June 1990 The B'nai Brith Covenant by Rick Kardonne

Oskar Morawetz: Winner of a Juno for classical music

TORONTO - Toronto Jewish composer Oskar Morawetz has recently won the coveted Juno Award for the best classical composition, Concerto for Harp and Chamber Orchestra.

The Junos, Canada's national annual music awards, is just the latest in a series of major awards for Morawetz.

Morawetz was the first composer in Canada to receive, in 1987, the Order of Ontario, honouring citizens who have demonstrated excellence and achievement of the highest degree and distinction.

The Czech-born Morawetz is considered to be one of Canada's most world-acclaimed composer. One hundred and sixty orchestras in the world have performed his works.

He represents the golden era of contemporary serious music, the age of great Eastern European modernists, whose standard-bearers included Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartok, Shostokovich and Paul Hindemith.

Romantic in spirit yet freely avant-garde in style, Morawetz's spirit is complex, dramatic and sometimes dissonant but always free.

Never confined to a rigid mathematical system as is often the case among more recent composers, Morawetz's music is always accessible to the listener.

Morawetz's work is positively Jewish, not only in his outlook but also in his actual musical work.

One of his greatest works, From the Diary of Anne Frank, premiered by the Toronto Symphony under fellow Czech emigre and then-conductor Karel Ancerl, is a strong affirmation of not only Jewish survival under the most dangerous of circumstances but also of traditional Jewish compassion towards those deemed less fortunate.

The soprano role of Anne Frank expresses sorrow for her friend Lies, whom she feels will be doomed by the Nazi death machine. Ironically, it was Lies who survived the Holocaust but not Anne.

Eight years after Diary was premiered by the Toronto Symphony, it was performed at Toronto's Beth Tikvah Congregation also with a full orchestra, with soprano Belva Spiel.

Present at both performances was the late Victor Kugler, who sheltered the Franks in his Amsterdam house. After the war, Kugler moved to Toronto where he recently died.

Morawetz's work was the most authentic dramatization of the Diary of Anne Frank that appeared on a stage in prime spotlight conditions.

He continues to express his scorn of the more familiar Broadway version. "Only until it is more than halfway over does one feel its tragic significance. For the first half, you almost feel as though it is a comedy."

Another Jewish biblical-rooted Morawetz work, Psalm 22 for Voice and Orchestra, was commissioned and premiered by Maureen Forrester in 1984 with Andrew Davis conducting the Toronto Symphony.

William Littler, the Toronto Star music critic, wrote: "It was perhaps one of the most moving moments yet experienced at Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall. It was the kind of spontaneous tribute that's rare from Symphony audiences."

Another well-known Morawetz work was his In Memory of Martin Luther King, which was premiered in Cleveland's Severance Hall in the presence of Dr. King's widow, and has since been extensively performed around the world.

The Concerto for Harp and Orchestra has been frequently performed by Canada's premiere harpist, Erica Goodman. Under her seasoned touch, the performance of this work regularly results in an attentive silence of the orchestra.

This is proof that contemporary music of true skill and  melodic power can captivate today's audiences.

This piece is not a showcase of virtuoso technical wizadry. But it does break vital new ground by forging new frontiers in harp technique.

Morawetz forgoes the traditional rippling arpeggio effect in return for several challenging new effects which will make future music for the harp more diverse.

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1917, Morawetz moved to Canada after the German occupation of his country in 1940.

Now, for the first time, he is returning to his homeland. But he has mixed feelings.

"On one hand, I am most happy that Czechoslovakia is once again a free country. But on the other hand, I am most disturbed to see Czechoslovak President Vaclac Havel extending such a warm welcome to Yassir Arafat."