Graphite welcomes Gerald Cohen!
Cohen brings a great kit of skills to his choral music workbench. He’s a singer, composer, cantor, and educator. On a personal level, he brings a Jewish cultural perspective and value to his musical art. In his choral works, he endeavors to balance craft, emotion, melody, and melodic development. He connects emotionally to his compositions by tying them to specific life events, such as the birth of a child (Y’varech’cha), or the death of a friend (Adonai Ro’I).
The Hebrew texts he sets are appropriate both in and beyond a synagogue.
“I hope/think that community/college/church choirs can find a lot of value in incorporating Jewish music into their programs and services, in terms of different language, musical style. Within Jewish music/texts my emphasis is on texts that have wider meaning, rather than just within the Jewish realm.”
— Gerald Cohen
Check out the diversity of his output, from reflective and sublime to joyful and bounding with energy. Cohen’s music adds one more light to the prism of Graphite’s catalog.
Listen, enjoy, program, and sing!
Adonai Ro’i Lo Echsar (Psalm 23)
Difficulty: 2
Duration: 3-5 min.
Available for SATB, SSA, or unison choir/solo voice
Cohen’s most popular piece was written upon the loss of a dear friend, and its deep emotions have echoed for performers, listeners, and mourners over the years.
(SATB version performed by Zamir Noded with Gerald Cohen, tenor and piano; Matthew Lazar, conductor, at the North American Jewish Choral Festival, July 2018.)
Chanukah Lights
Difficulty: 2
Duration: 3-5 min.
For SSA Chorus and Piano
or SSAATTB a cappella chorus
Featuring a serene melody that floats over harmonies set up by the other voices, the choir sings of the warmth of being together for the Chanukah holiday. The refrain focuses on the key word “light” and builds a gentle rocking figure in the chorus.
“Chanukah Lights” by Gerald Cohen, performed by Chicago a cappella
I felt my legs were praying
Difficulty: 4
Duration: 5-10 min.
For Solo Voice, SATB Chorus, and Piano
We strive to use our words, our songs, our bodies—our whole being—to work for a better and more just world. When Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma in 1965, they exemplified religious leaders who hear the voice of the prophets and the Psalms as an explicit call to action.
In this dramatic and moving composition, Cohen combines the words of Rabbi Heschel after the march—most famously remembered in the phrase “I felt my legs were praying”—with a verse from Psalm 35, which also speaks of one’s very body exclaiming praise, and praise of a God who protects the poor from those who would oppress them.
“I felt my legs were praying” performed by Tonality,
conducted by Alexander Lloyd Blake
Dayeinu! (It would have been enough for us)
Difficulty: 3
Duration: 3-5 min.
For SATB Chorus and Piano or SA Chorus and Piano
The poem Dayeinu is the central song of joy and gratitude from the Passover Seder celebration, giving thanks for every stage of the ancient Hebrews’ journey from slavery to freedom.
Cohen has created a joyous dance in his setting of the text, the music building in exuberance throughout the piece. The rhythmic challenges—such as shifts between 4/4 and 7/8 in the refrain—are readily worked out as they are so much fun to sing. Dayeinu! is an ideal choice for concerts celebrating spring and the spring holidays.
About the Composer
Composer Gerald Cohen has been praised for his “linguistic fluidity and melodic gift,” creating music that “reveals a very personal modernism that…offers great emotional rewards” (Gramophone Magazine). His deeply affecting compositions have been recognized with numerous awards and critical accolades. The music on his 2014 album, Sea of Reeds (Navona), “is filled with vibrant melody, rhythmic clarity, drive and compositional construction…a sheer delight to hear” (Gapplegate Music Review).
Learn more and explore more of Gerald Cohen’s music!
Our Contributing Editor
Jonathan Campbell, BA, MSM, DMA, currently serves as Director of Music at Zion Lutheran Church, Anoka, MN., and is a Contributing Editor for Graphite Publishing. His music publishers include Augsburg Fortress, Concordia, Morningstar, GIA, Sacred Music Press, and Falls House. He won first prize in the Morningside Choral Composition Contest and was also awarded a Faith Partner’s Residency with the American Composer’s Forum. Jonathan has served many churches, conducted the Chorale of the Honors Choirs S.E. MN for eight years, and has served on the faculties of Winona State University, Augsburg University, and Pomona College.
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