Itzhak Perlman celebrates Passover with a 'Musical Feast'

The springtime Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins Friday evening, is about liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt. In his one-hour special, superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman shares Passover music from many traditions, plus songs and memories from his childhood in Israel. The program draws its shape from the Passover seder and, like that ancient family ritual, the music gets progressively giddier as the show moves along.

Selections include music from familiar classical works (Handel's Israel in Egypt) and from lesser-known classical pieces (Halevy's opera La Juive, with Jan Peerce; Dessau's 1934 German setting of the Haggadah; Korngold's glorious Passover Psalm). Perlman's playing is represented by a duet with Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, as well as the beloved theme from Schindler's List. Other recordings include unusual takes on traditional tunes, like a swing "Dayenu," "Who Knows One?" in Ladino, the zany Moishe Oysher treatment of "Chad Gadya," and "Go Down, Moses," sung by Paul Robeson.

Track listing

Part 1

Dayenu Variations
Arr. Jon Simon
Jon Simon, piano

He led them through the deep (from iIsrael in Egypt)
George Frideric Handel
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

Ha Lahma Anya
Moishe Oysher; arr. Simon Spiro
Cantor Simon Spiro and Schola Hebraeica

Ma Nishtanah

Knechte waren wir dem Pharao in Agypten (from Hagadah Shel Pessach)
Paul Dessau; text by Max Brod
Alfred Muff, bass; North German Radio Choir; Hamburg Alsterspatzen Children's Choir; Gerd Albrecht, conductor

Theme from Schindler's List
John Williams
Itzhak Perlman, violin; John Williams, conductor

Chassidic Medley: Adir Hu/Moshe Emes
Andy Statman, clarinet; David Grisman, mandolin

Rally (from The Prince of Egypt)
Hans Zimmer

Children's Dance (from Cantata of the Bitter Herbs)
Ernst Toch
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, conductor

Go Down Moses
Paul Robeson

He smote all the first-born of Egypt (from Israel in Egypt)
George Frideric Handel
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

The Ten Plagues (from Cantata of the Bitter Herbs)
Ernst Toch
Theodore Bikel, narrator; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, conductor

He rebuked the Red Sea (from Israel in Egypt)
George Frideric Handel
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

But the waters overwhelmed their enemies (from Israel in Egypt)
George Frideric Handel
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

Dayenu (swing version)
Sam Medoff and The Yiddish Swingtet

Kama Ma'alot Tovot - Dayeinu
Yaffa Yarkoni

O Dieu, Dieu de nos peres (from La Juive)
Jacques Fromental Halevy
Jan Peerce, tenor; Victor Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Wilfred Pelletier, conductor

Zog, Maran
Shmuel Bugatch; lyrics by Avrom Reisen
Martha Schlamme, singer; Robert DeCormier, conductor

Chassidic Medley: Adir Hu/Moshe Emes
Andy Statman, clarinet; David Grisman, mandolin

Part 2

T'filas tal
Itzhak Perlman, violin; Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot; Rusell Ger, conductor

Passover Psalm, op. 30
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Bavarian Radio Chorus, Munich Radio Orchestra; Marcello Viotti, conductor

Oh, Freedom [actual track name is Spiritual Trilogy] Odetta

Miriam's Song
Debbie Friedman

Ani Maamin
The Western Wind

Shir Ha'ma'alot
Yossele Rosenblatt

Eliyohu hanovi arr. Zalmen Mlotek

Hodu Lashem (Psalm 118)
Rabbi Samuel Elyahu Taub
Benzion Shenker and the Modzitzer Choral Ensemble, Elliot Birnbaum, director

Adir Hu
arr. Moni Amarilio
Yehoram Gaon

Adir Hu
Shlomo Carlebach and Neginah Orchestra

Ken Supiesse y Entendiesse
Fortuna

Khad Gadyo
arr. Zalmen Mlotek
Children's Chorus of Workmen's Circle Schools, Zalmen Mlotek, conductor

Chad Gadya
Shoshana Damari

Un Kavritico
Arr. Flory Jagoda
Cantor Gaston Bogomolni

Chad Gadya [actual track name is Concluding Folk Hymns]
Moishe Oysher

Le'Shana Ha'ba'ah