Re: more "classical" wedding klez

[Seth Austen <seth...>]

on 7/22/00 6:05 PM, Ari Davidow at ari (at) ivritype(dot)com wrote:

> That's the perfect way to send an article to the list--by sending the URL.
> (This is especially important for copyright reasons.)
> 
> Thanks, Ed.
> 
> I think this is the same article that was posted earlier this week, but it's a
> good one, so anyone who missed it the first time around should catch it now.
> It's a review of the new Budowitz and Khevrisa albums. I thought it was a bit
> harsh on Steve Greenman, although I also hear what the reviewer was trying to
> say (in terms of over-ornamentation).
> 
> Does anyone who has heard one or both new albums, and also heard Joel Rubin's
> "Beregovski's Khasene" want to comment? I liked the Rubin very much, and it is
> certainly a propos when discussing unknown, or less-well-known Jewish wedding
> repertoire (although, in this case, some Beregovski material has been
> available for decades). As with the Khevrisa album, the musicianship, to my
> ear, sounded quite excellent--Rubin is quite fine, and Kalman Balogh, the
> tsimbl player, is justly renowned on his own. The music didn't have the energy
> or feeling that I heard in Budowitz' recordings, but at that level of playing,
> I'd hate to be overly critical. I've also heard people describe the Rubin
> Beregovski album as everything from "elevator music" to "brilliant."
> 

At first listen, I was a bit underwhelmed with the Rubin, however, upon
subsequent listenings it really grew on me. It's definitely a more refined
and subtle approach, almost more classical in nature. I really like it alot,
however, I probably listen to Budowitz more often. This is as much what can
be listened to in the car as anything, ie, broader dynamic range on the
Rubin, have to keep going for the volume knob.

I too really appreciate the folksier/village ensemble feel of the Budowitz
recordings, find them much more energetic, which suits my taste. I did think
the reviewer was harsh on Greenman, I don't find him overly flamboyant as
far as ornamentation goes. The review had a few ridiculous errors, such as
the one in which they mention the clarinet style of the Khevrisa program.
I've listened to that album a bunch, never noticed the clarinet tracks :-)

All of this "early klezmer" interests me, I got hooked way back when I first
heard Zev Feldman and Andy Statman, after hearing that it took me awhile to
come to appreciate the bigger brass sound of the earlier revival groups (I
am a plucked and bowed string player). When I heard Leon Schwartz live in
NYC in the early 80s, I thought, yes, this is the way it must've sounded in
eastern-Europe, and ever since then, wanted to hear more of that string
based sound. Now, it seems like with the release of Budowitz and Khevrisa,
etc, this sound is coming back.

Seth
-- 
Seth Austen
please visit me on the web at http://www.sethausten.com
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