July 23, 2024
Like many inventions of the diaspora, klezmer is a mix of cultural, stylistic, and historical influences merging into something unique and distinctly Jewish. In Episode 12 of American Jewish Music from the Milken Archive, Leonard Nimoy takes us on a journey to discover the genre's origins, evolution and influence on Jewish and broader musical landscapes.
Spotlighting works by Paul Schoenfield, Robert Starer, Ofer Ben-Amots, Jacob Weinberg and Yehudi Wyner, and featuring the talents of David Krakauer, among many others, this episode is a k’li zemer (musical instrument) of entertainment and insights that will get you jazzed about klezmer.
Stream Episode 12: Klezmer
Conceived as a "stylistic confrontation" between Eastern European cantorial and klezmer traditions, Ofer Ben-Amots’ 1994 composition plays with dualities such as sacred/secular, song/dance, heaven/earth, and piety/celebration—juxtaposing the two primary musical figures of Eastern European Jewish culture. The Milken Archive recording of Celestial Dialogues features two of these traditions’ most prominent contemporary practitioners: Cantor Alberto Mizrahi and clarinetist David Krakauer.
Beyond his work as a composer, Bruce Adolphe is one of our era’s leading musical thinkers and entertainers. In this 1998 interview with the Milken Archive, he discusses several of his Jewish-related compositions, which range from opera and orchestral music to song cycles and imaginative arrangements. He also recounts how one of his operas helped ignite David Krakauer’s interest in the world of klezmer.
Young cantors across the spectrum of religious observance are rediscovering the golden age of cantorial music. In the Forward, cantors Judith Berkson, David Childs and Zach Golden discuss their favorite cantors (and chazantes–female practitioners of cantorial art) of the early 20th century–and demonstrate how to perform a krekhts.
