{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/gb1xd0rd0p/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Cohen, Gerald"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/115/original/Boxed_Milken_Center_logo.png?1628711583","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Preferred Citation"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCohen, Gerald. 1999. Interview by Neil Levin. Milken Archive Oral History Project. 23 April.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Milken Family Foundation"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e© Milken Family Foundation. Unauthorized use is prohibited. For inquiries, please contact info@milkenarchive.org.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Cohen, Gerald (Composer)","Levin, Neil (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["1999-03-22"]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["New York, NY (Place of Recording)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (Primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eOral history with composer and cantor Gerald Cohen. He begins by talking about his musical background as a classical pianist who studied composition at Columbia University, while simultaneously studying to be a cantor and performing in the synagogue. The connection between these two spheres of music making is discussed in detail, particularly how his classical compositions incorporate Judaic elements, such as \u003cem\u003eV’higad'ta L’vincha\u003c/em\u003e (And You Shall Tell Your Child) (1996), which was commissioned for a children’s chorus, and has the strongest Judaic connection in his oeuvre. Other compositions discussed include \u003cem\u003eAdonai Ro'i\u003c/em\u003e (1999) and his dance piece \u003cem\u003eSongs of Tagore\u003c/em\u003e which was performed throughout India and allowed Cohen to interact with the Jewish community in Bombay and Trivandrum. The interview ends with a mention of his newest composition, \u003cem\u003eTrio for Viola, Cello, and Piano\u003c/em\u003e (1999), and an upcoming operatic project. \u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["Beta SP"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Jews — Music (Topical Term)","Chamber music (Topical Term)","Columbia University--Graduate students (Topical Term)","Cohen, Gerald, 1960- (Person or Corporate Body)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["Adonai Ro'i, Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), Bombay (India), cantor, Cantors Assembly, chamber music, Charles Kondek, Columbia University, Hebrew, India, instrumentation, Jack Beeson (1921-2010), Mario Davidovsky (1934-2019), Martin Bresnick (b. 1946), Pesach, piano, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), synagogue, Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Trio for Viola, Cello and Piano, Trivandrum (India), V’higad'ta L’vincha, V’haarev Na, Yale University"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eOral history with composer and cantor Gerald Cohen. He begins by talking about his musical background as a classical pianist who studied composition at Columbia University, while simultaneously studying to be a cantor and performing in the synagogue. The connection between these two spheres of music making is discussed in detail, particularly how his classical compositions incorporate Judaic elements, such as \u003cem\u003eV\u0026rsquo;higad'ta L\u0026rsquo;vincha\u003c/em\u003e (And You Shall Tell Your Child) (1996), which was commissioned for a children\u0026rsquo;s chorus, and has the strongest Judaic connection in his oeuvre. Other compositions discussed include \u003cem\u003eAdonai Ro'i\u003c/em\u003e (1999) and his dance piece \u003cem\u003eSongs of Tagore\u003c/em\u003e which was performed throughout India and allowed Cohen to interact with the Jewish community in Bombay and Trivandrum. The interview ends with a mention of his newest composition, \u003cem\u003eTrio for Viola, Cello, and Piano\u003c/em\u003e (1999), and an upcoming operatic project.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u0026copy; Milken Family Foundation. Unauthorized use is prohibited. For inquiries, please contact info@milkenarchive.org.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/115/original/Boxed_Milken_Center_logo.png?1628711583","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/111/927/small/Cohen.jpg?1621344809","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - B11889_MA_OH_Gerald_Cohen_Master_2017_Logo.mp4"]},"duration":1127.21067,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/111/927/small/Cohen.jpg?1621344809","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-milken.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/111/927/original/B11889_MA_OH_Gerald_Cohen_Master_2017_Logo.mp4?1619689306","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":1127.21067,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Gerald Cohen [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Gerald.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN: Hello.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN: Good to see you this morning.  We’re here with composer and cantor Gerald Cohen.  You started out in what area of music?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Basically, as a classical pianist, as — and composer. My — you know, I was, wanted to be a musician from when I was very, very young, and was studying piano all through my high school and college years, and composing during that time.  And that was really my main, my main focus. And, at the same time, Jewish music was a part of my life.  Because, just through going to synagogue.  And, since I could sing decently, I sang at services all the time.  And so, I was doing, doing that, as well.  So that was a part of my life, as well. And then, when I, you know, really, when I, after college, I went to graduate school.  And composing was my main, my main study there.  Studying at Columbia with Jack Beeson and Mario Davidovsky. But, at the same time, I had started cantorial studies.  Mainly because it seemed liked a, a very good way to be doing something musical and Jewish that was earning a living, and that I liked doing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=16.0,98.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Where did you do your undergraduate?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  At Yale.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  At Yale?  And did you study composition there?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Yes.  I mean, I was, I studied — piano and composition were my two main…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Who, who…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  I studied composition with Martin Bresnick and David Lewin and Michael Friedman.  And I studied piano with Ward Devenny.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=98.0,117.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  And then, at Columbia, when you were working on your doctorate, did that have any relation to Judaic things, or was that kind of separate?  I mean, what was your dissertation?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  My dissertation was a string quartet.  So there wasn’t anything particularly Judaic, except that the, the second movement of the string quartet was based on a Hineni chant that I had, that I wrote for, for myself, for the High Holidays.  So it, it had — Met Munos was also an elegy for my father.  So, it sort of had a lot of different, different layers to it. I did write some, some pieces based on Judaic things.  There was a setting of Shir HaShirim, a chamber piece, when I was at Columbia.  And I had done, done other, other Judaic music, as well. But it was sort of my — my composing life has always been doing some things which are straight chamber music, orchestral music, and then, things which are more Judaically involved.  Whether it’s because they’re a text, or a Judaic theme, or whatever.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=117.0,177.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Do you remember what the first, first piece was that you wrote that had some Judaic connection?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  I remember a V’shamru I wrote when I was about 12, or something.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Why did you do that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  Frankly, I don’t really remember.  I mean, I was, you know, as I say, I was going to synagogue all the time.  I was, you know, singing the songs there, and I guess, just, I was definitely involved Judaically.  And it just seemed like a, a nice thing to do. It was, I remember, it was for, I think, flute with chorus and stuff, and sort of…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=177.0,212.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Traditional type of synagogue or…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  The synagogue I went to?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah. Your own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  It was, it was a Conservative synagogue.  Conservative Synagogue of, of Riverdale.  I grew up in Riverdale.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Were you exposed to hazzanas, there?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  Yeah, actually.  Jack Mendelson was the cantor there from when I was six years old.  And he was like seven years old, or something.  No, it was his first job.  He was, I think he was 19 when he started there. So I, you know, even though it’s not such a clear memory for me, I think it must have been a, a very big influence…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=212.0,248.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  You were recently involved in a piece — I think I see it here, if I’m not mistaken, upside-down.  Is that the piece, is that for children’s choir?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  What’s the name of that piece?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  It’s called The V’higad'ta L’vincha — And You Shall Tell Your Child.  It’s a Passover, Passover cantata. And that was written for the Syracuse Children’s Chorus.  I met the conductor, Barbara Tagg, actually, at a Cantors Assembly convention, because she was doing a seminar.  And we talked about my doing a piece for her for a long time.  And finally, she commissioned this piece. And it was, it’s a very good children’s chorus.  And, you know, pretty much completely non-Jewish.  But there, it was very exciting to write, write this piece for them. And that piece has since been, been published and gotten a few other performances and…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=248.0,303.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  They sang the whole work?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  They sang the whole work.  And they’ve done a, done, done a very nice, nice recording of it.  I mean, not, not avail — commercially available yet.  But…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But it’s a good recording?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You’re happy with it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tLEVIN:  It’s in Hebrew?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  It’s in Hebrew.  And…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Did you work with them on the Hebrew?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  I did a little work with them on the Hebrew.  Mainly, I, I did it by saying, sending a tape to the conductor, of saying the Hebrew text very slowly.  And she, she was very good with that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=303.0,330.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  And it’s okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The Hebrew’s okay?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  Yeah.  Yeah, I mean, it, it sounds a little, you know, like it’s not their native language.  But it isn’t.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Now, why did you choose Pesach?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Um…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Did you have free rein on this, or…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Yeah.  Completely free rein. I think it was, a couple of reasons.  One, that I felt that it would be very useful to have a, a good, like 15-minute piece based on, on Pesach.  And also, as the title of the piece, And Then You Shall Tell Your Child.  The whole Seder is all about passing on the, the story from one generation to another.  So it just seemed that doing that for children’s chorus…. And I think, in a way, especially because it was a chorus of non-, mainly non-Jewish children, to get an idea of what that, the idea, importance of passing on stories from one generation to another.  Specifically, the Passover story, and more generally, as well.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=330.0,388.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  What do you consider your most important, from your point of view — important, artistically, that is to say — work of Judaic connection, secular or sacred?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  I actually am pretty fond of the piece we were just talking about.  Because I think that was a piece which was both, I think, an interesting piece of music artistically, that also appealed to audiences very easily and, and worked well for, you know, it was, worked well for the children’s chorus. And I’ve just arranged this piece for SATB chorus, as well.  So it’s going to be premiered next month. First, by Stephen Burke, who commissioned it.  A chorus in, his chorus in Texas is going to do it.  And then, it’s also being done at the CA convention.  At the Cantors Assembly convention.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=388.0,444.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  You’re a practicing cantor, as well?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Yes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But, first and foremost, do you consider yourself a composer or a cantor?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  I’m often asked that.  I guess, first and foremost, I consider myself a composer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI love, I love being a cantor.  And I love it, it nour — I’d say that the two things nourish each other a lot.  I think my, my singing every week as a, as a hazzan has a big influence just on the singing quality of my music.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=444.0,478.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  This, for example, this V’higaddita, it, you know, you have, basically, the, this, I don’t know about all but many of the, of the key texts from the Haggadah here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Mmm-hmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Now, are any of these envisioned as just the tune, let’s say, the melody line from anything envisioned by you as becoming part of a Seder ritual?  Or strictly this is is a, in a way, a performance piece?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=478.0,506.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"COHEN:  I, I think it’s basically a performance piece.  It’s, it’s a little, it’s a little bit too difficult to think of.  I mean, the, the Dayenu is a very…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  That’s where my eye fell, on the Day —.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  Yeah.  The Dayenu is a very, is a very catchy tune.  So I could imagine, possibly, the, just the Dayenu tune, refrain itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Anything would help.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Well, I, I’ve…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=506.0,527.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Keep the rubbish out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  Well, I, I can, I can, you’re welcome to, to sing it at your Seder, if you want.  I’ve, I’ve, I’ve tried it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No, I personally don’t like to sing it at all.  Personally, I just like to say Dayenu, and…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  And that’s enough.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Yeah.  I’m not into singing it.  Except at the end. And the--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  The hymns.  I mean, we could use some new ones there, too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Adonai Roi.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=527.0,549.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"COHEN:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Tell me about that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  That’s a piece which has a pretty strong emotional history for me.  It was written for the death of a good friend of mine, at the first synagogue I worked for, in Trenton, New Jersey.  And it, it’s just, it’s had sort of a long history. The, the piece was written in, in like ten minutes, just the night before her funeral.  I just wrote the, I wrote the vocal line.  And, I guess, something about it, I guess that a lot of emotions got into it.  It appealed to people a lot. Eventually, I made this piano arrangement.  And that’s, I’d say, the piece of mine that’s gone the most places without my really knowing about it.  It just is done at a lot of synagogues and memorials all over the place. It’s also landed up in a, a film based on Rodger Kamenetz’s book, The Jew In the Lotus, and has been recorded several times. So it’s, it’s a piece which, it, for me, it always has a lot of connection back to Marcy Scharf, who was the person it was written for.  But it’s, it’s gone, gone a lot of places.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=549.0,624.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Now, tell me about this connection with India, Kol India.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  That was — yeah, I mean, there have sort of been these two India things that happened. This was a, a project called Songs of Tagore.  Which was a dance piece, done by the Battery Dance Company.  And the choreographer wanted to do a piece based on the music of the poet Rabindranath Tagore actually, until…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=624.0,650.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Who is that?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  He’s a Bengali, Bengali poet who’s extremely famous in, in India.  Sort of like a national, a national…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Now?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  No, he’s, no, he’s, he died in 1940.  He was actually the first non-Westerner to win the Nobel Prize in, in 1913, in literature.  But he’s, he was sort of the ultimate Renaissance man. And, in addition to writing all of his poems and being a statesman and all that, he wrote, apparently, thousands of, of songs, which are extremely popular in India.  And the choreographer was doing a piece based on his songs, and wanted to do Western interludes for chamber ensemble, based on the melodies of the songs, but in a Western style. And he actually, I think, specifically was attracted to my music because I was a cantor, which was kind of a — I mean, he — the choreographer — is Jewish, though not particularly Jewishly involved.  But I think the fact that I was a singer is what, what attracted him to me. So, that piece I wrote about, it’s totally about a, a 50, a 50-minute piece.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=650.0,723.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Five-oh?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  Yeah.  I mean, the, including all the songs.  It alternates, a Bengali singer and tabla player, singing the traditional songs, or, or the, the Tagore songs, with my interludes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And what’s the Judaic connection?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  None, none, really.  Except that…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Well…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Not a — well, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No, I’m just, because it’s in…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It says “Kol India.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Right, right.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  So, is it just…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=723.0,746.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\u003cstrong\u003eCOHEN:\u003c/strong\u003e We, the, the piece went on tour to India.  And as part, and I went along with them. And so, it just, I, I met with the Jewish community in Bombay.  And spoke, spoke to them.  And they’re a fascinating community, and rather isolated, in many ways.  So, they were just, you know, I would just sing some congregational tunes back from the, from the United States, and they were just absolutely thrilled. Another fascinating thing on that trip, you know, was that I, I met with a, a community chorus in Trivandrum, which is a city in south, south India.  And basically, they sang their songs for me, and I sang a lot of Jewish songs for them, both my own and others.  And it was just an amazing way of communicating across the cultures, which was very wonderful.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=746.0,803.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  But the piece itself is not…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  The piece is not, no.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Is there anything you’re working on now that’s interesting to talk about?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  I just finished a, a big piece, which is not specifically Judaically connected, though I think the tunes are sort of Jewish-sounding.  Which is the Trio for Viola, Cello and Piano, which is sort of an odd combination, which was written because of good friends of mine who were a violist and a cellist.  For Maria Lambros, Michael Kannen, and Marija Stroke. And so, that was just premiered.  And that’s a piece I feel very good about, just as a, as a chamber piece. I also just did a setting of Psalm 82, which is the Psalm for, for Tuesday of the… which was commissioned by the Cantors Assembly.  And, and I think that’s a pretty strong, strong piece. I’ve, I’ve written, begun to get quite a few commissions from various synagogues and cantors, in the last few years.  So I’ve, I’ve landed up writing quite a few short choral and solo pieces on liturgical texts, in the last few years.  And that, you know, sort of, I feel good about that growing, that growing body of work.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=803.0,885.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Is there any one that stands out as, again, I like to use, the most important or most significant in your mind?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Of those, of those kinds of pieces.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  Perhaps the V’haarev Na, which is the piece that I wrote for Rabbi Leifman’s retirement.  It’s, that’s a, a very slow, sort of loving, loving meditation on God giving the Torah. And it just somehow really seemed to work for me as a, something which had connections with hazzanut, in a way, but was a real art song, at the same time.  You know, I sort of was hearing it, feeling a, a Mahler kind of adagio, I was writing it.  I don’t know if I succeeded at all in that.  But I, I think it works pretty well.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=885.0,937.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  What are you writing now?  What’s in sketch form?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  What’s in sketch form?  Right now, I’m, I’m mainly just finishing getting done with a couple of projects.  And I have a lot of performances of things going, going on.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have, I’m hoping to get started on an, an operatic project which I’ve been talking about for a long time, and may actually get started.  Charles Kondek, the librettist of Esther and some other works, and I have been speaking about it.  And with a tentative subject, right now, of, of the story of Sarah and Hagar from, from Genesis.  Which is…","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=937.0,981.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"LEVIN:  Do you know of any opera about Hagar?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Do I know of any opera about Hagar?  No.  Do you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Mm-hmm.  You’ll be shocked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Okay.  You want to tell me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You’re going to be really shocked.  Anton Rubinstein wrote an opera on Hagar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Oh, really?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’s very obscure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Well, I’d be very interested in…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Which is interesting for other reasons, because he converted to Christianity.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=981.0,1002.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"COHEN:  Uh-huh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And, the story of, if you write a story about Moses, okay.  That’s of interest to Judeo-Christian, right.  But Hagar, you know what I’m saying?  It — Hagar is already something that, outside the Judaic world, one wouldn’t really be thinking about it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=1002.0,1024.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"COHEN:  Well, but the story of, of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I know, but that’s glossed over.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Uh-huh.  Oh, I see.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You see.  I mean, it’s just historical.  I mean, I don’t, if you’re, this is not of major import.  It’s historical background.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Could be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  You’ll be fine.  It’s nothing that’s dwelt upon.  Even Abraham and Sarah is not dwelt upon. [HEBREW EXPRESSION] So it’s interesting, it raises an interesting question.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=1024.0,1045.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"COHEN:  Okay.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Anyway, you wouldn’t find the opera so easily.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN: Well…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN: The BBC Archives has it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Okay.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Things like that. Okay, I think, I think, did I get an insight into your work?  Especially the V’higad'ta L’vincha .  I’d like you to send me a tape of it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Do you have, now, this was not recorded, I mean, as you say, it’s not commercially released?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=1045.0,1065.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"COHEN:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  But it could be.  In other words, of that quality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  I, I, I believe so.  Or, you know, it, it could, there are some things which maybe could stand a little editing.  But it is, it is, it is definitely good recording quality, and a, and a, and quite a good performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Let me put it this way — does it give, does it have any soloists?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=1065.0,1085.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"COHEN:  No.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  No.  It has instruments?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  Yeah, it has a clarinet, a cello and piano.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  It’s recorded the way you wrote it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Yeah, yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  … though, it’s not…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Yeah.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN: …it’s not skimping on the instrumentation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\tCOHEN:  Yeah.  No, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a very, it’s a very representative recording.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  So, and it’s representative of the chorus itself?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Mmm-hmm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  And the quality of the chorus.  Even though whether or not the sonic, the technical may or may not be….","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=1085.0,1107.0"},{"id":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927/transcript/38518/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"COHEN:  Yeah, no, actually, the tech, the technical is quite, quite good, as well.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Could you get me a recording…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN: …over to our office?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  I’d like to hear it and see what…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Sure, sure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEVIN:  Great.  Alright, Gerald, it’s been great talking to you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCOHEN:  Very good to talk to you.  Thank you, Neil.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://milken.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1159/collection_resources/40262/file/111927#t=1107.0,1127.21067"}]}]}]}