ALEXANDER KREIN: Chamber Music
Alexander Krein (1883–1951) was a member of a dynasty of Jewish musicians active in both Imperial and Soviet Russia. His compositions reveal the confluence of several strands of musical history: his Russian background, the transition from late Romanticism to early modernism – where the influence of Skryabin is readily audible – and, particularly in the works on this album, the Jewish folk-heritage, with its emotionally powerful blend of high spirits and melancholy.
David Krakauer, clarinet (Tracks 1 – 3, 18 – 19)
Noah Bendix-Balgley, violin (Tracks 5 – 10, 12 – 16)
Aron Zelkowicz, cello (Tracks 1 – 4, 6, 11, 17 – 19)
Rodrigo Ojeda, piano (Tracks 5 – 17)
Musicians of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival
Jennifer Orchard, violin (Tracks 1 – 3, 18 – 19)
Dennis O’Boyle, violin (Tracks 1 – 3, 18 – 19)
Marylène Gingras-Roy, viola (Tracks 1 – 3)
Mikhail Istomin, cello (Track 4)
Michael Lipman, cello (Track 4)
David Premo, cello (Track 4)
Listen To This Recording:
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Jewish Sketches No. 1, Op. 12, for clarinet and string quartet (1909)
- I Lento – Più mosso Audio Player
- II Andante con anima – Allegretto grazioso Audio Player
- III Allegro moderato
- Lyric Fragment, Op. 1a, for four cellos
- Caprice hébraïque, Op. 24, for violin and piano
- Elegy, Op. 16, for violin, cello and piano
- Aria, Op. 41, for violin and piano
- No. 1 Audio Player
- No. 2 Audio Player
- No. 3
- Jewish Melody, Op. 43, for cello and piano
- No. 2 Andantino non troppo Audio Player
- No. 4 Allegretto Audio Player
- No. 5 Allegro non troppo Audio Player
- No. 6 Andantino grazioso Audio Player
- No. 10 Vivo
- Poème, Op. 10, for cello and piano
- I Andante con moto Audio Player
- II Allegro non troppo
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Lyric Fragment, Op. 1a, for four cellos (publ. 1901)**
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Caprice hébraïque, Op. 24, for violin and piano (1917)
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Elegy, Op. 16, for violin, cello and piano (1913)
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Aria, Op. 41, for violin and piano (1927)
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Three Ornaments, Op. 42, for violin and piano (1924–27)***
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Jewish Melody, Op. 43, for cello and piano (1927)
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Dances, Op. 50, for piano (1937), arr. Bendix-Balgley***/Heifetz for violin and piano (1941/2018)
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Poème, Op. 10, for cello and piano (1907–10)*
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Jewish Sketches No. 2, Op. 13, for clarinet and string quartet (1910)
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* FIRST RECORDING
** LIVE RECORDING
*** FIRST RECORDING OF THIS VERSION
MusicWeb International :
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.’
—Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International