Presents
Joseph Achron
Scher, A Hebrew Dance for Violin and Piano, Op.42
Joseph Achron (1886-1943) was born in the Lithuanian town of Lodzdzieje (now Lazdijai). He studied violin with his father and then at the Warsaw Conservatory with Isadore Lotto and finally at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Leopold Auer, teacher of such stars as Heifetz, Milstein and many others. Achron knew Heifetz and the two became friends with Heifetz championing Achron's music. After graduation, Achron pursued a career as a soloist, concertizing throughout Russia and Europe, Palestine and America. He taught and served as director of the Kharkov Conservatory and subsequently moved to Hollywood. Throughout his life, he composed. Most of his works are for violin and piano, however, he also wrote in several other genres.
Scher dates from 1917. The subtitle states it is a Hebrew dance based on an original melody from Zusman Kisselgoff’s collection of Jewish folk melodies. Kisselgoff was a Russian ethnologist who took part in an expedition between 1911 and 1914 whose purpose was to collect original Jewish folk melodies. The expedition visited the provinces of Volhynia, Podolia and Kiev. Achron frequently dipped into Kisselgoff’s published collection of folk melodies. The main theme is clearly a Klezmer tune. It is repeated several times by the violin over an increasingly complex and chromatic piano accompaniment and leads to an exciting coda.
This works is highly evocative and makes a fine encore.
Parts: $9.95
