"Give Ear, O Heavens, and I Will Speak!"

This coming Shabbat our Torah reading—Ha'azinu—is a song. And who better to put it to music than our own Max Stern?

The Song of Moses (Devarim 32) comes in two versions. The original is set for contrabass and orchestra. Max explains:

The contrabass takes on the role of the Lawgiver, justifying the ways of God to man. Heaven and Earth are portrayed by the orchestra. "Give ear O heavens and I will speak; and hear O earth, the words of my mouth”. 

You can listen to it here. In this, the first recording of Max’s piece, Gary Karr plays contrabass, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra provides the backing under the baton of Arthur Fagen.

The second version has Max playing it himself back in 1996, accompanied by a harp and organ. According to Max, his work draws upon Jewish traditional and ethnic musical sources in order to illuminate epic biblical poetry to trace the dramatic trajectory of the text of Ha'azinu.  In this instrumental characterization of Moses’ farewell song to the children of Israel, the narrative foretells the history and prophetic mission of the Jewish people. You can listen to it here. This version comes with the text on-screen.