Klarinet Archive - Posting 000392.txt from 1998/07

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] KlezMusik info
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 1998 02:17:28 -0400

Janet McNaught wrote:

>Jonathan Cohler played a terrific piece
>called "Klezmusic" - have you recorded that?

No, but I believe there is a recording out with Steve Girko and Simon
Sargon (the composer) on piano. It is a recording of all Simon Sargon
works. I don't know the label.

KlezMusik has an interesting derivation behind it. Simon wrote the piece
for me as a sort of "thank you" for recording his wonderful piece "Deep
Ellum Nights" on my first CD. When he called me to tell me about
KlezMusik, he asked me if I would mind the fact that he was premiering it
down in Dallas with Steve G., but that he had dedicated the work to me. I
told him that was fine with me and that I was very flattered he had written
the work for me.

So, Steve G. premiered the work and has recorded it, but it was indeed
written for me. I hope to record it as well on one of my future CDs,
because it is such a fun piece and audiences seem to really love it.

The first time I performed it was on a concert in which I also sat in with
the Klezmer Conservatory Band. That was a real treat! Having never played
Klezmer music before, I gave myself a crash course.

For people interested in playing KlezMusik, you should note that the
"klezmerization" of the music is not notated. Simon leaves it totally up
to the performer with the marking "Freely, in an utterly spontaneous and
improvisatory fashion".

As for "Deep Ellum Nights", when he and I premiered the work at the
Rockport Chamber Music Festival in 1991, I added many things to the part as
we played it (with his approval, of course), and he later added many of
these notations to the part. Even in this work, however, he expects a
great deal of liberty to be taken by the performers.

Several people asked me about obtaining KlezMusik at the ClarinetFest. I
believe both of these works are published (I only have the manuscript
originals), but I'm waiting to hear back from Simon on the information on
how best to obtain the music.

As soon as I hear from him, I'll post it to the list.

-----------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net

--------------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net

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