David Krakauer: Laughing and Crying

December 2, 2004—4:00 p.m.
New York, NY

Transcribed and edited by Frank J. Oteri
Videotaped by Randy Nordschow
Additional performance footage by Michel Kaptur

David Krakauer plays at Berlin memorial to authors whose works were banished during the Third Reich. © 2003 Milken Family Foundation

• How Serious is Klezmer?
• The Laws of Klezmer
• Klezmer in Europe & America
• Klezmer and Being Jewish
• Performance Practice
• The Compositional Process

I have been a fan of David Krakauer for more than a decade. He first got on my radar as an ace player of contemporary music and then at some point I stumbled into one of his klezmer gigs, which made me hear klezmer in a whole new way. His recordings have been the soundtrack to both parties in my home and late evening winding down. And being the voracious record collector and concert-goer, I thought I knew all there was to know about David Krakauer. But after spending an afternoon with him I learned everything from musical arcana (what a krecht is and the difference between Albert and Boehm system clarinets) to personal trivia (he went to my high school and first heard klezmer from a window overlooking Zabar’s). His is a world-wide real New York story!

-FJO

• Read a complete transcript of the interview (PDF)