Lewandowski: Eighteen Liturgical Psalms

Composer Louis Lewandowski is considered a pioneer of modern Jewish liturgical music. His reforms led to a new Jewish liturgy that combined the Western musical tradition with Jewish synagogal singing. Lewandowski's style was strongly influenced by Mendelssohn. Deutsche Grammophon is releasing a world premiere recording of the complete 1879 "Eighteen Liturgical Psalms" by the Hungarian Radio Choir conducted by Andor Izsák. At the time of its composition, the title page of Lewandowski's collection read almost like a provocation - written for "soloists, choir and organ," it said. Lewandowski's work thus represented a blatant break with the previous tradition, according to which mixed choirs and organs were forbidden in synagogues. The greatest novelty of Lewandowski's work, however, was that the Hebrew psalms were performed in German. Andor Izsák, who already edited the score for the new edition published by Breitkopf & Härtel, which was thought to have been lost, now directs this world premiere recording, which was recorded in the legendary Studio 6 of the Hungarian Radio in Budapest, opened in 1935.