Alexander Krein - Jewish Melody, Op. 43 (Urtext Edition)

Alexander Krein came from a musical, Russian-Jewish family that was active in composing and performing klezmer music. Alexander's brother Grigory and nephew Julian were both great composers in their own right. Alexander Krein's Jewish Melody was composed in 1927 but was not published by the Soviet state publishers until 1941. This 1941 edition is

Alexander Krein came from a musical, Russian-Jewish family that was active in composing and performing klezmer music. Alexander's brother Grigory and nephew Julian were both great composers in their own right. Alexander Krein's Jewish Melody was composed in 1927 but was not published by the Soviet state publishers until 1941. This 1941 edition is the basis of our edition. Because of the hostility toward Jews in the Soviet Union, the work was published under the title "Melody."

While the cello melody is simple, diatonic, and fairly straightforward in each key it is presented, the piano part stays bitonal (two key centers) almost the entire time. The tonality of the piece adds to the depth of color of the music and tends not to call attention to itself. Krein's general sound is very similar to Scriabin's music.

We have provided fingerings in the cello part of our edition.