Folk Songs in Concert Form

The Pro Arte Trio is composed of three classically trained musicians: soprano Belva Spiel, flutist Suzanne Shulman, and pianist Jane Coop. In this recording they perform folk songs as art songs, in five languages—French, German, English, Ladino, and Yiddish—grouped into medleys and arranged by Canadian ethnomusicologist and composer Dr. Mieczyslaw Kolinski (1901–1981).

The medley of English-language songs is comprised of four American folk standards. There are seven songs in Ladino, the language of the Sephardic Jews exiled from Spain in 1492, who retained the Spanish language interspersed with Hebrew. French, German, and Yiddish, the secular language of the Jews of Eastern Europe, are represented with six songs each.

The liner notes include the lyrics of each song along with a summary in English, and conclude with an erudite musicological analysis of "The Tonal Structure of the Original Tunes."

Track Listing

101	Je M'en Vais à Livaro / Voici le Mois de Mai / La Recette du Cuisinier / Les Charpentiers du Roi / Viens Nous y Promener / La Bergère (medley)	Mieczyslaw Kolinski and the Pro Arte Trio	07:04
102	Verstohlen geht der Mond auf / Je höher der Kirchturm / Ich armes Maidlein / Die Gedanken sind frei / Ich hab die Nacht geträumet / Das Lieben bringt gross Freud (medley)	Mieczyslaw Kolinski and the Pro Arte Trio	07:28
103	Buffalo Gals / Wayfaring Stranger / Sweet Betsy from Pike / When Johny Comes Marching Home (medley)	Mieczyslaw Kolinski and the Pro Arte Trio	04:48
201	Durme, Hermosa Donzeya / Arvolera / Los Bilbilicos / Una Niña que yo Amo / Cuando el Rey Nimrod / Si Savias, gio ya mia / Noches, Noches (medley)	Mieczyslaw Kolinski and the Pro Arte Trio	09:59
202	Zog mir du Schein Meidele / A Gneive / Schlof zhe main Feigele / Hulyet, Hulyet, Beize Vintn / Furt a Chussed! (Chassidic) / Sha, Shtill! (Chassidic) (medley)	Mieczyslaw Kolinski and the Pro Arte Trio	08:44