Beverly High's Peters Auditorium echoed last night to orchestral sonorities, choral glee and Old Country rhythms, as Noreen Green conducted the L.A. Jewish Symphony in the first concert of their eighth season.  And it wasn't easy.

Billed as a "Celebration of Joy," it turned out to be more a celebration of courage and resourcefulness.  Events of the past few months -- and especially of the last two days -- made this evening a tough job.  The guest group on the program, the Hollywood Klezmer Ensemble, was not originally scheduled, but the European band that had agreed to come here cancelled when air travel became problematic.  And then the terrorist attacks that murdered some 24 Israelis prompted a necessary change in the program.

The orchestra, with Cantor Evan Kent as narrator and soprano Ariella Vaccarino as soloist, opened with Andrea Clearfield's composition "Prayer."  It is not joyous.  It would have made a stirring change of pace in an otherwise upbeat program.  But this program was more uphill than upbeat.

"Prayer" is both authentic and effective.  Built on the cantillation of the biblical Hannah's prayer, it was premiered at the 2001 opening ceremonies of the JCC Maccabi games in Philadelphia to commemmorate the eleven Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics.  The opening narration, a poem from the Reform Jewish funeral service, is read to a solo violin's chant, and followed by singing strings building that chant into a wordless soprano vocal, over which the Mourner's Kaddish is recited.  Ariella Vaccarino has a rich high register, and indeed looked biblical as she intoned her solo.  At conductor Noreen Green's request, there was no applause.  Just a moment of silence.

Then came the change of pace.  "Light One Candle" by Peter Yarrow [of Peter, Paul and Mary] is arguably the best Hanukkah song written in this country, and it was well interpreted by the orchestra with the combined voices of the Valley Beth Shalom congregational choir and the Milken Community High School Concert Choir, with soloists Jennifer Rea Hardin and Philip Baron.  Individually they could have used more volume.  In the third verse, however, they sang together and really reached the audience.

Zamir Bavel's "Hanukkah Rhapsody" -- adapted for LAJS from a previous medley which included non-Jewish texts -- is a playful mixture of old favorites.  It starts and finishes with "Rock of Ages", first in English then in Hebrew, even quoting the "Shehekheyannu" prayer recited on all happy occasions.  In between come children's rounds, a translated Yiddish folksong, and a couple of Dreydl [spinning top] songs, all in English. Both chorus and audience had great fun with it.  And the orchestra gave Bavel's unconventional instrumentation full gusto.

The first half of the concert concluded with Excerpts from Aminadav Aloni's "Or Ha-am" [Light of the People.]  While not Aloni's best work, the suite does provide special opportunities for instrumental virtuosity, particularly in the Sabbath section where concertmaster Mark Kashper impressively interpreted a solo Aloni wrote for his cantor and mentor Samuel Fordis, a violinist in his own right.  The VBS choir sang the Hebrew texts with real "n'shama [soul]" as did Cantor Kent, Ariella Vaccarino, and Richard Braun.  The finale section counterpoints the singing of "a new light will shine on Zion" with "Hatikvah."

Following the intermission, the Hollywood Klezmer Ensemble took stage by themselves and launched into their version of "And the Angels Sing."  It wasn't Benny Goodman and they have no trumpet in the group, but clarinetist Leo Chelyapov took over the Ziggy Elman part with verve. This group brings some originality to Klezmer.  They have to, because theirs is not the conventional combination -- no trumpet, no fiddle, no tuba, no drum.  What they have is Jordan Charnofsky's electric guitar, certainly a departure, plus the more common string bass -- that too played in an uncommon way by Larry Steen -- and a "puppik piano" [accordion] played by Dart Zubis, once featured in the Western group Riders of the Purple Sage, of Roy Rogers fame.  In their second number, a traditional European Klezmer piece, Chelyapov again brought the group along with unrhythmic "doina" riffs, followed by a vigorous "freylakhs" that had the audience happily clapping along.

The Klezmer then joined the orchestra for Sid Robinovitch's "Suite" which featured along with the four Klezmer Ensemble members, orchestra soloists Zinovy Goro on clarinet and alto sax, and Mark Kashper doing a Perlmanesque job of Klezmer violin playing.  Under Noreen Green's baton, the suite progressed from the deft dissonances of its "Burlesque" through four more movements, each of which brought thunderous applause.  In the last movement, "Tzigane" [Gypsy], the tuba sets a compelling Freylakhs rhythm that carries the orchestra to a rousing characteristic 1-2-3 ending -- and brings the audience to its feet.  The combined ensemble obliged with a standard Klezmer encore.

What this reviewer found disappointing was the attendance.  In the Peters Auditorium, the LAJS has a superior hall -- good acoustics, plenty of room on stage, and excellent sound balance even with the chorus behind the orchestra.  It also has a large seating capacity.  Room here for a lot of people that missed a good concert Sunday night.

Save the date of March 10, 2002 for their second concert, "Celebrate Freedom."  Don't miss them next time.