Alexander KREIN (1883-1951)
Jewish Sketches No. 1, Op. 12, for clarinet and string quartet (1909) [10:44]
Lyric Fragment, Op. 1a, for four cellos (publ. 1901) [3:30]
Caprice hébraïque, Op. 24, for violin and piano (1917) [5:41]
Elegy, Op. 16, for violin, cello and piano (1913) [5:16]
Aria, Op. 41, for violin and piano (1927) [8:11]
Three Ornaments, Op. 42, for violin and piano (1924–27) [6:36]
Jewish Melody, Op. 43, for cello and piano (1927) [3:17]
Dances, Op. 50, for piano (1937), arr. Bendix-Balgley/Heifetz for violin and piano (1941/2018) [9:18]
Poème, Op. 10, for cello and piano [7:35]
Jewish Sketches No. 2, Op. 13, for clarinet and string quartet (1910) [9:04]
David Krakauer (clarinet)
Noah Bendix-Balgley (violin)
Aron Zelkowicz (cello)
Rodrigo Ojeda (piano)
Musicians of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival
rec. 2012/18, Kresge Recital Hall, Carnegie Mellon University and Rodef Shalom Congregation (Lyric Fragment), USA
TOCCATA CLASSICS TOCC0546 [69:23]
Jonathan Powell’s very well researched booklet note is headed; ‘Alexander Krein: Folklorist, Modernist, Skryabinist’. I’m not sure how that grabs you as there’s quite a lot of –ists going on, but if you’re intrigued you should know that Krein was active in both Imperial and Soviet Russia and that he embraced a range of influences, as the succinct summary above indicates. These stretch from late-Romanticism to sacred Jewish music via some very ideologically driven pieces such as the ‘symphonic dithyramb’ for orator, declamation and orchestra called USSR – Shock Brigade of the World Proletariat – which doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs.
The chamber music in this disc however explores Krein’s Jewish folk heritage in a sequence of pieces that largely cluster around the composition dates 1901-1927. Jewish Sketches, for clarinet and strings has a chromaticism that sounds similar to the kind of thing Frank Bridge was writing at around the same time, at least until the Klezmer-inspired clarinet appears, especially in its laughing guise in the central movement where we also hear its obverse, a grave melancholy. The disc actually ends with the second sketch, Op.13 composed the following year and a delightful example of unaffected lyricism and energy. To move back to his Op.1, the Lyric Fragment, published in 1901, is to hear some of the music he absorbed as a young student; Tchaikovsky and Grieg in this case.
The disc’s programming swings back and forth, denying opus development, and allowing the listener the opportunity to sample the different elements in which he worked – not least the stage. The Elegy for piano trio Op.16 shows influences from Rachmaninov and Arensky, though it incorporates and assimilates Jewish themes as well, whilst the Aria, Op.41 is a yearning in memoriam. Krein has a real gift for vocalised themes as the Three Ornaments show and though they are all brief, they contain ardent elements that repay listening.
One of Krein’s best-known pieces is the fourth of his set of Dances, Op.50 in the arrangement for violin and piano made in 1941 by Jascha Heifetz. There are ten dances for piano of which five are presented here in violin and piano arrangements; in addition to the Heifetz, two have been arranged by the intrepid Noah Bendix-Balgley, who plays them all with the flair expected of someone who plays in a klezmer band. Of all the pieces here it’s the Poème for cello and piano that perhaps best shows the influence of Scriabin on Krein. It’s an intensely passionate piece, dedicated to Casals.
The Poème is heard in a first recording so kudos to Aron Zelkowicz and pianist Rodrigo Ojeda. These are also first recordings of the two Bendix-Balgley arrangements. One of the performances (Lyric Fragment) was made live but all the others in the studio.
This is clearly a dedicated project with a number of the excellent performers drawn from the ranks of the Pittsburgh Symphony. One of the other leading players is clarinetist David Krakauer.
I admire the performances and there is valuable work going on here, but one should sample the music judiciously.
Jonathan Woolf
