Brave Old World sounds like a bridge between a 19th-century village and a modern concert hall. It is music that carries the physical grain of wood and the breath of the performer, characterized by a clarinet that can laugh and cry in the same phrase. The arrangements are sparse but emotionally massive, favoring the natural resonance of acoustic instruments over any studio trickery.
What sets them apart is their 'supergroup' level of technical mastery applied to traditional Yiddish forms. They don't just play klezmer; they deconstruct it using the tools of chamber music and jazz. You can hear the intellectual rigor in their compositions, yet it never feels cold. It is deeply human music that treats silence as an instrument, allowing every accordion squeeze and violin scrape to land with intentionality.
Start with 'Blood Oranges' to hear the group at their most creatively expansive. It captures their ability to be both hauntingly somber and rhythmically driving, serving as a perfect entry point into their sophisticated, 'new-traditionalist' sound.
Brave Old World is an American and German klezmer band. It formed in 1989. Members hail from the US and Germany. The Washington Post called Brave Old World "the revival's first supergroup. Every player is a virtuoso.” In 1992, the group won first prize at the International Klezmer Festival in Safed, Israel. Clarinetist Joel Rubin was a founding member. The final members were: Michael Alpert (vocals, accordion, guitar, violin, percussion) Alan Bern (musical director, piano, accordion) Kurt Bjorling (clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone. accordion, tsimbl) Stuart Brotman (double bass, tsimbl, tilinca, percussion, trombone) Christian Dawid (associate clarinetist) The group's albums include Klezmer Music (1990; Flying Fish Records) Beyond the Pale (1994; Rounder Records) Blood Oranges (1999; Red House) Bless the Fire (2003, Pinnorekk Musikverlag, Germany) Dus Gezang Fin Geto Lodzh / Song of the Lodz Ghetto (2005; Winter and Winter) Hoffman's Doina (2019, Laurel Records, with solo marimbist Alex Jacobowitz) was released as a single. The group has also been featured on two albums by violinist Itzhak Perlman. A DVD "Brave Old World--Live In Concert" (Sun-Street Inc., Toronto, Canada) was released in 2006.
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