Re: questions

[Marvin <physchem...>]

I was at the Damrosch Park concert where Perlman played with a group of
klezmer musicians.  There was NO sheet music in sight.  There may have been
a practice session beforehand, and if so it wasn't done "off the cuff", but
Perlman certainly gave the impression that he was improvising.

The CD of that concert was done in a studio after the concert because there
were problems with the sound system.  That's too bad, because live music is
more exciting, even if it is less perfect.

I also saw Perlman with the group that made the second CD, at Radio City
Music Hall.  That was certainly not improvised, and I think the first CD was
far better.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky" <yiddish (at) waletzky(dot)com>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 9:50 AM
Subject: RE: questions


> Judith,
>
> They say that this is how Yitshak Perlman played klezmer on the second CD
> with the klezmer bands.  Despite all the hoopla of the film, concert
> series, and first extraordinarily successful CD, Perlman never really
> learned how to play klezmer music.  So he asked a "trustworthy, talented
> musician" like Hankus to transcribe every note for him to play.
>
> >Would that be enough for the hypothetical Yiddish song/klezmer melodies
> >repertoire in question, or if it were at all possible to hear the music
> >in addition to having the transcriptions and background notes, would
> >that be preferable?
>
> Enough for what?  Learning the style or just learning how to improvise?
>
> Obviously despite:
> 1) being the greatest living fiddler in the world,
> 2) having heard the music
> 3) having a lifelong familiarity with the "repertoire of Yiddish song
>    and/or of klezmer music"
> 4) having much background in the (Jewish) tradition
> 5) having heard commercial and non-commercial recordings
> 6) having the ability to speak Yiddish since childhood and
> 7) being familiar with the tunes and the style
>
> may still not be enough to being able to play klezmer music.
>  Transcriptions were preferable for Perlman.  The fact is that musicians
> play from transcriptions so much more often than anyone imagines - today,
> in the old days, and throughout the klezmer revival.  The quality of the
> music then reflects the skillfulness of the transcriber more than the
> talent of the musician, including, in some cases I have seen, the
> transcriber's clout/insistence that the musician play the music exactly
"as
> it is written".  The revival was built on a "trustworthy, talented
> musician" writing out the transcriptions.
>
> This is also why Secunda, the composer/music director rejected the then
> 20-year old Gershwin from playing in his Yiddish theater orchestra.
>  Secunda couldn't believe that someone could be brilliant enough of a
> musician to play the music well "enough" if he couldn't read music, the
> moral equivalent of a "transcription".  Yes, in the case of Gershwin, a
> rare talent can do that.  Pavarotti can still not read music.
>
> Or was the problem in Perlman's case that playing classical music with
> orchestras his whole life, ruined his ability to improvise?   Who knows.
>
> Uh oh, did I just tell some big secrets?   Tse, tse, tse.
>
>
> Reyzl


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