Anna Segal (b. 1974)
On the Roof
Concerto Judaica
Longing, for Harp Solo
Biblical Mosaic, for Bassoon and Harp
Folk Songs, for Harp Solo
Yemenite Love Song, for Harp Solo
Rachel Talitman (harp)
Mavroudes Troulos (bassoon)
Israel String Ensemble/Doron Salomon
No recording details provided.
Harp & Company CD505051 [55]

I suppose this must be described as a disc with niche appeal. Lovers of modern repertoire for harp and bassoon are not, I suspect, thick on the ground, though Harp & Company have previously issued two discs, French Recital for Bassoon & Harp (CD 5050-01) and German Recital: Bassoon & Harp (CD 5050-07), on both of which harpist Rachel Talitman is joined by bassoonist Luc Loubry. 

However, while granting all that, I am pleased to say that I have enjoyed the disc, without wishing to make any extravagant claims for it. Anna Segal is clearly a talented and imaginative composer. She has written music for a variety of ensembles and audiences.  Her output includes, for example, a guitar concerto, and a work (Tritico) for trumpet and piano and the score for the 2011 film Night Shift, directed by Slava Lesov. Her website mentions, without giving further details, symphonic music, lieder with orchestra and choral music.

Segal, a pianist as well as a composer, was born in Ukraine and studied piano and musicology before gaining a degree in composition from the Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in Kyiv. She subsequently emigrated to Israel, where she studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music. In May of 2023 she was appointed Resident Composer with the Cleveland Ballet in the USA. The brief and unsigned booklet note accompanying this disc tells us that she is a member of both The Israel Composers League and ACUM, The Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel.

Perhaps it is a coincidence that the only other CD of Segal’s music which I have heard (with pleasure) also features the harp, her Chamber Music for Harp, also issued by Harp & Company (CD 5050-41) in 2018, or perhaps she has  particular interest in the instrument. The excellent Rachel Talitman was also the harpist on that disc. The booklet of the present disc quotes Segal as saying, “When Rachel Talitman asked me to compose music for harp and bassoon, I said ‘yes’ without hesitation. This is my second project with Rachel and it is an honor and joy for me as a composer to write music for such a musician! I was also attracted by the theme of the project – Judaica in music … I was attracted by the opportunity to interpret this theme in a modern way.” This wording implies that the music was written relatively recently; the thin documentation with the disc makes no mention of the dates of composition, nor indeed of the date(s) on which the recordings were made. Although the limited documentation with this disc doesn’t make any mention of it, I feel sure that all (or most) of the pieces on this disc must be world premiere recordings.

There are two pieces for solo harp, Longing and Yemenite Love Song. Both are beautifully played by Rachel Talitman, surely amongst the finest of contemporary harpists. Longing makes effective use of many of the instrument’s resources in subtly expressive fashion; the result is emotionally rich and persuasive. I presume Yemenite Love Song to be an arrangement of a traditional song – certainly it has all the plangency and distinctive harmonies that frequently characterise such songs.

There are three pieces for the duo of bassoon and harp; two Folk Songs (‘The Caravan’ and ‘The Pardon – prayer’) and Biblical Mosaic. In ‘The Caravan’ the bassoon is the dominant instrument, with the harp largely cast as accompanist. The Cypriot bassoonist Mavroudes Troullos impresses with the sensitivity and perception of his playing, along with his complete technical assurance. The piece has the ‘oriental’ quality one anticipates from its title, though this is never overdone for mere effect. ‘The Pardon – prayer’ is a beautiful piece, with all the spirituality that its title suggests. There is more equality between the instruments here, with Talitman and Troullos displaying a convincing unity of purpose and vision. Though a mere two and a half minutes long, ‘The Pardon – prayer’ has a considerable gravity and beauty.

The other contribution by Talitman and Troullos as a duo is, for me, the highlight of this disc. This is Biblical Mosaic, made up of nine short pieces: ‘Samson and the Foxes’, ‘Jael’, ‘Jonah and the Whale’, Yudan the Priest’, Deborah’, ‘The Lions’, ‘Noah’s Ark’, ‘The Birds’ and ‘Amen Forever’. The longest piece in the Suite, ‘Jonah and the Whale’, is less than four and a half minutes long. I started out thinking of these pieces as miniature symphonic poems, but after a couple of hearings decided that they were better described as musical meditations.  My familiarity with the Old Testament not being as good as it should be, I needed recourse to the Bible as I considered some of these pieces. I started out by thinking of these pieces as miniature tone poems, but after a couple of listens decided that they were better viewed as musical meditations. All nine pieces provide pleasure and stimulus to thought; my own favourites are ‘Deborah’, ‘Noah’s Ark’ and ‘Amen Forever’ ‘Deborah’ seems to me part character study of the prophet, judge and military leader of the Israelites against the Canaanite army of Sisera and part meditation on what her story says about female power, both generally and specifically in the pre-monarchic period of Jewish history. In the words of Carol L. Meyers (The Oxford Companion to the Bible, 1993, p.161) “Deborah as a strong woman reflects her own gifts as well as a relatively open phase of Israelite society”. Her modern relevance to a female Jewish composer is clear. Segal’s ‘Deborah’, with some beautifully fluent playing by Mavroudes Troullos, pays tribute to Deborah’s intelligence and strength of mind, as well as her femininity. ‘Noah’s Ark’ is a lighter, but charming, piece. It incorporates a passage of processional music which elicited memories of the old children’s rhyme ‘The animals went in two by two’. By way of contrast the final piece in the suite, ‘Amen Forever’, is a solemnly meditative conclusion. I believe that the original meaning of ‘Amen’ was something or someone that is faithful or reliable in all circumstances, a meaning intensified by the addition of the adverb. As well as being, in effect, a version of the benediction ‘For ever and ever, Amen’, this title is a description of what this brief piece does, praises the eternal presence and benevolent power of God. In the variety of its subjects and its tones and attitudes, this suite is precisely what its title suggests, a mosaic.

The disc opens with Concerto Judaica. I have tried, unsuccessfully, to think of an earlier concerto for bassoon and harp, so as to have a point of comparison. That I haven’t been able to think of a single example may chiefly be the result of my ignorance – but it also suggests that, at the very least, such a concerto is rare musical species, Lasting almost 23 minutes in this performance, Segal’s Concerto Judaica is presented as a single track, although some discrete sections can be recognised. I was more struck by the use of enhanced techniques in some places, especially in the writing for bassoon than by any larger musical structure or argument. The sound palette is unmistakably Judaic and the writing is never without interest. However, I have to confess that for all the evident musicianship of Rachel Talitman and Mavroudes Troullos, I find this concerto less appealing than the best of Anna Segal’s shorter pieces as discussed above, where the composer’s imagination seems more fully engaged.

So, a mixed disc: never without interest and at times striking and engaging, which lets one hear the music of a skilled (if slightly uneven) composer and two fine musicians.

Glyn Pursglove

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