PARADIGM CONCERT SERIES, Jewish Community Center, No. 2 North Medical Drive; Monday evening; second performance, Tuesday, 8 p.m. (tickets $10 at the door). For more information call 583-4000.Since March is Jewish Music Month, Monday's Paradigm concert featured Jewish-themed works. Joel Rosenberg, director of the Paradigm series, presented an eclectic and exciting mix of different styles, ranging from down-to-earth, to abstract, to devoutly religious music. And as you would expect, Rosenberg once again brought together some of the finest local musicians to play at this concert.
Soprano Julie Wright was back. She has an exquisite voice that's expressive, rich and lyrical, yet also strong and dramatic. Wright was featured in two different works. She sang two songs by Leonard Bernstein, "To What You Said" from "Songfest" and "Dream With Me" from the musical "Peter Pan." The former is a soft, tender song, and the latter is one of Bernstein's loveliest ballads.
In the second half of the program, Wright was the soloist in James Prigmore's "For Everything There is a Season." She was accompanied by a small chamber ensemble of nine musicians conducted by Rosenberg. Prigmore based this work on Ecclesiastes. It's a very lush, Romantic piece. It's short, but it's vibrant and full of life. The work was immediately encored by popular demand from the small but enthusiastic audience.
An intensely religious piece was also on the program, Ernest Bloch's "Baal Shem" for violin and piano. The music in this three-movement work is powerful. It comes from the heart and is a very personal expression of faith.
The first movement of "Baal Shem" is meditative and sounds almost like a lament. The second movement improvises on the music from the first movement. This is passionate, pleading music. The finale is triumphant but nevertheless still intense. The music here, though, is much more Romantic in character than in the first two movements.
The work was played by violinist Meredith Campbell and pianist Chris Smith. Campbell is a superb musician. She put feeling and spirit into her performance. Smith is an excellent pianist and also a first-rate accompanist. This was a decisive interpretation of this work by these two fine musicians.
The concert concluded with klezmer music. This is wedding music from eastern Europe. Clarinetist Scott Harris was joined by accordion player Stephen Keen in three selections. Harris (who also played Bernstein's Clarinet Sonata in the first half) is an exceptional musician. He quite literally got his instrument to dance in these pieces. And Keen offered a strong accompaniment to Harris.
Campbell joined Harris and Keen in the final selection and also in an encore, "Hava Nagila," which became a rousing ending to a splendid concert.