Klarinet Archive - Posting 000191.txt from 2006/10

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Klezmer Concerto
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:16:07 -0400

Wonderful news David.

Some three or four years ago, Bob Levin stayed at my house. I
live about 1-1/2 hours from Monterey and he was to play a
performance of the Brahms trio (with clarinet of course). At that
time, I knew of Krakauer only as a klezmer performer, so I was
anxious to hear him in the Brahms trio. I met David for the
first time backstage before the performance and he was very
polite and friendly. Easy guy to get to know.

The performance was outstanding! For a guy so steeped in the
klezmer tradition to be able to shift to the Brahms trio and play
it so beautifully was an eye opener to me. I kind of expected a
Benny Goodman-like approach to the work, namely pleasant and
well-done but not superior from any point of view.

After the performance I went backstage to pick up Levin for the
trip to my place, and Krakauer was surrounded with well-wishers.
I waved to him and left.

He is quite an artist!

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: David Lamb [mailto:dlamb@-----.com]
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 8:35 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] Klezmer Concerto

On Saturday, October 14, I attended a concert of the Portland
Chamber
Orchestra to hear the premiere of the Klezmer Concerto by Ofer
Ben-Amots.
David Krakauer was the soloist for whom the piece was written,
and he
surpassed any imagination I may have had about what might be
possible on the
clarinet. Yaki Bergman conducted the strings and percussion of
the Portland
Chamber Orchestra and provided colorful and powerful support.
The Concerto
is a gem, brilliant and at the same time thoughtful. Ben-Amots
is one of
the few younger composers I know who is able to be genuinely
lyrical without
sounding old-fashioned. His music is thoroughly modern and yet
completely
his own, drawing on his Jewish roots and the cantorial tradition.
The first
movement is slow and declamatory with long lines tinged with
melancholy and
yearning. The second movement is subtitled "Dance of the Seven
Circles" and
contains some of the most sinuous and passionate melodies I have
heard.
There is also much humor in it owing to the unexpected
juxtaposition of
unlike elements. The final movement is an orchestral Halleluyah
with
compelling dance rhythms and spectacular clarinet virtuosity.

I go to a lot of concerts and hear a lot of new music, but it is
rare when I
hear a work that makes me stand up and
shout. This is what we all did at the end of the Klezmer
Concerto. The
last ecstatic note was not over before the audience jumped up,
yelled,
whistled, and carried on as if it were a rock concert. And this
was not a
young audience. There were many people even older than I am,
including a
few Holocaust survivors. We loved this music! Because the
piece was
commissioned by David Krakauer, he will no doubt own it for a
while, and in
any case, there are probably not many clarinetists who could
handle it well.
I hope that there will eventually be a recording of the piece,
but in the
meantime, if you have a chance to hear Krakauer play it in
concert, don't
pass it up.

David Lamb in Seattle

-----------------------------------------------------------------
--
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc.
http://www.woodwind.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org