The Eko Nova series at Kaneko continues on April 17 @ 7:00 pm, with program titled Tumble,

Rag, Freylakh!

It will feature John Klinghammer, clarinet; Noah Geller, violin; Mari Yoshinaga, percussion, and
my guest this morning, pianist Sean Chen.

Tumble, Rag, Freylakh! takes dance forms from both ancient and modern roots and transforms
them through contemporary music.

You'll hear works that stretch the idea of inversion, gymnastic feats of motion, Hasidic
celebratory influences, and the ever-growing, ever-changing face of jazz.

Tumblers, Alejandro Vinao

Tumblers by Alejandro Vinao is a work for Violin, Marimba, and Computer. Originally premiered
by Sharan Leventhal (violin) and Nancy Zeltsman (marimba).

While the popularity of Viaos music is undeniable, the internal compositional complexity
deserves further research. His works are characterized by an increased emphasis on rhythm
which serves as the primary driving component of each musical composition. As such, Viaos
music resonates within the percussion community where rhythm is understandably a defining
musical component. However, his music does not simply showcase musical rhythmit elevates
it. Due to these innovations in rhythm, Viao has clearly distinguished himself as one of the
most exciting new composers within the span of the growing repertoire of solo and chamber
percussion works.

Four Rags for two Jons, John Novacek

John Novaceks Four Rags for Two Jons is irresistibly performed by the dedicatees, Jon
Manasse (clarinet) and Jon Nakamatsu (piano) all the way from the lively opener,
Schenectady, to the Keystone Kops-ish finale, Full Stride Ahead replete with a shouted Hot
dog! from the Jons. Along the way is my favorite of the four: the simultaneously supple and
slouchy 4th Street Drag. It alone is worth the price of the disk.

Trio, Paul Schoenfeld

For the composer, the endeavor echoed a long-held interest in creating music aimed at
celebratory Hassidic gatherings and weekday or weeknight festivities as well as at classical
chamber music concert audiences completely outside the Hassidic milieu. This posed an
aesthetic challenge, for the music would have to be entertaining and artistic at the same time
precisely the kind of challenge Schoenfield has welcomed in fashioning many of his
compositions. The resulting Trio for Clarinet, Violin & Piano is an ingenious blend of artistic
ensemble, instrumental virtuosity, and deliberately fragmented references to melodies that might
well have been heard at various Hassidic courts in Europe. Many of those courts regularly
employed or invited purely instrumental bands of klezmorim for their celebrations. Thus, this
piece features inflections and ornaments typical of the clarinet playing in those bands, in both
Europe and America. But much of the writing for all three instruments here goes well beyond
such folk idioms in its sophistication, recalling moments in chamber music by composers such
as Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Bartk.

The first movement, Freylakh, is so titled because of its melodic and rhythmic representation of
one of the best-known dances among eastern European Jewry. Although it is not especially or
exclusively Hassidic, it was heard at Hassidic courts in the context of festivities.

www.omahachambermusic.org