Klarinet Archive - Posting 000198.txt from 1995/03

From: Alan Saul <saul+@-----.EDU>
Subj: Giora Feidman with Cleveland Quartet
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 14:34:27 -0500

I got to hear Feidman last night, doing Osvaldo Golijov's "The Dreams and
Prayers of Isaac the Blind" in what I think was its second performance in
the United States. This is a piece written for these musicians,
co-commissioned by a lot of people and places.

Feidman played A then Bb soprano, followed by bass, then Eb, then I think
Bb soprano and finally alto for the postlude. He sometimes blended
amazingly with the strings, and much of the time produced sounds that are
far from typical for the clarinet. His upper register bass playing was
astounding, in particular, as was his joyful and profound Eb music. He
imitated the shofar (ram's horn) at one place and sounded indistinguishable
from a fine Rosh Hashanah player. The piece is subtitled "for klezmer
clarinet and string quartet" but the klezmer-style playing was somewhat
limited.

I wasn't crazy about the piece, but this doesn't necessarily say anything
about the music itself. It does provide a great opportunity to hear a
master using many of his tools, however. The quartet is finishing its
career this year (I really felt old seeing them after a long time, since my
memories of them from 20 years ago had them 20 years younger than they are
now, and Paul Katz has white hair now!), so catch them while you can. I
know they are doing this piece in New York this month, for those in the
area.

--------------------
Alan Saul
saul+@-----.edu

   
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