard some of the "Love Poems from the Hebrew." Skeer:You want to hear another one of the "Love Poems from the Hebrew"? Oo... Kalvos: Yeah, we heard one of them, and we also have "Processional" and "Seven Circles" from the "Prelude." We haven't heard [all] of those, either, so let's hear one more. Skeer: Okay, why don't we end with the fourth, kind of come back to where we started, to King Solomon, "I Am My Beloved's." It starts out a cappolla and... Kalvos: A capolo? Skeer: A cappella. Damian: Marco and Aca... Kalvos: He was an explorer. He went through Israel and Palestine and all those places on his way East. Damian: Yes, and the Mexican food went through him. Kalvos: (laughs) I see, ah, Acapulco. A capolo. Skeer: And [it] clearly outlines coming down the octatonic scale, so if you listen to the first few notes of that, which is track 5 I believe on your recording, you'll hear the octatonic scale pretty flatly stated out. And that is "I Am My Beloved's" attributed to King Solomon from "Love Poems from the Hebrew," 1985. Eve Roshevsky, soprano, and Nicholas Underhill on piano. [01:45:33 "I Am My Beloved's" from "Love Poems from the Hebrew" by Baruch Skeer] Kalvos: "I Am My Beloved's" by Baruch Skeer. Thanks for joining us, you're going to introduce somebody else's stuff real quickly now. Skeer: Yeah, I also spend a lot of time advocating other people's music, and Amy X. Neuburg, out in Oakland, California, has done a piece which I think is appropriate to our Jewish theme here, and religious theme, called "My God," which is available on a... Kalvos: Other Minds. Skeer: CD called "Residue." And, what I think is really great about this stuff, you're going to hear a recording of it, but in performance all the parts that you're going to hear are played, sung and looped in real time, so it's a real theater piece as well as a piece of music. And she's a composer, and a writer and an absolutely fantastic extended vocal technique singer as well, as you'll hear. Kalvos: And for those of you listening with tender ears you might want to rethink your philosophy a little bit. (laughs) Skeer: Watch out! Kalvos: It's an intense piece, music by Amy X. Neuburg, this is called "My God." [01:49:24" My God" from "Residue" by Amy X Neuburg] Damian: Oh, cool! Aha! My God! Kalvos: Amy X. Neuburg on a CD, "Residue," that's on Other Minds CDs. That's pretty interesting and good for us to be introduced to, and thanks to our guest, Baruch Skeer, for doing that introduction and for being here today. Damian: And now we have a quick couple of announcements...