Klezmer Concertos & Encores (Milken Archive of American Jewish Music)

David Krakauer (Artist), Scott Goff (Artist), Gerard Schwarz (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Milken Archive
• ASIN: B0000C508L
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,167 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The New Yorker

"The Jewish elements in [Robert Starer's Kli Zemer] emerge proudly and poignantly, always conditioned by economy and taste."

Product Description

K’li zemer means "instrument of song" in Hebrew, and a traditional klezmer was an instrumental musician who entertained at weddings and other festive occasions in Jewish life. In recent times, the extraordinary popularity of "klezmer music" has inspired virtuoso showpieces for clarinet and flute by leading contemporary composers. Klezmer Concertos celebrates this joyous musical tradition with concert works from the 1940s to the present day.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Clarinet Doth Not a Klezmer Concert Make, March 23, 2008

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Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Klezmer Concertos & Encores (Milken Archive of American Jewish Music) (Audio CD)

I ordered this CD unheard because it includes a quartet by Osvaldo Golijov, an adventuresome young Argentine composer whose music frequently incorporates his Jewish and Hispanic heritages into his thorough modernism, with novel and exciting results. As it turns out, his piece, titled Rocketekya, is the most outstanding selection.

What's klezmer about this music, you ask? Chiefly it's the clarinet, played in the distinctive style of Eastern European Jewish celebratory music by David Krakauer, in a context of "regular" classical idiom. The effect is whimsical, like having Zero Mostel playing godfather at a Christian baptism.

The first and largest composition, Robert Starer's four-movement K'li Zemer, deserves to be called a concerto - in effect, a soloist of one musical culture declaiming eloquently in concert with an orchestra of another culture. I like it. I suspect I'll listen to it often, as I will the Golijov. The three compositions that separate Starer from Golijov, are truly encore pieces, interesting enough to hear once at the end of a fine performance but not substantial enough to hear again and again.

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different Jewish Music, December 24, 2003

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Wachovia "music nerd" (Wake Forest, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Klezmer Concertos & Encores (Milken Archive of American Jewish Music) (Audio CD)

This CD consists of "real" classical music. The music of this CD is classical suites INSPIRED by Klezmer Music. It is a really neat collection. My favourite pieces are Manginot and Hakdashot because they feature the bass clarinet, a rarity in solo music. This is a great CD and it is a wonderful way for a clarinetist or Music lover to expand their musical knowledge and tastes.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Klezmer meets classical, with great offspring, April 24, 2009

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S. J. Snyder "De gustibus non disputandum" (Various, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Klezmer Concertos & Encores (Milken Archive of American Jewish Music) (Audio CD)

This is another in the continually outstanding Milken Archive of American Jewish Music series. (I've met members of the Milken family once as part of a newspaper interview; kudos to the family for funding this, too.)

Anyway, the idea isn't unusual. Jazz musician Benny Goodman played classical music too, and klezmer is Jewish jazz music, if you will. So, especially if you like good clarinet music, in a klezmer style wrapped up inside classical music forms, buy it! With musicians such as David Krakauer and Osvaldo Golijov as part of the album you can't go wrong.