The Devil's Brides

Yale Strom is both a researcher into the history of Jewish klezmer music and an excellent violinist. This CD features music he's arranged and composed for a 2011 radio play called The Witches of Lublin, concerning female klezmer musicians in the Polish city in the 1790s. The music is exquisitely played by his group Hot Pstromi, including Strom on violin, the Ukrainian Alexander Fedoriouk on cimbalom, Peter Stan on accordion and Roger Sprocket on bass. Some of the music comes from early collections of Yiddish music made in Poland and Lithuania in the early 20th century. The delicacy and sensitivity of the instrumental playing is perfectly judged in tunes like ‘Dobrushin's Sher’ and ‘Lubliner Tish Nign’.

Yiddish vocals are sung by Elizabeth Schwartz, sounding rather too self– conscious for my taste. But this is nothing compared to the primary-schoolteacher-style introductions to the music read by Miriam Margolyes. I guess this is some crazy American idea that the disc will be more appealing with a ‘host’ (especially one who has appearances in Harry Potter films) and occasional bits of interview with Strom. Interesting though these are, you don't really want to hear them over and over again.