London Klezmer Quartet
Album: Calling
Label: LKQ
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.londonklezmerquartet.com

Klezmer is best defined as "the celebratory and soulful music of Eastern European Jews", and those twin qualities fair leap off the laser on the latest offering from the London Klezmer Quartet. The ensemble was formed back in 2009, and takes the style of klezmer as a springboard for its own spirited, nifty and abundantly life-affirming compositions that both frame and complement pieces from Jewish tradition.

The arrangements adhere closely to that tradition, with tellingly crisp enunciation and precision of detail, and it's hard not to be caught up in the infectious, exuberant brand of passionate music-making that is klezmer at its most beguiling and seductive. From the irresistibly sprightly opening dance, and thence by way of an assortment of tunes and songs that both epitomise and expand the world of klezmer, this CD is a feelgood delight from start to finish, yet without losing out on some of the idiom's hitherto unforeseen depths.

The emotional range of Susi Evans' clarinet playing is astonishing, as is the vocal prowess of double bassist Indra Buraczewska (who also performs with Balkan quartet Byzantine Blue), whose tenure with the Quartet only began in 2012 but whose singing has since proved integral to the band's success.

Violinist Ilana Cravitz and accordionist Carol Isaacs complete the Quartet's lineup with musicianship that's every bit as engaging as their colleagues, and their energy and invention never flags, whether on the tricky rhythms of Susi's original tune Viking's Eleven, the supremely invigorating Concert Freylekhs by Joseph Hoffman (track 8) or the sinuous yet sulky Hei, Melnais ?igans (Hey Black Gypsy), or the spiritual Let My People Go (a far cry from Paul Robeson!), or the devotional Yiddish folksong Shnirele Pearle (itself developed from a Jewish prayer read at the ending of the Sabbath).

There's even a curious little song about potatoes (to rival Monty Python's Spam?)… fast and bulbous??!… Klezmer is far from being an inaccessible niche-market, as this joyously accomplished and entirely accessible disc proves.

David Kidman