Thursday, April 5, 2012

CD Review: Veretski's Pass' 'The Klezmer Shul Live'

Veretski Pass
The Klezmer Shul Live
Golden Horn Records

The California-based, Veretski Pass, is an instrumental group that reinterprets centers of musicmaking--shuls--which were synagogues that were originally created as gathering places for craftspeople, tailors, stonecutters, and musicians. Utilizing styles and melodies from various lands of Jewish inhabitants, Veretski Pass uses classical, avant-garde, and free jazz genres from Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Hungary, and Poland. The instrumental nature of the music is vibrant, reflective, and calming throughout. The twenty-three different compositions are divided into four different poetic groups movements or groupings: Without Beginning, A Sign Upon Your Head, Remembrance, and The Wonder of Being. Cookie Segelstein plays violin, Joshua Horowitz plays button accordion and piano, and Stuart Brotman plays bass cello and the rarely heard tilinca--an end-blown flute from the border of Romania and Ukraine. Anyone with an interest in Klezmer classical music will love it. ~ Matthew Forss

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