Jehoash Hirshberg and Michael Wolpe, hosted by Malcolm Miller
The Music of Josef Tal, part 1
Josef Tal (Grünthal, 1910-2008) was one of the founders of Israeli Art Music and a world-renowned composer and pianist. He escaped from Berlin to Palestine in 1934 and soon settled in Jerusalem where he was one of the founders of the Academy of Music, and (in 1965) of the Department of Musicology at the Hebrew University. He was also a renowned pianist. Tal was a highly prolific composer.
Tal wrote his autobiography Der Sohn des Rabbiners (Quadriga Verlag) and his Hebrew Autobiography Ad Yosef (Reminiscences, Reflections, Summaries, Retold in Hebrew by Ada Brodsky: Carmel, Jerusalem, 1997).
A large scale monograph by Jehoash Hirshberg, Professor of Musicology (Emeritus), Hebrew University in Jerusalem, with the collaboration of composer Michael Wolpe, pianist Ofra Titzhaki, and musicologists Yosef Goldenberg, Liran Gurkevich, and Shoshana Zeevi is currently in production, to be published later this year.
Two COZ sessions, on 15 and 22 February 2022, chaired by Malcolm Miller, will be dedicated to a discussion of Tal’s life and work. On 15 February Jehoash Hirshberg introduces Tal’s personality and offers an overview of his oeuvre, while Michael Wolpe considers Tal’s six symphonies (1952-91). On 22 February Yosef Goldenberg discusses Tal’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (1969), one of the most elaborate 20th century works for the genre; Liran Gurkevich will present Tal’s pioneering works in the electronic music medium, and Shoshana Zeevi will focus on ‘Mein Blaues Klavier’ (1993), a setting for mezzo-soprano and piano of a poem by Else Lasker-Schüller.
Etan Tal, the composer’s son, has built a comprehensive site, https://joseftal.org/, which includes recordings of all his works, and affords a welcome chance for the audience to prepare in advance for the COZ sessions.