Yehezkel Braun was born in Breslau Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) in 1922 and died in 2014, aged 92. In 1924, he moved with his family to British Palestine and subsequently spent some of his earlier years working on a Kibbutz. During World War II, he fought in Italy as a volunteer for the Jewish Brigade of the British Army. Initially, he intended to pursue a career as a farmer, but his passion for music was so strong that he decided to undertake formal musical training at the Israeli Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv. After graduation, he became a music teacher and later joined the music faculty of Tel-Aviv University, eventually securing the post of Professor of Music. In 1975 he studied Gregorian Chant with Father Dom Jean Claire in the Benedictine Monastery of Solesmes in France, coupling his research interests in this particular field with a lifelong fascination for traditional Jewish melodies.

Braun was an extremely prolific composer writing works for choir, orchestra, chamber ensemble and vocal music, as well as providing scores for several films, the theatre and dance companies. His output includes concertos for piano, flute, horn and harp, Sinfonia concertante for violin and orchestra, Noctuae Carmina for viola and orchestra, Symphonic Dances, Divertimento for orchestra, Hallel for tenor, mixed choir and orchestra, The Jordan Valley (a dance suite for chamber orchestra) and Illuminations to the Book of Ruth for chamber orchestra.

Min HaAyara (From the Shtetl), a suite for violin and a chamber orchestra, was completed in 2007 and draws its material from music Braun originally composed for the play Hershel of Ostropol. The work also exists in alternative versions for voice, violin and piano and for chamber orchestra with trumpet and clarinet, both instruments that are closely associated with Klezmer music. From the Shtetl evokes nostalgic memories of Chassidic dance music that would have been heard in a Jewish village or town in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. It is a skilfully put together and imaginatively scored unbroken sequence of dance movements encompassing contrasting moods and tempi and cast in a direct and immediately accessible musical language.

from notes by Erik Levi © 2023