Klezmer Music

A signature sound deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition, the buoyant and soothing nature of Klezmer music speaks in a new tone in CELEBRATION MUSIC from Big Round Records.

The Cracow Klezmer Band is one of the most passionate, virtuosic and creative bands in the New Jewish Renaissance and with each new release they just keep getting better and better. For their fourth CD on Tzadik they collaborate with John Zorn to paint a surreal vision of the work of Polish writer Bruno Schulz, whose art and stories continue to fascinate and perplex the world. Zorn's evocative compositions and Jarek Bester's sparkling arrangements blend perfectly, capturing the lyrical fantasy of Schulz's expressive symbolism. Featuring beautiful vocalist Grazyna Auguscik on two tracks, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass is a CD of driving rhythms, soaring lyricism, textures, moods and fantastic colors that you will return to again and again.

Canadian composer Brian Current’s The Seven Heavenly Halls is the result of his being declared winner of the inaugural Azrieli Commission in September 2015. The work premiered on October 19, 2016 at the Maison symphonique by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal with tenor Frederic Antoun as soloist and Kent Nagano conducting.

David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness sits on the edge of the Klezmer tradition and is always jabbing at its boundaries. The music is always a little bit more unbridled, a bit more passionate, and a tad more discordant than your bubbe's klezmer records, which is not to say that it falls into the same camp as other punk, pop, or jazz-oriented groups that treat klezmer like a quaint novelty. Krakauer, with his virtuoso clarinet playing and incredibly tight and talented backing band, always shows respect for the heart of klezmer music – these songs orbit around a pure core. The only tune which truly journeys out into left field is "Living With the H," which deconstructs and reassembles the ubiquitous classic "Hava Nagila," a song which almost begs to be messed with. The effect is not unlike a jazz band who can tip their hats to tradition without having to hash out another tired version of "My Foolish Heart." Krakauer has accepted that klezmer has never been a static form of music and has no problem imbuing his own sense of creativity into Klezmer Madnesswithin the constraints of this classic style.