Various - 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. In this fifth volume in the Toccata Classics series �Russian Jewish Classics�, the cellist Aron Zelkowicz, pianist Rodrigo Ojeda and the Musicians of the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival are joined by two stars of the musical firmament, the violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, first concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, and clarinetist David Krakauer, who unites classical and klezmer.