Odessa Bulgar

Brandwein's "Odessa Bulgar" is a showcase for the bulgar, one of klezmer's most energetically demanding and joyful dance forms — a rapid, circular rhythm that demands participation from listeners' feet whether they intend it or not. The piece traces back to Odessa, the cosmopolitan Black Sea port city that served as a crucial nexus of Eastern European Jewish musical creativity. Brandwein tears through the melody with barely contained ferocity, his clarinet producing sounds that seem physically impossible — bends, trills, and ornaments layered at tempos that would challenge younger musicians. The accompaniment is spare and propulsive, giving Brandwein's clarinet enormous room to dominate. The music operates on a frequency somewhere between aerobic exercise and spiritual experience — the kind of playing that, in its original context, would have kept a wedding dance floor crowded for hours. Even through the artifact of early recording technology, the physical energy is completely intact.