Klezmer Klassica: Volumes 3 & 4

As conceived by Richard Fay and Daniel Mawson, Klezmer Klassica is a folk-classical chamber kapelye which explores the musical meeting point of klezmer and classical music. Klezmer is the instrumental folk and dance music of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jewish communities, with a rich history which dates back to the middle-ages. Some ‘classical’ compositions carry Jewish musical inflection, whether klezmer, liturgical, or other. Some pieces feature a reworked ‘folk’ tune from the shtetls of Eastern Europe; others are based on a new ‘folk’-inspired tune; and others still were composed by those for whom klezmer is an abiding musical fascination.

This CD begins with two works specifically linked to “Gideon - a play with music” about the life and work of Moravian Jewish pianist and composer Gideon Klein (1919-1945). This play is a reimagining by Daniel Mawson and Richard Fay of David Fligg’s ‘theatrical’ and biography of Gideon Klein. This project, developed for Bradford 2025 (Bradford City of Culture) with support from Arts Council England, is a co-production between Modalways CIC, Bradford Cathedral, and Bradford Reform Synagogue. Gideon Klein was a highly-talented young pianist and composer living in Prague in the 1930s, imprisoned in Terezin for three years before being transported to a satellite camp of Auschwitz where he was murdered in January 1945.

Volume 3 opens with our re-imagining of Klein’s 1943 arrangement of Lullaby “Sh’chav B’ni” (Sleep, My Son) originally written by Shalom Charitonov. This is followed by Daniel Mawson’s fresh look at the musical material in the second movement of Klein’s string trio, a set of variations based on the Moravian folk song Ta kněždubská věž (The Spire of Knezdub). This trio was his final composition written in the final weeks before his transport to Auschwitz in 1944.

Volume 4 opens with Daniel Mawson’s Red Bank, a piece originally written for the show Amid the Mirk Over the Irk - When Irish Meets Klezmer. The show presents an imaginary musical meeting back in the day between musicians in the slums on either side of Manchester’s River Irk - Angel Meadow (mainly Irish) and Red Bank (mainly Jewish). This is followed by Chris Emerson’s arrangement of Boris Levenberg’s Hassidic Scene - Kaddish and dance in memory of my father (1997). It is followed by Chris own composition, Compassion (2024) as inspired by his performances with Klezmer Klassica and the dance band for the bi-annual Halle Klezmer Evenings of Music and Dance. It is followed by his arrangement of Levenberg’s fiery A Tailor’s Song (2005).
credits
released April 4, 2025

Artwork by Sam Gee
Recorded by Sam Gee Media in March 2025

Daniel Mawson, clarinet
Chris Emerson, violin
Rosamund Hawkins, viola
Caroline Morris, cello
Sam Gee, piano

Richard Fay, creative producer
Sam Gee, sound engineer
Daniel Mawson & Chris Emerson, musical directors

For their support for the Klezmer Klassica project including the development of “Gideon - a play with music”, we would like to thank: Arts Council England; David Fligg (consultant, on whose original theatrical 'Gideon Klein: Portrait of a Composer' and biography 'Don't Forget About Me' the new work is based); Ned Lunn (and the team at Bradford Cathedral); Naomi Benn (and the Hallé Connect team); and Jackie Watts (and the team at St Bartholomew’s Parish Church, Wilmslow).