1980 Jerusalem

Jun 29, 1980 – Jul 5, 1980
Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Beersheba, Kibbuz Shefayim

Festival info

Start: Jun 29, 1980

End: Jul 5, 1980

Locations: Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Beersheba, Kibbuz Shefayim

Hosting member(s)

Description
Description

From a contemporaneous review

“Three interesting – and successful – initiatives had been taken by the Israeli hosts, the Composers’ League of Israel. First, they had invited three composers to come to Israel before the World Music Days and spend a few months in the country in order to write a work specially for the programmes. It so happened that the three compositions so written proved to be among the most attractive works. The Brasilian Jorge Antunes contributed a very gripping, dramatic and expressive “Violet Elegy for Monseigneur Romero”, which he himself rehearsed and conducted with two Israeli childrens’ choirs and the Israeli Sinfonietta of Beersheva. The West German Hans-Joachim Hespos wrote a colourful and original piece for brass, entitled “Koss” – the title means “Little Owl” (from Hebrew) and “commemorates” the bird that tried to “disturb” his creative work in an Israeli country settlement. Maurice Benhamou from Paris had the bad luck to get an extremely poor performance for his significant, religiously-inspired work “Ha-EI” played without understanding by the Israel Sinfonietta under Mendi Rodan with soloist Yigal Tuneh. A similar fate was suffered by the Swiss Klaus Huber with his poetic and imaginative “With neither Boundary nor Rim” for viola (Gad Lewertoff as fine soloist) and the Israel Sinfonietta. It is sad that public and critics are wont to denigrate a contemporary work itself instead of the performers in case of a bad rendering: it is the other way round in case of more familiar music.”

— Peter Gradenwitz, “ISCM World Music Days in Israel 1980,”
Bulletin of the International Music Council (UNESCO) 3/1980,
included in The World of Music, Vol. 22, No. 3, towards a world history of music (1980), p. 92.

Programme information
Locations