Alberto Hemsi (1898-1975)
Coplas Sefardies, op. 7
Coplas Sefardies, op. 8
Coplas Sefardies, op. 14
Coplas Sefardies, op. 18

Assaf Levitin, baryton
Naaman Wagner, piano

A l'image d'autres ethnomusicologues-compositeurs beaucoup plus connus que lui (Bartók en est le meilleur exemple), Alberto Hemsi fit un travail de collecte considérable du folklore juif ibérique. Cette prise de conscience à laquelle il voua sa vie nous revient sous la forme d'un premier volume (il devrait y en avoir trois) des opus 7, 8, 13 et 18, tous composés en 1932 et contenant six chansons chacun. La tradition orale ne comportant pas d'accompagnement écrit, Hemsi créa une partition pianistique originale qui va au-delà du simple soutien pour devenir un petit commentaire très bien ciselé en regard du contenu de chaque poésie. Toutes proportions gardées, on trouvera une semblable approche dans les restitutions pianistiques plus simples de Hartmann à propos des traditions recueillies par Gurdjieff. Le baryton Assaf Levitin, chantre à la synagogue de Hanovre, possède un beau timbre de voix qui convient remarquablement à cette musique. Texte original des poésies traduits en allemands et anglais. (Nicolas Mesnier-Nature)

With their recording of Alberto Hemsi’s Coplas Sefardies, Assaf Levitin (cantor at the Liberal Jewish synagogue in Hanover) and his pianist Naaman Wagner recover an almost forgotten treasure of European and Jewish cultural history — just in time for the composer’s 120th birthday in 2018. Hemsi has been understood as a passionate guardian and advocate of Sephardic folklore and its musical tradition. In years of hard work, he gathered together many texts and melodies of this Jewish people which had lived in Spain until around 1500 before being dispersed throughout the Mediterranean after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula. To a large extent, Hemsi collected and notated the monodic, unaccompanied songs in the 1920s/30s and added to them a virtuosic, atmospheric piano accompaniment. Previously transmitted orally, these songs are just as good as any of their contemporary counterparts. With the first of several planned CDs, Assaf Levitin and Naaman Wagner are laying the foundations for the very first complete recording of Alberto Hemsi’s Coplas Sefardies. This project plays a significant role in preserving the Judaeo-Sephardic culture of the Mediterranean, which dates back over half a millennium.