John Zorn, Ben Caplan, Giora Feidman & Gershwin Quartet, produced by Cobie Ivens.
I– John Zorn. (19:32 min)
John is an American composer and saxophonist. He draws inspiration from other artists and various musical styles. He is particularly drawn to underground artists and music styles that are extremely loud, wild, or creative. His interest in cartoon music has led him to compose a string quartet with cartoon themes, cartoon music for solo piano, and the soundtrack for an animated series. Other interests include Jewish music, improvisation, film music, and musical hybrids (combining multiple styles in a single song).
CD. Issachar – John Zorn.
LABEL: Tzadik (1998) code: TZ 7122. VIDEO
II– Ben Caplan. (14:51 min)
The Canadian singer is well at home in Old Stock, a play set in the year 1908. Chaim and Chaya are two Jewish immigrants trying to enter Canada. They are both young, poor, sick and… in love. Ben Caplan tells the story with ‘chutzpah’, as the Yiddish word for young lovers is called. Caplan has a full voice with which he can growl deeply, a la Tom Waits. The music in Old Stock is strongly influenced by klezmer, the music that Jewish immigrants brought with them from Eastern Europe at the time. The title of the piece is a nod to a statement by a Canadian politician who made a distinction between refugees and Old Stock Canadians. With Old Stock, Caplan and the other creators of this play, all Old Stock themselves and descendants of refugees, make a convincing appeal for more empathy and humanity.
CD. Old stock – Ben Caplan.
LABEL: Membran (2018) code: BCM004. VIDEO
III– Giora Feidman & Gershwin Quartet. (24:47 min)
Feidman was born in Argentina in 1936, but his parents came from Romania. Fleeing anti-Semitism there, they ended up in the South American country in the 1930s. Later in life, Giora Feidman moved back to Israel. There the clarinettist specialized in playing the Jewish folk music of Eastern Europe, klezmer. Giora Feidman is a classically trained clarinettist who also plays tango, chamber music, Gershwin and Schubert. The Gershwin Quartet, founded in 1990 in St. Petersburg, stands in the great Russian tradition and combines genius with emotion, virtuosity with lyrical expression.
CD. Klezmer & strings van Giora Feidman & Gershwin Quartet.
LABEL: Pianissimo (2009) code: 0913. VIDEO
Thanks to:
