Paul Frankenburger left his native Germany in 1933 in response to the Nazis’ rise to power. Up to that point, he had been fully immersed in the German tradition and his compositions followed in the footsteps of the great German post-Romantics like Mahler. Yet after arriving to the British Mandate of Palestine, not only did he change his name to Paul Ben-Haim, but his compositional style underwent a profound change as well. Devised by the young Israeli violinist Itamar Zorman, this album tracks how the music of the region gradually became an integral part of Ben-Haim’s compositions. Six works spanning four decades represent different stages in this process of synthesis between East and West, the transformation of Frankenburger into Ben-Haim.
Evocation: Violin Works by Paul Ben-Haim
