The Jerusalem Post Reviews Exodus by The Orchestra Now and Leon Botstein
Leon Botstein conducts The Orchestra Now at Carnegie Hall. Photo by David DeNee
In a review of Exodus, the newest album from The Orchestra Now and Bard College President Leon Botstein, the Jerusalem Post calls the performances “razor sharp.” The Post spoke to Botstein about the album, which explores “the underappreciated contribution of three Jewish immigrants whose lives were irrevocably altered by the rise of Nazism: Walter Kaufman, who fled Czechoslovakia for India; Marcel Rubin, who emigrated from Austria to Mexico; and Josef Tal, who left Berlin for Palestine in 1935.”
Exploring the historical context of the compositions included in Exodus, writer Liran Gurkiewicz asked Botstein to elaborate on the interplay between national identity and compositional practice. Of the three composers included on the album, Josef Tal “was the only [one] to develop a career as a professional composer,” Botstein told the Post. “He was thoroughly committed to form a universal language, one that transcends the differences of national ethnic identity, transforming the local into the universal.”
Post Date: 03-11-2025
Exploring the historical context of the compositions included in Exodus, writer Liran Gurkiewicz asked Botstein to elaborate on the interplay between national identity and compositional practice. Of the three composers included on the album, Josef Tal “was the only [one] to develop a career as a professional composer,” Botstein told the Post. “He was thoroughly committed to form a universal language, one that transcends the differences of national ethnic identity, transforming the local into the universal.”
Post Date: 03-11-2025