JOACHIM STUTSCHEWSKY:
CHAMBER MUSIC
Joachim Stutschewsky (1891–1982) confronted his identity as a Jewish musician by melding the Mediterranean sounds of his adopted Israel with the early klezmer influences of his youth in Ukraine. He gave his own instrument, the cello, rhapsodic treatment in the explicitly cantorial and folk-infused short pieces on this disc (the first dedicated to his music from a western label), with the piano providing enough harmonic surprises to elevate these simple melodies to sophisticated concert works. The two trios, The Klezmer’s Wedding and Hassidic Fantasy, are expertly arranged suites of nigunim (tunes) and freilachs (joyous dances).
Featuring:
Musicians of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival
Aron Zelkowicz, cello
Luz Manriquez, piano
Jennifer Orchard, violin
Marissa Byers, clarinet
Press
"The performers on this disc are wonderfully suited to this repertoire and impart their obvious admiration and enjoyment of the music. This communicates to the listener making for a truly pleasurable and rewarding experience... Life is what is abundantly on show here in all its joyful as well as its sad and reflective moods. A great achievement all round."
- Steve Arloff, Musicweb International
"All of the musicians achieve a superb balance between the intense emotional content of the music and a sense of proportion and restraint. There is never an excess of what, in some circles, we might call “schmaltz.” In short, a first-rate musical experience in every way."
- Kenneth Meltzer, Fanfare Magazine
"Needless to say, these are all musicians of the highest caliber who perform these works by Stutschewsky with flawless technique and considerable idiomatic flair."
- Jerry Dubins, Fanfare Magazine
"The four musicians of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival play Stutschewsky's music with body and soul, as if the the ink had just dried on the page."
- Ulrich Hermann, The New Listener
"...this all-Stutschewsky program is well worth hearing and gives us a better all-round look at his style than anything else I have heard. The recording is excellent and the playing is full of feeling and conviction."
- D. Moore, American Record Guide
Sample track:
Klezmer's Wedding Music
Musicians of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival
Jennifer Orchard, violin Aron Zelkowicz, cello Luz Manriquez, piano