title: Kabbalat Shabbat (Friday Evening Service)
composer: Ben-Haim, Paul
publisher: IMP (distributed in the USA by Theodore Presser)
catalogue number: Presser 512-00007 (IMP 328)
voicing: satb; solo S and baritone or tenor
accompaniment chamber orchestra
language: Hebrew
text: Friday evening synagogue liturgy
year of composition: 1967
timing: 40:00
recordings:
level of difficulty: moderate
description: A setting of the Friday evening synagogue liturgy according to the American Reform Jewish ritual. Commissioned by the National Federation of Temple Youth, the work is not difficult for a good high school choir.
title: Sacred Service (Avodath Hakodesh) (Saturday morning Reform liturgy)
composer: Bloch, Ernest
publisher: Broude Brothers
catalogue number:
voicing: SATB (div), solo baritone
accompaniment: orchestra
language: Hebrew (optional English)
text: Sabbath morning liturgy
year of composition: 1933
timing: 50 minutes
recordings: SONY SM2K47533
level of difficulty: challenging
description: It took Bloch four years to complete his Sacred Service (Avodat Ha-kodesh). Although it was commissioned to be based on the Sabbath morning liturgy, this grand work, with its universal themes, its post-romantic organic conception, scored for large orchestra, chorus, and baritone soloist, is more appropriate for the concert stage than for the synagogue bimah. Bloch himself considered it more a sacred Hebrew oratorio than a Jewish liturgical service.
title: Service Sacré (Friday night and Saturday morning)
composer: Darius Milhaud
publisher: Salabert
catalogue number: EAS15270A
voicing: SATB div, baritone solo
accompaniment: orchestra (or organ or piano)
language: Hebrew (alternate French)
text: liturgy
year of composition: 1947
timing: 56:00
recordings: Naxos
level of difficulty: moderate
description: In this most charming setting of the Jewish Sabbath liturgy, Milhaud subconsciously evokes the synagogue melodies of his childhood. This work is not as through-composed as Bloch’s more famous setting; various sections can be added or omitted.