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Music Lover, Nov 13 at 3:52 PM EST   

Interviews with the Orchard Artists

All,

I have three interviews with artists distributed by the Orchard that I have done starting back in May. As I get the artist's permission I will post them here. I can't post their pictures which they supplied, but plan to publish their interviews with their picture in one form or another at www.mixtaper.com -- gsg and I have to work out the details -- gsg has already consented to doing this if eMusic wasn't interested and it looks like they aren't even though it seems like a good idea to promote some of the artists distributed on their sister label, the Orchard, which has a lot of great content, by the way.

Anyway, I just have to get in contact with gsg to work out specifics. Maybe gsg may wish to include fatcat's interview (see the Jazz Discovery thread) and other people's interviews. Anyway, I have permission from Kerry Politzer to post our interview and will do that now as a reply to this first post. I really enjoyed all three interviews and encourage everyone to check out these artists' albums.

Sample all tracks from the WATERCOLOR album by the Kerry Politzer Trio here!
Interview Here

Sample all tracks from the Tsimbl Un Fidl: Klezmer Music For Hammered Dulcimer & Violin album by Pete Rushefsky here!
Interview Here

Sample all tracks from the PASSION album by Robert Hugill here!
Interview Here

  Topic Outline
* RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by Music Lover on Nov 13 at 5:22 PM EST
  * RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by Zouk on Nov 14 at 12:01 PM EST
    * RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by Music Lover on Nov 13 at 5:30 PM EST
    * RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by alecm on Nov 14 at 3:49 AM EST
  * RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by hoboghost on Nov 13 at 10:52 PM EST
* RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by Music Lover on Nov 14 at 3:07 PM EST
* RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by Music Lover on Nov 15 at 9:30 AM EST
* RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by Dr. Mutex [Modulator] on Nov 16 at 7:45 PM EST
* RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by Music Lover on Nov 19 at 11:24 AM EST
* RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by Music Lover on Nov 20 at 1:55 PM EST
* RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists posted by Music Lover on Sep 25 at 3:22 PM EDT
  Music Lover Nov 13 at 5:22 PM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in direct response to the topic by Music Lover
INTERVIEW WITH KERRY POLITZER


Randy: First of all I want to say that your album on eMusic, Watercolor is very spiritual and poetic!

Kerry: Thanks so much for listening to the music; so glad you enjoyed it. That album was recorded in 2002 and I'm getting ready to go into the studio again next month.

Randy: It's great to hear that you are working on a new album!

Kerry: Thanks!

Randy: Anything you can share about it? What kind of preparation do you expect to be doing prior to going into the studio?

Kerry: The new album will be a mixture of Yearning (my Brazilian-influenced record with saxophone and guitar) and Watercolor. In this new album, I will have a tenor/soprano saxophonist and might even sing a couple songs accompanied only by my piano. As for the tunes, there will be some upbeat sambas like in Yearning but also some more melancholy ballads as in Watercolor. There will probably be some more challenging tunes, like a funk with time changes and a blues in 13/8. We'll probably go in the studio with about 15 tunes just in case we don't like how some of them turn out.

Randy: In Watercolor, I hear some classical influences in your music. Even though, clearly, you have a voice of your own, I am reminded at times a little of Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Bill Evans, Franz Schubert, Ravel and Debussy -- do you consider yourself influenced by any of those individuals? Also, I think Watercolor is a well chosen name -- my wife has taught me a bit about watercolor paintings and I am fascinated at how substance is created out of seemingly casual brush strokes and dabbing here and there.

Kerry: Well, you certainly have me pegged! I was really thinking of Bill Evans during part of the album Watercolor, especially in the solo intro to "Waiting" and in the solo of "A Foggy Day." Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea are big favorites of mine, and Ravel is one of my favorite classical composers. Last year I took a class; the colors you can get when you mix paint with water are so varied. I felt like the album Watercolor was impressionistic and each song had a different color, hence the name.

Randy: As a classical musician you are probably very aware of chord voicings -- when you write a song how does that come into the composition?

Kerry: Chords tend to be what start my compositional motor running, especially fresh-sounding combinations that incorporate a slight dissonance or a note in a strange place. One of my favorite musicians, Kurt Rosenwinkel, sounds like he got his chords from another planet. I feel like harmonies resonate with people on a deep emotional level. They are even more effective when they go beyond the beaten path.

Randy: Yes, it nice for a listener not to hear the same thing and be taken down the "path less traveled." You are good at that. You avoid clichés! And your music is very natural - it seems like the hours of practicing scales, arpeggios and Czerny (or whatever) hasn't gotten in the way.

Kerry: Thanks! It's funny that you mention Czerny; there will be a tune on my new album called "Czerny's Holiday". It starts off like an exercise and then modulates in a strange way. I was kind of thinking of Debussy's "Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum" (sample here ), a piece about a student who begins to play an exercise and then drifts off into musical daydreams. (My tune doesn't sound anything like it.)

Randy: When you went into the New England Conservatory, you entered as a classical music performance major and left being sold on a career in jazz -- is that story right? How did that come about?

Kerry: You're right, when I entered New England Conservatory it was as a classical pianist. Unfortunately, since the age of 14 I'd suffered from tendonitis (I'm since cured), and I had a severe flare-up after a semester. I had to stop playing for a few months, which was pretty devastating. But in the meantime, I heard some really interesting sounds coming from the Keller Room (a small performance area near the front doors of the main building), and it was Bevan Manson, accomplished jazz pianist, composer and professor at NEC.

I really fell in love with what he was doing and started trying to think of a way I might become involved. Through a long bureaucratic process, I was accepted into the jazz department without any previous playing experience, with Bevan Manson as my teacher. Since I was only playing the piano intermittently due to the tendonitis, I spent hours listening and transcribing and learning about chord alterations and extensions in the library. Eventually, through friends, I found an amazing practitioner of the Feldenkrais technique who fixed my tendonitis in 5 months.

Randy: What have you learned so far about jazz performance and composition that you can pass on to others -- if you had students or children interested in soaking up all your jazz knowledge what are the most important points you could pass on to them?

Kerry: Hmmm, that's a toughie! I suppose I would pass on something that another musician once told me: "Play what you like to hear." Jazz these days is taught in school instead of in clubs, and there is a great emphasis on "learning the tradition." Just like there are classical pieces that appeal to you more than others (I can remember dreading certain pieces and looking forward to exploring the mechanism of others), there will be sounds and forms and styles and rhythms that excite you. In order to find your own voice while learning the jazz tradition, just listen and listen and you will find sounds that really resonate with you. The sounds will eventually mix together inside your head into a subconscious personal "musical soup," and your own new voice will generate.

Randy: Lots of eMusic subscribers are bloggers -- in other words they keep a sort of web journal using a "web log" or blog. Your web log has got to be one of the most mouth watering ones in existence -- it's at www.sallivates.com and its so professionally written that I would caution anyone against visiting unless they live within a few minutes of one of the restaurants you profile or they have a personal cook and a well stocked kitchen. Can I assume you are not a starving musician?

Kerry: Well, I'd be starving were it not for my good friend "Visa!"

Randy: But you do get playing gigs, right? What clubs do you play in? What's the best place for someone in New York to hear you?

Kerry: I sometimes play at Kavehaz , Detour and Sofia's. I have an upcoming gig at Blue Water Grill, one of the B.R. Guest Restaurants that books jazz. Right now I'm working on some possible 3-month hotel gigs in Cyprus and Japan. (I really love to travel, and played at Tokyo's Palace Hotel for 3 months back in 1995.)

Randy: You've made the statement that "there really are no major labels left for jazz." Please elaborate.

Kerry: As far as major labels supporting jazz, it's an unfortunate fact that major labels have been scaling back their jazz artists; some really high-profile people have been dropped. But jazz musicians are endlessly resourceful, and they're putting things out on smaller independent labels, or on their own, as with The Orchard. I can't say enough what a pleasure it is to be able to put out one's music on The Orchard. Their online distribution is terrific, and it's great to be able to share your music with people all over the world. And, with your CDs in The Orchard's catalog, any local stores can order them. The Tower Records in SoHo is very supportive of independent jazz artists and carries many of their records (including mine, *wink-wink, nudge-nudge*).

Randy: How do you go about writing original compositions, some of which you've received awards and recognition for?

Kerry: I get really excited about fresh and unusual chords, so I sometimes sing over one of them to get ideas. Or, I'm just noodling around and find something intriguing by accident. A few years ago I got really involved in Brazilian rhythms, and would just play a chord in a rhythm for a while and hear a melody over it. Sometimes I even remember an unfinished phrase from a few years ago and decide to elaborate on it. I'm always inspired by chords; I took a lesson with Richie Beirach a few years ago and after listening to him was inspired to write the many compound-chorded Watercolor. He gave me an assignment to write a melody and not write the chords until afterwards, and that was very challenging as it went against what I usually do.

I originally started composing with Charlie Banacos. He really emphasizes composition as a means towards finding your voice, and he's the best thing that ever happened to me musically.

Randy: Is refining almost instinctive and second nature or do you ever change things around intentionally? Do you ever have a light bulb go on and realize a different way to do something?

Kerry: Refinement happens the more I listen to something I've written; I'll find that I've been singing it a different way, or a note changes after I've been playing it for a little while. I suppose refining just kind of "happens", I tend to be satisfied unless I start hearing something differently.

Randy: By the way, how do you write a blues in 13/8? Do you just naturally feel that rhythm or is it a more mechanical or disciplined task? In general, what is your approach to rhythms and meters -- are they created spontaneously or do you ever try to work out something particularly clever in private?

Kerry: I felt the blues in 13/8 in 6 and a half. It started with a bass groove. I wrote it soon after I left the Banff Jazz Workshop last year, where there was a lot of free and odd-metered music going on. I didn't set out to write anything particularly clever ;-)

Randy: In closing, could you share with us some of your favorite albums on eMusic?)

Kerry: Let's see, some favorite albums of mine on eMusic: Bill Evans: Sunday Live At The Village Vanguard, Thelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners, John Coltrane: Coltrane Plays The Blues, Bobby Hutcherson: Solo/Quartet, Manfredo Fest: Fascinating Rhythm, George Colligan Trio: Live At Blues Alley and Joyce: Astronauta: Songs Of Elis.

Sample all tracks from the WATERCOLOR album by the Kerry Politzer Trio here!
  Zouk Nov 14 at 12:01 PM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in response to the message by Music Lover
it's pretty rare these days to find interviews that actually talk about the music! It's not the kind of music i'm used to listen to but this interview made me want to download it (and the samples sound great)

Thanks!
  Music Lover Nov 13 at 5:30 PM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in response to the message by Zouk
Glad you like, Zouk -- one of my goals here (remember the Punish Me lists?) was to get people to explore both inside their genre of interest and into less familiar genres. Hope these interviews spark some extra downloading!
  hoboghost Nov 13 at 10:52 PM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in response to the message by Music Lover
very cool.
  alecm Nov 14 at 3:49 AM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in response to the message by Zouk
Yes, fantastic interview. I certainly wouldn't have given this album a second thought without it, but now it goes straight into the stash. Thanks ML.
  Music Lover Nov 14 at 3:07 PM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in direct response to the topic by Music Lover
First of all thanks for the feedback -- welcome both positive and negative!

Just a note -- all three of these interviews were conducted by email. This interview with Kerry was the third interview. For the first two, I just submitted a set of questions via email and then some follow-up email based on the responses; however for the third interview, only 1 or 2 questions were asked at a time. In my opinion,the approach used in the third interview was the better approach and now having learned this, I would try to conduct any email interview using this method providing the artist had enough time to deal with a lot of email exchanges.

Here are some links for Kerry Politzer:

4 Free Downloads at CNET
Artist SIte
BBC Revew of Watercolor
allaboutjazz.com review of Watercolor
allaboutjazz.com interview
jazzreview.com interview


Here are some links for Robert Hugill:

Free Downloads from the Artist Website
mvdaily.com Review of Passion album
Rob Barnett's review of Passion album
newmusicworks.com biographic entry

P.S. -- it looks like I am the only one that has downloaded Robert Hugill's Passion album from eMusic as of this date, November 14, 2004. Hoping the following interview corrects that. :-)
  Music Lover Nov 15 at 9:30 AM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in direct response to the topic by Music Lover
INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT HUGILL

Randy: Robert, first, I want to welcome you and let everyone know that they can get your composition, Passion, on the album Passion performed by The Burgundian Cadence (a vocal quartet of bass, two tenors and a counter-tenor.)

Looks from my web research that you were born in 1955 in North Lincolnshire, England, pursued the study of mathematics at the University of Manchester as well as choral singing and directing and now divide your time between computer programming and composition. You did some composing in the 1980s and focused more and more on composing at time went by -- writing a musical and then having a serious classical piece, 'Three Prayers', performed by the London Concord Singers in 1993. After that it looked like you wrote additional "serious music" including a one-act opera of about an hour's length called "Garrett". I get the idea that you concentrated on composing around the age of 30 or so -- this is traditionally a late age to get started -- what encouraged you to become a composer and how do you view your body of work so far?


Robert: I wrote quite a lot of music when I was in my teens, but doing a degree in Mathematics meant that I did not really continue with this. For the first 5 years of my working life, I lived in Scotland and acted as the musical director of my local church. This meant that I ended up arranging pieces for the choir and I experimented with writing one or two for them. Once I had moved to London, I became the musical director for the Pink Singers in 1983. The choir had formed that year and were London's first Lesbian and Gay choir. After 3 months their original musical director left and I took over as a stopgap because my then partner was in the choir. I ended up staying for 5 years, arranging a large amount of music for the choir, mainly American popular songs and through the choir came into contact with a number of professional cabaret performers. I wrote and arranged music for these groups and even acted as artistic advisor for one group. This phase culminated in my musical 'Choices' and its follow up, the musical review 'The Pleasure of your Company'.

But things move on, and gradually my cabaret contacts ceased working in the business or returned home to America and Australia. I continued writing music for choral groups, inspired by my own choral singing. By this time I was singing in London Concord Singers and doing a weekly sung Latin mass (complete with Gregorian chant and polyphonic mass settings) at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Cadogan Street, Chelsea. I persuaded a group of friends (bribing them with the promise of food) to come to my house and sing some of my pieces. The results were surprisingly successful and I repeated these "sing-throughs" until we eventually gave a concert in 1994. This was the origin of my own choir, FifteenB. I think that the catalyst for this change to more serious music was my extensive exposure to singing Gregorian chant at St. Mary's church, though I cannot explain why.

My work so far falls into two distinct categories the cabaret and the serious; though a cabaret song such as 'Microprocessor Man' proved complex enough for the SPNM to select it for performance by the Ensemble Aleph at the Bath Festival. And the song cycle, 'Songs of Love and Loss', which deals with death and bereavement, actually incorporates a piece which started out as a cabaret song (admittedly a rather gloomy one). I tend to use songs for experiment, whereas my political and didactic instincts often come out in my large scale choral pieces and I find that writing short unaccompanied choral motets (usually in Latin) a means of relaxation.

Randy: There seems to be a lot of Medieval and Gregorian chant influences in your music as well as Renaissance and Baroque and even more modern influences. Also, it seems you are continuing the great tradition of English choral music composers - how do you view your influences and your approach to composition?

Robert: My biggest influence during my cabaret period was probably the music of Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler. I admire not only Weill's music, but how, in his American period, he insisted on keeping control of the process of writing his musicals by doing all of his own orchestrations. I have a great knowledge and love of the music of Vaughan Williams dating back to my days in a youth orchestra in 1972 playing excerpts of his "Job". I never consciously try to include references to a composer into a piece. In fact I am rather bad at pastiche and if I try to write in a particular style then things normally go off in a tangential direction. Sometimes influences can appear in unlikely places, a friend once informed me that a French café waltz from my musical reminded him strongly of a hymn by John Ireland.

For me, composing is rather like an archaeologist excavating a statue. You have some inkling of a piece's ultimate shape and form but the composing process is akin to trying to uncover something that already exists and is only waiting to be revealed. Sometimes, this process is a bit 'hit and miss' and pieces can go through variants until they feel 'right'.

I am a very word oriented composer. Much of my music is either word setting or has words lying behind it. I am influenced by the sound of words, so that my settings of Latin texts inevitably bring along echoes of Gregorian chant. Some of my sacred pieces have been based on chant or have consciously emulated it, but in others the chant has simply worked its way in unbeknownst to me. And in my opera 'Garrett' I was surprised to find that the singers thought that my recitative was heavily plainchant influenced.

Randy: Classical music has pretty much departed from an extended period of great dissonance and a near obsession with atonality to now find itself in territory more closely aligned with the tradition of art music prior to the twentieth century. Now with the "post-modern" period, more composers are embracing a much friendlier and, I suppose in the mind of the general audience, a more agreeable music -- so much of it tonal or modal. I realize to some extent, many English composers like Vaughan Williams, Walton, Britten and John Taverner kept their music relatively accessible when other composers on the continent and particularly in America were chasing patrons away from the concert halls. How do you see yourself fitting into the tradition of English choral music and how do you see your place in a post-modern classical world? Where do you think classical or serious music is headed now?

Robert: I would imagine that my music fits into the English choral tradition. It has produced music that I love -- and as a singer I am part of the same performing tradition. But I never set out to produce a work that fits into this tradition.

I have never consciously aligned myself with any particular grouping of composers, but I find it difficult writing a line of music that I can't sing. So this does rather fix my place in the world. I have written a lot of music to be sung by singers (both choirs and soloists) in the voluntary sector (people who used to be called amateurs). When writing such pieces, I am concerned about issues such as the difficulty of the line and how interesting it is to sing. Such concerns may lead me to make changes to a piece, but I must admit that there are times when I ignore such concerns and concentrate on the sheer shape of a piece, perhaps at the expense of its singability or interest to singers. It is perfectly possible to write a great piece of music that is unsingable and I have great admiration for composers who are constantly challenging the boundaries of what is possible, but I am not one of these. It is also possible to write a fine piece of music that is more than the sum of its parts and is essentially boring for the individual singers. I try not to do this, as when working with amateurs you get a better performance if their imagination is engaged.

Regarding the future of music, composers have to go back to having more feeling for the impact that the work will have on their audience. The notion of composer as artist, almost independent of the concert hall, in conjunction with a system of grants and commissions which can insulate a composer, artistically and economically, from the effect that their work might have on an audience has led to some rather selfish performances by composers. I am not saying that we all need to write works that are crowd pullers, but simply that a composer should take account of the economic effects of his work. Helpfully, this selfishness is being countered by the increasing tendency for composers to turn performer or impresario. In part this is through sheer necessity, as the current economic climate has ceased to support the classical composer artist in the way that it did in the 50's, 60's and 70's. This means that an increasing numbers of composers are forced to balance artistic integrity with economic necessity - which can only be a good thing.

Randy: I don't hear a trace of rock music in Passion. In contrast to most of rock it is very relaxing, peaceful music -- but you must have been exposed to a substantial amount of rock including the English progressive rock of the seventies. What kind of music did you like growing up and has rock had any influence in your music?

Robert: I was exposed to and listened to a fair amount of rock music in the 70's when I was a student. I bought Pink Floyd albums and had a liking for ELP (Emerson Lake and Palmer) and the heavier brand of rock. But at the same time, I was performing Bach, Beethoven, Handel, etc. in University choirs and orchestras. Ultimately, it is the music that I have performed, and been a part of, that has influenced me most. Rock music, just listened to on disc, never completely penetrated my consciousness. As I started performing the popular standards of American popular music (Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Gershwin, etc.), these did penetrate and had an important effect on my early music. The other area of popular music that has had some effect is disco music. This is the music that I danced to in the 80's and I have written one or two pieces which are disco influenced, notably my 'Requiem for a Dancing Homosexual' a requiem mass based on themes from songs such as 'Its Raining Men' (The Weather Girls) and 'Smalltown Boy' (Bronski Beat - in fact the Pink Singers were the backing group for two numbers on Bronski Beat's first album).

Randy: Although Passion is well written for the voice (four voices in this case) -- it doesn't seem to be the kind of music that is easy to perform -- being a cappella is always tough and then you throw into that mix a challenging counter-tenor part, polyphonic writing and several instances of chromaticism and diatonic divergences (going away from a traditional key structure) that must have required both talented singers and significant practice. Please tell us a little about the rehearsals and the recording of this work.

Robert: Passion was written for a particular group of people and in particular circumstances. Counter-tenor Rupert Damerell sang with a 4-man ensemble, 'The Burgundian Cadence' who specialized in music by such composers as Dunstable, Binchois, Dufay and Machaut. All the music was sung unaccompanied and their concerts mixed motets with early plainchant. Rupert, who had both sung for me and recorded concerts of my music, broached the possibility of my writing a piece for the group. It had to fit into their existing repertoire. I had been toying with the idea of a passion and these ideas all came together when Rupert suggested that the recitative could be sung as chant with a discreet accompaniment (the group had already been experimenting with adding drones to their plainchant). One of the aims of the groups was to sing their chosen repertoire in suitable tunings (singing pieces in a key comfortable for the singers); so my piece, tricky though it is, was something that fell well within the bounds of possibility. From the very first performance (I was not present at rehearsals and simply answered Rupert's queries by email), the piece was sung with an uncanny accuracy and I had even been offered a choice of tunings for the piece. I was not present at the recording as this took place after a seven-venue tour that provided time for the work to settle down.

Randy: This is both a wonderful work of music and a wonderful religious work (here is a link to the text at the publishers website) -- is there anything you would like to add about the program of the work that is not self evident from the text? Also how did you apply your compositional technique to support the text?

Robert: I would hope that the text of Passion is reasonably self-evident. In editing it, I was concerned to emphasize the more dramatic aspects of the text rather than creating a strictly religious work. To this end, I included the poems by Carl Cook. These are not strictly religious at all but Carl mixes religious and sexual imagery in his work in a way that appeals to me. Quite early on, I decided I wanted to include interludes in the works, analogous to the arias in the Bach oratorios, and that these interludes should form some sort of contemporary commentary rather than being strictly devotional.

Another aspect of the work, which was present from the first, was the idea to present Christ as a counter-tenor. I surrounded all of Christ's utterances with a slow moving halo of humming from the other singers; this combined with the timbre of Rupert's voice were intended to achieve a sort of otherworldly, spaced-out feeling to Christ's music.

Regarding my compositional technique, it is rather harder to comment. I deliberately tried to use a plainchant-like feel for the setting of the Biblical text, but was concerned to vary the pacing and texture. This was partly because I was confident that the group's experience with real plainchant would mean that they could interpret the piece as I intended and bring out the nuances of the text; it is important to me that the text was comprehensible at all times. The settings of Carl's poems were intended to deliberately break the mood. Whereas the Biblical text is set for one voice either accompanied or unaccompanied, the poems treat the four voices equally.

Randy: Robert, thanks for your participation and congratulations on writing such an enjoyable work as Passion. I am definitely looking forward to more music from you here at eMusic. Best wishes in your pursuits as a composer!
  Dr. Mutex [Modulator] Nov 16 at 7:45 PM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in direct response to the topic by Music Lover
ML - You could use a forum like Passive Mode and I have. You could make your most recent article sticky and let the older ones vie for position as folks comment on them. Or you could not allow responses and they would sort themselves from newest to oldest. I imagine gsg would put together something special to order, but you could get the forum immediately. I thought a long time about whether or not to allow responses. Ultimately I realised my object is to engage people.
  Music Lover Nov 19 at 11:24 AM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in direct response to the topic by Music Lover
The third interview is with Pete Rushefsky and centers on this album with violinist Elie Rosenblatt. If you love Klezmer or the hammered dulcimer, don't hesitate to download.

Links:

cdbaby information and samples for Tsimbl un Fidl
cdbaby entry for new album which should be added to eMusic fairly soon.
Renaissance Man Review
Klezmershack Review by Ari Davidow who wrote the liner notes.
Sing Out! Review

  Music Lover Nov 20 at 1:55 PM EST RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in direct response to the topic by Music Lover
INTERVIEW WITH PETE RUSHEFSKY

Randy: Pete, welcome to eMusic! Many subscribers have already downloaded your album, Tsimbl Un Fidl: Klezmer Music For Hammered Dulcimer & Violin on which Elie Rosenblatt plays violin and you play an instrument in the hammered dulcimer family, called the tsimbl. Since we don't have associated liner notes here at eMusic -- could you please tell us a little about the instrument and the album?

Pete: The tsimbl (or cimbalom) is the traditional hammered dulcimer of the Jewish klezmer musicians of Eastern Europe, with a rich musical tradition dating back at least to the early 1600's. Unlike the brass and clarinet driven ensembles of klezmer in the New World, the older European form was string-based, led by fiddles and tsimbls. Elie and I have attempted to revive the art of violin/tsimbl duets-- indeed some of the earliest recordings of klezmer are violin/tsimbl duets circa 1909 and recorded in Lemberg (today's Lviv, Ukraine).

Randy: Your music sounds very traditional and authentic. Do you take an authentic approach in performance and if so what are the challenges in determining performance practices of another time, location and culture?

Pete: For this album, we did attempt to recreate the sounds heard on these early klezmer 78's. Elie has done a wonderful job reconstructing the art of Galician-Jewish fiddle styles (Galicia was the Eastern province of the former Austro-Hungarian empire, now centered around the cities of Krakow, Poland and Lviv). This was a beautiful violin style-- a professional style different from that which developed in the classical conservatories. It's characterized by mimicry of the vocal styles of the synagogue, and employs bends, trills and cries rather than the vibrato of classical violin. Unfortunately, there are no players any more who grew up in this fiddle tradition, so it must be painstakingly reconstructed from these scratchy old recordings.

Randy: I love the upbeat "Chazin's Sirba" -- can you tell us a little bit about this?

Pete: This was a tune recorded by a flute player, Israel Chazin with a large American orchestra. Though Sirbas are normally dance tunes, this piece has the melodic complexity that is more representative of a European klezmer genre of pieces meant primary for listening rather than dance. Here, Elie and I tried to highlight the compositional intricacies by trading off on the melody.

Randy: There is a nice flow to the entire album with a variety of upbeat as well as slower works -- some of which have a sad, dark or melancholic feel. What was the process in choosing this music? Are all of these tracks traditional tunes or are there any original compositions on this album? (If so, congratulations, as everything seems so authentic!) Also can you tell us a little bit about some of your favorite selections?

Pete: Elie and I tried to choose a program that represented the diversity of music that tsimbl/fidl duos could create-- some are dance pieces, others for listening, some are introspective, others lively and infectious. There are a three original compositions that I wrote-- all of them tsimbl solos (a doina, a dobriden and a honga). But these were composed to fit into the traditional genres. I love Elie's performance of the Kol Nidre-- a prayer for the High Holiday of Yom Kippur... I think he really captures the beauty of the style in a complete way.

Randy: You mention that some of this music is for dancing, some for listening. Please elaborate on how this music was incorporated into the daily life of Eastern and Central Europe.

Pete: The Jewish weddings in Europe played out over many days, and so the music would ebb and flow between dance sets, listening music for the table, music for the ceremonial seating/veiling of the bride that was to elicit a cathartic moment marking an end to childhood and the onset of adult married life, etc.

Randy: There has been a resurgence in Klezmer music - what do you attribute this to and how did you get interested in this music?

Pete: First of all, it's great music and like other music of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, it's a fascinating mix of Eastern and Western influences -- but here it's a uniquely Jewish voice. That doesn't mean that non-Jews can't play it and gain a meaningful experience from it -- indeed some of the greatest klezmer musicians (including today) have always been non-Jews. But to master it requires a literacy and intimacy with the culture of Ashkenazic Jewry. For me and many others involved in the klezmer scene, it's a great window to sharing in a heritage that was almost wiped out -- not just to save it, but to continue to nurture and grow it.

Randy: What really is the history of Klezmer music -- is it a recent development from Europe created around the late 19th century or is it, as the music from your CD seems to imply, something much older?

Pete: Klezmer music, like classical music and jazz and any other art tradition has always been in a state of change as new influences are brought into the music and others discarded. There have always been Jewish musicians. But no one will ever again know King David's melodies. What we think of today as klezmer is what Jewish musicians in the Yiddish speaking communities of Eastern Europe created in a period probably dating from the 16th century. But we only have recordings beginning with the early 20th century, and written sources back to the late 18th century. So though we have earlier pictures of klezmer ensembles and other documentary sources, it's really conjecture what the music sounded like prior to that.

Randy: Please tell us a little bit about your musical background and how you started playing the tsimbl.

Pete: I came to klezmer as a 5-string banjo player. I was playing a lot of Celtic music and old-time music. When I got into klezmer I was looking for a traditional instrument to imitate on my banjo-- tsimbl was the natural choice. But when I heard and saw the great work of the first generation of tsimbl-revivalists like Stu Brotman, Zev Feldman, Josh Horowitz and Kurt Bjorling I was hooked and needed to adopt the instrument myself.

Randy: How is the tsimbl tuned on this recording -- are you are using a more unusual tuning than a normal western tuning? If so, could you explain this tuning a little bit in non-technical terms? Also Elie Rosenblatt appears to using some non-traditional Western pitches (non-diatonic pitches) that provide considerable expressiveness -- if so, could you elaborate?

Pete: My tsimbl is a bit of a hybrid-- it's a beautiful instrument made by Greek luthier Theofilios Bras. However, Bras took the traditional Greek sandouri design and custom built this instrument with the Hungarian system of tuning, like that used on the big concert cimbaloms. It's fully chromatic, over three and a half octaves in range. A completely different system than what you find on American or British hammered dulcimers (most of which are diatonically tuned.) I also have an instrument by a wonderful Polish maker now living near Buffalo named Jozef Jankowski. This is a different chromatic tuning system.

Elie's using a standard violin tuning-- the non-Western pitches you may hear are his magic and are representative of the traditional klezmer style.

Randy: Are you planning on recording another album soon?

Pete: Glad you asked! I've just released an album with Yiddish singer Rebecca Kaplan called On the Paths: Yiddish Songs with Tsimbl on the Yiddishland Records label. Becky's an amazing performer and one of the top Yiddish singers in the world. We've worked to arrange some beautiful, but seldom-heard Yiddish songs with tsimbl accompaniment. We also explore some of the repertoire of the late tsimbl virtuoso, Josef Moskowitz.

Randy: Any additional comments about this incredible music, your approach or the album itself?

Pete: I just appreciate your interest in it and hope our listeners find meaning in it.
  Music Lover Sep 25 at 3:22 PM EDT RE: Interviews with the Orchard Artists    
in direct response to the topic by Music Lover
(updated to list additional albums)

Kerry Politzer: Labryrinth

Bergundian Cadence: Christmas Music from Medievel England

Expecting eMusic will add the other Pete Rushevsky album from cdbaby -- note that currently Tsimbl and Fidl is double listed.
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