Re: Khevrisa

[r l reid <ro...>]

Lori Cahan-Simon (and others, privately) wrote:
> 
> Nu, give us a review of the concert....

I started to do so and felt that my "review" was next to useless.  I 
find that I don't usually have the vocabulary to communicate substance 
about a musical event.  However, I'll give you what I wrote for what
its worth.  Please remember, tho I am an enthusiast and have my pockets
of knowledge, I make no claim to any academic rigor in my pitiful "analysis".
It is mostly subjective, emotional rambling.

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Since I mentioned it in the other posting, I suppose I should report
that IMHO it was perfectly awesome.  The audience clearly loved it as
well, and I suspect it was not a primarily "Jewish music" audience, but
rather the broadly educated audience of this venues World Music Institute
series.

The first set was a delight, and much of it would have been familiar 
to anyone who's heard the CD.  

But most of the second set was new to me and and it wasn't easy stuff.  

More than once as they reached the end of a phrase or a verse or a tune
I realized I had stopped breathing at some point, letting out an intensly
satisfying exhale as an ending note decayed.

Stu Brotman gets a devine sound from his (also visually beautiful) bass 
and has such masterful timing and sense of line.

Zev Feldman consistantly makes such tasty choices in rhythm, in melody 
lines and in harmony lines.  As a budding tsimbler I'm entranced by his
movement within a tune, so far beyond my usual "find a pattern that
works with the tune and stick with it".  It reminded me of two things - 
that I need to spend an hour a day just playing arpegios in every tonic
for a while; and that I should go back and finish learning note-for-note
Zev's part from the track 1 Sher (Am) on the Khevrise CD - not for the
purpose of slavishly imitating him, but because by learning it hopefully
I'll better learn to move between a percusive pattern and a melodic or
harmonic line appropriately.

Steven Greenman's playing sends chills up my spine at points (yeah, that's
a cliche - it's also an exact physical description of the effect), and mades
me want to sing along (fear not, I didn't, at least not out loud).

And Michael Alpert is - Michael Alpert.  Unlike on the CD, where he
mostly played secund, he played the badkhn role to the fullest and 
danced a bit as well.

I'm realizing on reflection that newly renovated hall at Symphony
Space and the sound crew had to do with the success of the
evening too, because the sound could not have been more perfect.

I had a good time!  I do wish they could have taken some chairs away
for dancing - it's a formal auditorium - but I would have been self
concious in that crowd.  

I hope that we may be able to hear a lot of this new material on a CD
in the future.  They don't do a great deal of performing as far as I know,
and if you get the opportunity to hear them at some point you should
do whatever it takes to be there.

If you're unfortunate enough not to have experienced this music, you 
can get some short samples at http://www.folkways.si.edu/40486.htm and
order the CD there.  

roger

-- 
r l reid        ro (at) rreid(dot)net

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