Perlman Leads Bowl’s Lively Klezmer Parade

Klezmer, a music that started in the shtetls of Eastern Europe before moving to the U.S. in the early 20th century, is a polyglot expression that combines elements of traditional folk music, the Yiddish language, Middle Eastern scales and Jewish character.

On Thursday night the bouncy rhythms and soaring melodies of klezmer made it to the Hollywood Bowl, part of a recent wave of revivalist interest in a music that had largely gone underground since World War II.

Its visibility has been aided recently by violinist Itzhak Perlman, who starred in a program that included four of the currently best-known klezmer ensembles--Brave Old World, the Klezmatics, the Andy Statman Klezmer Orchestra and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.

Despite Perlman’s ravishing tone and clear love of the music, however, his front-and-center position with each of the groups tended to diminish the ensembles’ uniquely individual styles. Brave Old World and the Statman ensemble are tradition-oriented bands, each emphasizing colorful, emotionally rich clarinet playing--with Statman underscoring his reputation as one of the instrument’s finest artists. Working with these ensembles, Perlman’s role--despite serving a bit too often as the center of attention--had an appropriate quality.

The Klezmatics, however, are a more cutting-edge band. And Perlman’s prominence reduced the group’s quirky, edgy qualities and almost completely eliminated the solo opportunities for the fine violinist Alicia Svigals. So too with the Conservatory Band, a powerhouse ensemble that was obliged to lower its intensity to fit around Perlman’s soloing.

But klezmer would probably not have made it to the Bowl without Perlman’s participation. And however out of balance that participation may sometimes have been, there was never any doubt about his affection for klezmer or his ability to perform it with passion and intensity.