Yiddish Songs for the Soul by HY WOLFE

Wolfe performed the title role in “Yankl der Shmid” (Yankl the Blacksmith) for the Folksbine Yiddish Theatre, which was one of his many appearances for this renown theater. Other performances include “Grine Felder” (Green Fields) for the Yiddish Public Theatre and several musical reviews for the Joseph Papp Public Theatre. Mr. Wolfe’s video “No Shmaltz,” which showcases his many talents, was recently re-issued in DVD format.

Mr. Wolfe has toured the east coast with several shows that he mounted with Mr. Herbert Kaplan as Musical Director. Mr. Wolfe’s link to the “goldene keyt” (the golden chain) is through the great actors with whom he has had the honor to perform such as Shifra Lerer, Mina Bern, Felix Fibich, David Rogow, Norman Kruger, Richard Carlow, Rachel Botchan, Suzanne Toren, Steve Sterner, Miriam Hoffman, Zypora Spaisman, Leon Liebgold, Bernard Mendelovitch, Emil Gorovets and Miriam Kressyn. Mr. Wolfe takes great pleasure in the realization that this CD dedicated to his parents is a triumph of the human spirit, a living memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and a celebration of the resilience of Yiddish culture to survive and flourish in a world that at one time attempted to destroy all that is Yiddishayt.

Hy Wolfe

Music Titles

01 אין דער פֿינצטער 3:16 in der finster

02 אַ פֿרײלעכס 2:27 a freylekhs

03 חבֿיבֿהלע 3:07 havivele

04 דאָס פֿרײלעכע חסידל 2:08 dos freylekhe khosidl

05 עס בענקט זיך נאָך די קינדער-יאָרן 4:43 es benkt zikh

06 חסידימלעך 2:55 khasidimlekh

07 אַ זעלנער בייַ פֿראָים-יאָסל 3:41 a zelner

08 וויגליד 3:15 viglid

09 אין ווינטער פֿאַרנאַכטן אויף רוסישע פֿעלדער 3:44 in vinter farnakhtn

10 ר‘ נחמן בראַצלעווער 1:45 reb nakhmen

11 איינזאַם 3:22 eynzam

12 איך בין אַ ליטװאַק, זי איז אַ "גאַליץ" 2:28 I'm a Litvak and she's a Galitz

13 אומגליק–בלוז 3:53 Umglik Blues

14 נומער פֿיר "המן–טאַש געסל" 3:19 Number Four Humentash Lane

15 דאָס ליד 2:02 dos lid

Herbert Kaplan is a pianist, composer, arranger and musical director. In 1996, Mr. Kaplan ventured for the first time into the world of Yiddish theater and Yiddish music as arranger and musical director on The Maiden of Ludmir for the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater. Here he met Hy Wolfe. Subsequently, Mr. Kaplan and Mr. Wolfe worked together on a production of Yankl der Shmid, also for the Folksbiene, as well as on the staging of Grine Felder for a new company formed by the legendary Zypora Spaisman. They have appeared together countless times on the concert stage, often with Shifra Lerer and Mina Bern, the two great divas of the Yiddish theater. It has been Mr. Kaplan’s goal to keep alive the essence and tradition of the music while bringing to it a modern sensibility that reflects Yiddish culture today. This album, which took a year to complete, includes a number of songs never before recorded. It is the fruit of many years of collaboration between Herbert Kaplan and Hy Wolfe. Mr. Kaplan’s other credits include more than four decades of music making in theaters and opera houses, and on concert stages in New York and throughout the United States. Three of his original musicals and a children’s opera have been produced. Mr. Kaplan is looking forward to the premier of a commissioned work for string trio this season.

Herbert Kaplan

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