On Perlman

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

>Velvele,
>
>Ya know, if you take every bad review to heart, you're going to be a very
>aggravated person - even the best artists have gotten bad reviews. Don't
>argue, just ignore it. Or even better, a lot of artists simply don't read
>reviews, leaving their friends to bring them the good ones, so that they
>don't have to ever see the bad ones and feel bad about it. Take my advice,
>it'll keep you from an ulcer.

Velvl,

Alana is absolutely right.  Listen to her wise words.   Arguing and 
attacking someone who gave you a bad review is only self-defeating,
besides giving you ulcers.   No point in it.   If you want to correct
his 
facts, it's better to do it privately. 


>Now, as to Perlman, Ari's right, what he's doing is fiddling around with
>klezmer players - but he is a classical violinist. As a result, I've found
>that he doesn't really add anything to the performances of the klezmers,
>except to  lend his name and so get them publicity that they wouldn't
>otherwise have had. Now, don't get me wrong, that's a valuable thing for
>him to do, but it's not klezmer. He's a wonderful musician, but he isn't
>immersed in the same tradition as the klezmorim are- this isn't a
>criticism. Cantorial music is a different style, too, and is subject to
>it's own standards, as is classical. I found that Perlman's presence on
>the CD and the stage (I've seen them live and have the CDs) didn't
>detract, but that he wasn't familiar enough with the musical style to
>really improvise well enough to join in the music fully.
>
>Alana Suskin

Velvl,

My husband Josh Waletzky edited "In the Fiddler's House" (although
created it is probably a better description of his work.)  I, a 
non-musician, have heard many comments made to him and to me about 
Perlman's performance and I can tell you that Ari's and Alana's
assessment 
of Perlman at concerts is shared by most klezmers.   What Alana wrote 
above seems to be exactly what a great many of them have said.  Some
have 
said that he played it better in the first weeks when he was first 
learning it than he is playing now.  I was at Damrosch but at none of
the 
subsequent concerts, and I have been told that he requested that every 
note of every melody be transcribed for him and he is playing every note 
just as they have written it for him - not really klezmer.   

The CD is magnificent though.