Reviews NEW JEWISH MUSIC From Prof. Martin Schwartz, noted klezmer scholar: I want to make sure everyone appreciates just exactly what BOW has done. It is important that we also understand what is happening in our own times rather than just fixate on the past. In my opinion, we are at a historic moment, namely, the moment when the klezmer revival has gone beyond itself and stepped out of the shadow of the past. BOW has created a music that has as much authority and artistry as anything we can hear on the old recordings, and I predict that musicians will look back at this group and this music the way that we have looked back at those early recordings. BOW is supremely grounded in all aspects of traditional klezmer and Yiddish music, of which they have long been the most authoritative, exciting, and influential exponents. Their astonishing dexterity and musicianship brilliantly merges creativity and tradition, intellect and virtuosity, to create an organic whole. With a vision both broad and deep, BOW is moving forward with a new Jewish music that has all the dazzling improvisation of jazz, the compositional sophistication of the best classical music, and spans the entire cultural spectrum from East European traditions to postmodern experimental music, a feat made possible by their marvelous dexterity and versatility as individual performers and their spirit as an ensemble. Far more than merely a "klezmer" group, and certainly not just another "World Music" or "fusion" group, BOW represents an important development in contemporary music, transcending the confines of established categories." From Ari Davidow's Klezmer Shack: BRAVE OLD WORLD played at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music last night, to great acclaim and wonder. Although regular bassist Stu Brotman was not present, he was ably replaced by Paul Morrisset of the Klezmatics (and hard to imagine a more appropriate replacement, if replacement was necessary). I hadn't seen the band since around the time of their most recent (a new album is due in the fall) recording, the essential, "Beyond the Pale," several years ago. The band plays a klezmer music that is so entirely grounded in the present, so intensely evolved from the music as it was, and yet so clearly, obviously, entirely klezmer that one could not even separate out many of the influences: "oh, this sounds a bit jazzy, but ... it isn't jazz, it's, hmmm, oh, it =is= klezmer." Although the band doesn't like to play loud (as Alan Bern, keyboardist and musical director explained later), this isn't the same as playing without an abundance of joy and energy. In fact, at one point, when Bern was doing a solo series of accordion improvisations--he'd explore for a few minutes, then hit a familiar tune, explore some more, and then, as the audience was caught up and clapping time we noticed Michael Alpert's foot bouncing up and down as he sat on stage, and next thing you knew, Alpert is unable to contain himself, dancing around on stage as though at a wedding, his feet moving in complex patterns on the floor, at one point, placing his hands on Bern's shoulders as he dances and Bern continues to play, the perfect point and counterpoint, music and dance, essence of klezmer. It was a wonderful night. From the Herald-Times, Bloomington, IN: An overflow audience greeted - and later cheered - Brave Old World, the four-man band that has helped revive interest in klezmer music, this at a Sunday evening concert in the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre. Brave Old World has been here before. Its superb keyboard specialist and music director, Alan Bern, was raised in Bloomington. Since last performing locally, several years ago, the group seems to have sought an expansion to its definition of klezmer music, even though it is still referred to as the supergroup of the genre. The old, surging rhythms and haunting melodies of early 19th century Eastern Europe continue to be the foundation; there's certainly been no abandonment of origins. The band's music remains steeped in the Yiddish music of yesterday. But Sunday, the offerings extended outward to what Bern labeled new Jewish music, a continuance blended with other styles. One heard the influence of jazz, going forward in time, and Bach, going back. At one point, the music hinted at the cafe music of a Bobby Short sitting at the piano and crooning in the sophisticated confines of a New York supper club. But there can be no doubt that Brave Old World still exudes the atmosphere of an older Europe. There also can be no doubt the group's collective virtuosity, built out of the brilliance of each individual in the band. Bern, who wrote much of the music, sat at that piano and produced wondrous sounds. But it was his departure from the piano to play the accordion that provided this listener with his most cherished moment of the evening, a solo called "Big Train" that sought to honor Jews of Czarist Russia. So many young men, Bern explained, were conscripted, doomed to serve in the army for up to 25 years. His music, he said, symbolized a young couple saying farewell, knowing that by the next time they saw each other, they'd be middle-aged. The music, with lyric poignancy, expressed their love and the pain of separation then - in mid-stream - approximated a train that begins to move, lurches forward, then pushes along at ever-increasing speed. At the end, the sound diminishes, then stops, as if the train has disappeared. Vocalist/violinist Michael Alpert contributed not only some juicy fiddling but an impactful song, "Klaybt Zikh Tsunoyf" (Gather Together), that liltingly and in accelerando fashion praises the heart of Jewish life, togetherness. "Gather together, sisters and brothers,'' go the words, "and let us be glad that we're Jews. Enough crying with wounded hearts! We're bround together like family.'' But during a couple of jamming instrumental excursions, the sort that brought appreciative yelps and hollers from the audience, it was clarinetist Kurt Bjorling who deserved and received sharpest attention. He accomplished some amazing feats on the instrument, exemplified by an ever-ascending and quickening musical line during the concert-concluding "The Dance/Brave Old Danoes 2001." Dance, indeed. Whirling, frantic, joyful dancing, the kind during which a people forget the sorrows of surrounding circumstances. Bjorling needed no choreography; he controlled space and time so forcefully that, around him, the world stood still. Sunday's jubilantly received concert held two full hours of music, all played without benefit of scores. That's a feat in itself. ............. SONG OF THE LODZ GHETTO From the Fürth Nachrichten (Fürth News): A bit of caution is always called for when a program preview calls something "world class." After about two hours with Brave Old World, though, that description deserves to be strongly underlined, then this concert of music from the Lodz Ghetto grabbed its audience and won't let go for a long time. The American quartet provoked storms of applause and blew away their audience in the sold-out City Hall. The final concert of the 2002 Klezmer festival turned out to be its highpoint as well, and the encore portion lasted half again as long as the concert itself. Highest musical finesse and powerful charisma: in this concert everything that adds up to "world class" came together. From the Offenbach Nachrichten (Offenbach News): Expectations were already high before the four musicians of Brave Old World from New York took the stage. But the group's new program, which they presented at B¸rgerhaus Sprendlingen, surpassed all expectations of a wildly enthusiastic audience. Brave Old World calls its newly reworked program "Dus Gezang fin Getto Lodz" ("Song of the Lodz Ghetto"). It contains not only songs which were written between 1939 and 1945 in the Lodz Ghetto (Poland) but also the group's own, original compositions.Gila Flam, of Hebrew University, collected the old songs from the Ghetto from survivors living today in Israel. Most of these songs came from the pens of street singers and folksingers. Both the old and the new works were arranged by Alan Bern, the musical director of Brave Old World, who performed brilliantly on piano and accordion. His colleague, Stuart Brotman, is a master of bass, cymbalom, tilinka and percussion. The constantly devloping and changing program of Brave Old World is an outstanding work of klezmer musicians who have been hailed the world over as the "supergroup" of the klezmer revival. At the end of the Lodz program, the audience refused to let the musicians go, satisfied only after three encores and a last "Good-Night" song. From the Leine Zeitung (Leine Newspaper): Whoever thinks of klezmer as an instrumental music in which the clarinet always plays the lead role, sometimes boisterously and sometimes wistfully, has missed out on Brave Old World. On Monday evening in Schloss Landestrost, this world-class quartet played a program that would do honor to the world's greatest performing venues. In the process, they generated boundless enthusiasm and left behind profound, lasting impressions on their audience. At the point where other klezmer bands are content to earn their kudos, Michael Alpert (vocals, violin, guitar, percussion), Alan Bern (piano, accordion), Stuart Brotman (bass, trombone, cymbalom, violin) and Matt Darriau (clarinet, saxophone) have just barely begun. They combine traditional and contemporary material with wit and sensitivity, both in the music and in the lyrics.. The success and provocativeness of this program is due equally to a subtle mixing of old and new musical elements, collected songs and newly composed texts, and the quartet's remarkably high level of musicianship. Each musician has an authoritative voice which seeks and finds its completion in the ensemble. That's the clue to Brave Old World's convincing power, as well as above all the group's obvious joy in playing together, which has not diminished in spite of so many acclaimed successes. On Monday evening Brave Old World encountered a highly concentrated and attentive audience that was enthralled and carried away by the 80-minute marathon (without breaks, but also without weak spots). Only after many encores did the audience allow the ensemble to leave the stage. ............. BOW WITH ORCHESTRA From the Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten (Postdam Latest News): Bringing together klezmer (New Jewish Music) and classical music (Prokovief, Bloch) and showing their inner relatedness was a great idea. Whoever thought of klezmer music exclusively in terms of the traditional music of East European Jews was quickly disabused of that notion. The four-member ensemble "Brave Old World" is more interested in a synthesis of various styles and genres. Hungarian Gypsy music, modern Jewish folksong, American jazz and classical melodies all combined to create a music for the concert stage that is full of vitality. At the same time, the original power and temperament of dance music from the shtetl is never missing. In short, many small streams combined to form a broad river, whose energetic flow bound together the Jewish past and future. The musicality of the band is astonishing, as is their improvisational artistry, driven by enthusiastic energy, its roots in jazz. With driving, accelerating rhythm, the band rose to a climax reminiscent of "Saber Dance" in the finale of the first half. After the intermission,"Brave Old World" and the Philarmonic joined together for "Groyser Gas-Nign," an orchestral work based on traditional Yiddish melodies and arranged for both groups by Alan Bern. Under (conductor) Joffe's splendid direction, the beginning sounded like a baroque fanfare, with hymn-like and measured dance steps. Then Kurt Bjorling's clarinet entrance unleashed a brisk orchestral whirlwind, appropriate to a Jewish wedding or a Christian-Pagan carnaval parade. Once again the band showed its most seductive, exciting side, before singer/violinist improvised a Yiddish song of praise to the skill of the Philharmonic musicians. Delicious. After that, an encore was a necessity. From the Potsdamer Stadtkurier (Potsdam City Courier): Michael Alpert (vocals, violin, percussion), Alan Bern (accordion, piano), Kurt Bjorling (clarinet, bassett horn) and Stuart Brotman (contrabass, tsimbl) introduced themselves to the audience with a composition of Bern's. Accordion and clarinet began a cunning conversation, taken up playfully by the violin and contrabass. The piece resembled fireworks, and recalled motives from Jewish folk melodies as well as jazz and classical music. The excellent musicality and literally ingenious ensemble playing of the four dyed-in-the-wool musicians stood out above all. Klezmer is like a tree. The roots are familiar, but above ground nothing flourishes without some wild growth. As the name of the group suggests, eclectic forms are to be found among the branches - occasional m–bius effects, music-making for the sake of music-making, high entertainment - in general, not "light music." Such complications didn't disturb the mostly young audience. Klezmer is trendy, and Brave Old World very soon had the whole house in its hands. What followed was a 30-minute long program - short songs, longer solo passages, typically Jewish throaty singing and lyrical texts, all excellently performed and permeated with improvisatory gestures. The music filled the first half of the concert with fire and soulfulness. The conclusion of the concert, which lasted almost 3 hours, was an arrangement of Yiddish melodies from the pen of Bern, "Groyse Kapelle, Groyser Tanz." It began with classical motives and soon slipped into the sounds of traditional Yiddish instrumental music. An incredible energy developed, rhythmically amplified by the Philharmonic. The audience was torn from their seats. Standing ovations, encores, foot stomping, whistling and bravos were heaped on the gratified musicians in thanks for a powerful evening. (Conductor) Ud Joffe had already left the stage, but the end of this especially "in" concert was a gigantic party. ::