The human voice has no instrumental equal. There, I’ve said it. Why then do many fans of improvised instrumental music have such a problem with vocals? That’s a question beyond the scope of this blurb, but this Yazoo compendium might have a hand in converting the cynics. Among sung music few singers can match the classic Jewish cantors in terms of pious beauty and transcendency. When Leib Glantz soars atop a swirling sea of swelling pipe organ chords, reaching for the heavens, while realizing the timeless juxtaposition of joy and sorrow one cannot help be moved. Others, like Pierre Pinchik and Yossele Rosenblatt align along similar skyward trajectories, singing Hebrew verses in angelic voices that burst with elegiac emotion. Choir pieces intersperse with solo ventures and it’s the latter hymns that harbor the most intimacy. The first two cantorials alone easily offset the set’s cost in terms of undiluted listening pleasure. Thorough notes also offer insight and photos, revealing the cantors lives just as the sounds reveal their faith. What’s perhaps most surprising is the religious rigmarole surrounding the recordings that nearly resulted in their extinction. The old suspicions of secular technology touching and tampering with the sanctity of the sacred almost won out. Fortunately for modern listeners, the record label lobbyists persevered and these crackle coated sides survive to be marveled at and savored.
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