Sacred Bridge

Sephardim

The Sacred Bridge: Jews & Christians in Medieval Europe
Boston Camerata - Joel Cohen
Erato 292-45513-4 [Cass.]
Erato 292-45513-2 [CD]

This program attempts, through music and poetry, to trace some of the ways in which Jewish and Christian communities in medieval Europe related to and depended on each other despite their forced seperation from each other. The program includes songs of exile, works by Jewish minstrels at Christian courts, Mediterranean Jewish folklore, and 'songs of mystical Spain'.

Among these repertories, the Sephardic songs originating in medieval Spain have been given a good deal of attention. A few programs devoted to these songs in varying interpretations, along with other related items as in the present recording:

Díaspora Sefardí: Romances & Música Instrumental
Ensemble Hespèrion XXI - Jordi Savall
Alia Vox AV 9809 A+B (2 CDs)
El Canto Espirituel Judeoespañol: Alia Música - Miguel Sánchez
Harmonia Mundi "Ibérica" 987015
Sephardic Romances: Traditional Jewish Music from Spain
Ensemble Accentus - Thomas Wimmer
Naxos 8.553617
Sepharad: Songs of the Spanish Jews
Ensemble Sarband - Vladimir Ivanoff
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 77372
From the shores of the Golden Horn: Paths of Exile - Quincentary Series Vol. 1: Music of the Spanish Jews of Turkey
The Voice of the Turtle - Judith Wachs
Titanic 173

An extensive listing from Voice of the Turtle can be found in the final link above. See also the under construction Sephardic discography.

This is primarily oral repertory, and so performances are based strongly on the survival of Sephardic descendants in modern Turkey and Northern Africa. Some facts regarding music in Islamic Spain are also used. Of course, there are many other program of Sephardic music, including many on modern instruments.

In addition to this Sephardic repertory, medieval Spain also notably included Islamic music. A recorded example:

Música Andalusí: Nuba Al-Istihlál
Ibn Báya Ensemble - Omar Metioui & Eduardo Paniagua
Sony "Hispánica" 62262

And a recording devoted to the earliest conjecturally surviving Jewish music, that from the Old Testament:

La Musique de la Bible revélée: notation millénaire décryptée
Suzanne Haïk Vantoura
Harmonia Mundi musique d'abord 190989

A recording which attempts to reconstruct synagogue chants from the middle ages:

Ancient Hebrew Chants of the Mediterranean: Paolo Buconi Ensemble
Tactus 590002

Finally, a recording moving into the Baroque, of a unique example of composed music for the Jewish temple:

Salomone Rossi: The Two Souls of Solomon: Ensemble Daedalus
Accent 96119

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To FAQ references to this recording.

To FAQ CD index page.

Todd M. McComb

Sephardim

Contents:

I - Songs of Exile

II - The Sacred Bridge

II - Jewish Minsrels at Christian Courts

IVa - Jewish Folklore of the Mediterranean Basin: Jewish of the Provence

IVb - Spanish Jewry in exile

V - Songs of Mystical Spain