MUSIC REVIEW : Works of the ‘Jewish Bach’ Performed by Kol Echad Chorale and Orchestra

If you haven’t heard of David Nowakowsky, you aren’t the only one. The 19th-Century composer and synagogue musician is not listed in either the New Grove or Baker’s dictionary. Thus, Sunday’s program at Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach offered a rare opportunity to hear music by a man one writer calls the “Jewish Bach.”

But, aside from the fact that Nowakowsky put his talent into the service of his faith, there is little to justify the sobriquet. His music is harmonically static, rhythmically bland and only sometimes contrapuntal. It does effectively integrate the modal and melodic elements of Jewish chant into a harmonic style akin to a number of Russian composers of the 19th Century but is bogged down by repetition and predictability.

Conductor Alan Weiner effectively led the Kol Echad Chorale and Orchestra in six of the composer’s works. Aside from a few minor pitch problems, the 25-voice volunteer choir sang with considerable polish. The orchestra was first-rate, and one should single out concertmaster Mark Kashper, who delivered the important violin solos with virtuosity.

Tenor David Lefkowitz proved an impassioned soloist in five of the works. Unfortunately, the New York-based cantor produced a thin sound, exhibited limited fluency in melismatic passages and had a distracting tendency to shift from side to side continuously.

Before intermission, baritone Nathan Lam served as cantor in Milhaud’s infrequently heard Service Sacre. Lam sang with a clear, resonant sound and fine expression but ran into pitch problems in his upper register. The work exhibits both reflective calm and Gallic exuberance, but seems to go on forever; there is simply too much music and too little variety.