Works

Mechaye Hametim - Revival of the Dead (1985)

Revival of the Dead
Wiederbelebung der Toten
For Symphony Orchestra, Tenor, Bass-Baritone, Mens Choir & Boys Choir (52’)

This work was commissioned by the Dutch-Jew Bernard Bronkhorst as a monument in sound to the victims of the Holocaust and to the builders of Israel. The title is taken from the Eighteen Blessing of Hebrew liturgy: Blessed be Thou, who revives the Dead. The music incorporates melodies of traditional prayers and tunes in a manner balanced between documentary quotation and composition. It is essentially a symphonic work in four movements based on a single theme, the Judaica theme, which is developed organically, spreading, like a tree, with branches extending into each of the four movements.

World Premiere: 3rd, May 1987, Amsterdam
by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under David Porcelijn
soloists: Joseph Malovany, Tenor
Liewe Visser, bass baritone The Radio Choir of Hilversum
The Toelzer Knabenchor.

Further performances:

• Israel (Tel-Aviv and Haifa), December 1987, by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under David Porcelijn. 7 performances.
• Brussels, February 1989, Palaix des Beaux-Arts, the BRT orchestra under David Porcelijn.

 Poem a l’humanite ...Cyclopeen...Flamboyant...Une heure durant, la riche etoffe de ses quatre mouvements se deroule sans que la tension ne se relave un seul instant... 

La Libre Belgique/Paule Tran

• London, Barbican Hall, November 1990, by The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin mehta

 In the penultimate concert of its current Barbican series, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conserved most of its energy for the British premiere of Noam Sheriff’s Mechaye Hamethim...This piece composed with palpable sincerity, with a sense of horror and, in its final movement, glorification of the Deity... 

The Daily Telegraph/Geoffrey Norris

 ...From the opening bars until the final "Hallelujah" Sheriff demonstrates that the evocation of the Jewish experience is not the prerogative of the written word, canvas or carving. Music has a central role in projecting Jewish life, and with Mechaye Hamethim, the void that has existed since Schoenberg’s "A survivor from Warsaw" may now be filled. 

Jewish Chronicle, London/David Sonin

• Frankfurt, Alte Oper, September 1994, by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Noam Sheriff

 Noam Sheriff hat die Vorgaben erfuellt: Sein werk ist durchrungen von juedischer Musikgeschichte, aber auch von westeuropaeischer, vorsichtig avangardistischer Tradition. 

Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung/Ellen Kohlhaas

 ...ein Gesamtkunstwerk geschaffen, dessen Qualitaet ihm einen Platz in den Konzertsaelen sichern wird. ... Die Musik ist von ausserordentlicher manchmal schmerzender Intensitaet, von deutlichem Symbolgehalt und von einer klaren Aussage... 

Frankfurter Rundschau/Klaus K. Fueller

• Louisville, USA, May 1995, by the Louisville Symphony Orchestra under Noam Sheriff
• Ludwigsburg festival, Germany, August 1995, by The Lithuania Philharmonic orchestra under Noam Sheriff
• Lublin. Poland, March 1996, by The Lublin Symphony Orchestra under Jakob Kovalsky