“Oisiveté” for Piano
(2022)

The French word “oisiveté” can be translated as “idleness,” but like “flânerie,” it can suggest “strolling:” or “lounging.” The word “leisureliness” conveys something like what I intend, it reflects those periods of apparently wasted time which the artist needs in order to distill the
elements of a new creation.

Haodong Wu, piano; Oktaven Studios NY, 3-22-24.

OISIVETE for Piano

Pastorale for Piano, Pfitzner Variations
(1980) 

The “Pastorale: is one of five piano pieces that I initially conceived as “Allegorical Pieces,” in the sense of being like tales such as fables or parables, that are told though the medium of other tales. I intended to create new works around passages from the musical repertoire. Of the five pieces, I completed only two, the “Pastorale” and the “Pfitzner Variations.”

In the “Pastorale,” the opening of Hindemith’s Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 11 with its
solemn piano chords lends its colour to this meditation; the manner of the many
returns of its principal phrase reminds me a little of Schumann’s 4th Symphony and A minor Violin Sonata, in which an ominous phrase keeps emerging – as if unwelcome – from the depths.

Haodong Wu, piano; recorded at Oktaven Studios, NY; 3-22-24 


The “Pfitzner Variations,” which rework the thematic material of the Prelude to the 1st Act of Pfitzner’s  opera “Palestrina,” would not merit inclusion in this category, were they no more than a standard set of variations.The material itself has been tonally manipulated away from Pfitzner’s modal shaping of it and given a more chromatic, late-tonal, cast, and as a result, the variations that follow must navigate unpredictable and somewhat alien terrain.

Haodong Wu, piano; recorded at Oktaven Studios, NY; 7-30-24 




PFITZNER VARIATIONS for Piano

Pastorale for Piano, Pfitzner Variations
(1980) 

The “Pastorale: is one of five piano pieces that I initially conceived as “Allegorical Pieces,” in the sense of being like tales such as fables or parables, that are told though the medium of other tales. I intended to create new works around passages from the musical repertoire. Of the five pieces, I completed only two, the “Pastorale” and the “Pfitzner Variations.”

In the “Pastorale,” the opening of Hindemith’s Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 11 with its
solemn piano chords lends its colour to this meditation; the manner of the many
returns of its principal phrase reminds me a little of Schumann’s 4th Symphony and A minor Violin Sonata, in which an ominous phrase keeps emerging – as if unwelcome – from the depths.

Haodong Wu, piano; recorded at Oktaven Studios, NY; 3-22-24 


The “Pfitzner Variations,” which rework the thematic material of the Prelude to the 1st Act of Pfitzner’s  opera “Palestrina,” would not merit inclusion in this category, were they no more than a standard set of variations. The material itself has been tonally manipulated away from Pfitzner’s modal shaping of it and given a more chromatic, late-tonal, cast, and as a result, the variations that follow must navigate unpredictable and somewhat alien terrain.

Haodong Wu, piano; recorded at Oktaven Studios, NY; 7-30-24 




PASTORALE for Piano

Fin de journée
     for piano
Robert Cuckson (2022)

The waning of the light in fall, from late afternoon until early moonset over the Hudson River – my favourite walk. With touches of the Seine, of Renoir, and surely - of Debussy.

Soirée – the last rays of sunlight
Crépuscule – twilight
Berceuse – cradle song
Clair de lune – moonlight

Haodong Wu, piano
Recorded at Oktaven Studios, NY


FIN DE JOURNEE for Piano

This week on The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, we featured an in-depth conversation with historian Benyomen Moss (Kenneth B. Moss), the Harriet and Ulrich E. Meyer Professor of Jewish History at the University of Chicago. He spoke with Sholem Beinfeld, professor emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis, about his book An Unchosen People: Jewish Political Reckoning in Interwar Poland (Harvard University Press, 2021). We reached Moss in Chicago via Zoom on Jan. 19, 2025.

What future did Poland's Jews imagine for themselves in the years between the world wars? As antisemitism intensified and liberalism faltered, some Polish Jews sought new ways to understand their community’s place in an increasingly hostile world. Moss explores how these Jewish thinkers grappled with diasporic vulnerability, the forces of nationalism, Zionism’s promises, and the difficult political choices ahead.

Moss, an acclaimed historian of modern Jewish thought, is also the author of Jewish Renaissance in the Russian Revolution (Harvard University Press, 2009) and co-editor of From Europe’s East to the Middle East (2023). His work has been recognized with prestigious fellowships and awards, including the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.

Related links:

Publisher page for Unchosen People: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674245105

Review of Unchosen People in Forverts (March, 2022), in Yiddish, by Mikhail Krutikov: https://forward.com/yiddish/483574/did-prewar-jewish-socialists-believe-that-jews-had-a-future-in-poland/

Kenneth Moss page at U. of Chicago: https://history.uchicago.edu/directory/Kenneth-Moss

Music for Tu Bishvat

Victor Berezinsky: Tu Bishvat
Henry Carrey: Tu Beshvat (Music and Lyrics by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman)
Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air date: February 12, 2025

2025-02-12 Benyomen Moss: An Unchosen People

Karsten Troyke & Hermann Anders Band

Autumn Leaves: Kosma / Prevert, dt. Biermann
Bei mir bisti sheyn: Secunda / Jacobs

Hermann Anders - tb
Macky Gäbler - fl
Petr Michailov - dr
Christoph Niemann - b
Manfred Dierkes - guit

1996 Kulturpalast Dresden

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bei_mir_bistu_shein

Ja, dieses Lied (Autumn Leaves), Bei Mir Bisti Sheyn

אז מע טוט יא באזינגען די בעסאראביע,וואס זשע זאל מען ניט באזינגען   
 ...קיין אנדערע מקומות
געווידמעט אלע דורות פון די אמתע ביראבידזשאנער,ווו זאלן זיי ניט וווינען,מיט זייערע ליכטיקע חלומות

\קאנט פון טרוים \א.שיינדליס - ט.שקלאָווער

די דאזיקע רווחימלאזע אנשוילעכע זייט איז געגרינדעט געווארן צו באקענען אייך מיט די נייע און די ווייניקער באוווסטע לידער אין יידיש. אז סע געפעלט אייך אפס, אדער איר ווילט אריינשליסן עס אין אייער רעפערטואר – לאזט עס וויסן דורך אריינדרוקן אייערע באמערקונגען אדער שיקן א בליץ-פאסט
!א שיינעם דאנק

\קאנט פון טרוים \א.שיינדליס - ט.שקלאָווער

Fiddler פידלער

Related tracks