Rarely heard Yom Kippur music by Schoenberg set for new release

There’s news of a new recording, in a different arrangement, of Arnold Schoenberg’s 1938 choral adaptation of “Kol Nidre,” one of the Yom Kippur’s central prayers.

Schoenberg himself conducted the 14-minute work’s premiere on Oct. 4, 1938, at the Ambassador Hotel’s Coconut Grove Ballroom, which the Society for Jewish Culture, a liberal congregation also known as Fairfax Temple, had rented for its Yom Kippur services.

Nevertheless, the Schoenberg “Kol Nidre” has had a life as art music. The available recordings include Pierre Boulez leading the BBC Singers and BBC Orchestra, John Neschling conducting the Sao Paolo Symphony and Choir, and Robert Craft performing with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Simon Joly Chorale. 

The new version will be released online this fall by L.A.’s Milken Archive of Jewish Music, which houses music relating to the American Jewish experience.

 

[Pictured: Arnold Schoenberg self-portrait]