Vahid Matejkos Klezmer Play-alongs für Violine: Violin Book & CD

These fifteen pieces offer violinists genuine klezmer material that avoids the trap of either oversimplification or academic posturing. The dual-track format (half-accompaniment for playing along, full version for listening) means students can learn by ear, analyze the professional interpretation, and develop their own interpretive choices. Matejko's arrangements showcase the idiom's capacity for both lyrical depth and rhythmic vitality.

These arrangements evoke the emotional landscape of klezmer across multiple moods and settings: longing and melancholy, celebration and vitality, the pull of memory and displacement. From 'Nights in Tel Aviv' to 'Lonely Gypsy Woman,' each piece occupies a distinct emotional space while remaining rooted in the idiom's core melodic and harmonic language. The music laughs, mourns, and dances with equal conviction.

Intermediate to advanced violinists seeking authentic klezmer repertoire with professional-quality accompaniment. This collection appeals to students curious about world music traditions, musicians interested in learning an idiom beyond classical European standards, and violinists who want to develop stylistic flexibility and expressive range.

• Approach the ornamentations and slides as integral to the melodic line, not decorative additions. Listen closely to Prof. Epstein's interpretation on the full-accompaniment track to understand the style's microtonal and expressive vocabulary.
• Use the half-accompaniment track during practice to lock into the rhythm section's swing and phrasing without the distraction of a competing melody overhead.
• Study how tempo rubato works across these arrangements. Klezmer traditions allow for subtle flexibility within phrases; the recordings model this nuance in context.
• Experiment with vibrato intensity and speed across different titles. The minor-key pieces and ballads often call for longer, warmer vibrato, while the dance numbers benefit from tighter, more rhythmic control.

Program individual titles as recital pieces that expand audience expectations for violin repertoire beyond the classical canon. The collection also works as a resource for concert programming around themes of cultural music, diaspora, or world music traditions. In an educational context, use these pieces to introduce string students to stylistic diversity and professional-level recorded models of non-classical traditions.

• klezmer idiom recognition and performance practice (ornamentation, microtonal inflection, characteristic phrasing)
• learning by ear from recorded models
• rhythmic flexibility and swing within structured accompaniment
• vibrato control and expressive depth in minor-key and ballad settings
• interpretation of written notation influenced by folk tradition and improvisation