John Zorn - Kristallnacht (7 tracks) +Album Reviews

John zorn is trying....

S. Flask | the Pequod | 09/01/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"he really tries to do something different - to create an experience for the listener unlike any other - and here he does it.i give this album 5 stars because i have to pick something. some days it's 0 stars and some days it's 11. you can't really judge this - it'll mean different things to everybody involved.first, as most will know, this music is supposed to represent Kristallnacht, so as you may guess it's not a very nice experience. don't come into this looking for a good jazz record or the like. buy this if a musical representation of the events of Kristallnacht sounds interesting to you. obviously this is very personal and important subject matter, and some people will feel differently about what zorn has done than others.now, the music. the first track starts off beautifully. it's slow and sad, but beautiful. as time progresses, clips of nazi speeches are worked into the music, setting up a much darker feel. it can't prepare you for the second, absolutly bone chilling track. the sound of broken glass is obviously whats being represented, and it's so loud it's painful. and every now and then it stops - to hear voices, or footsteps in the dark, to make you feel scared - and it just stops you in your tracks. this goes on for over 11 minutes, and by the end you've taken quite an aural beating (note zorn's warning to the listener about the high frequency noise in the track) then comes the third track - the calm after the storm. and after that it's kind of a free for all. now, free for all is a bad way to describe it.... picture yourself in a situation where you fear for your life and the situation can go from safe to severe at the drop of a hat. this is what zorn does. the music will give you a false sense of security and suddenly scare you. it works really well, and when all is said and done, zorn has given the listener an experience, not just an album.forewarned is forearmed. if you want something you can sing along to (even naked city) this isn't it. buy this if you want the experience & see what this disc means to you. a very interesting and difficult undertaking."

November 1938

S. Flask | 03/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Listening to "Kristallnacht" gave me the same feeling that I got when I read about those horrible nights on November 9 and 10th 1938. The album opens up with the powerful "Shtetl(Ghetto Life)", in which beautiful klezmer music is played over the sounds of a Nazi rally. The second track, "Never Again" is so harsh that Zorn actually warns against prolonged and repeated listens, stating that "it may result in temporary or permanent ear damage." And believe me, he's not kidding. "Never Again" is the sound of thousands of layers of breaking glass being played over and over again. The next song, "Gahelet(Embers)" is the exact opposite of "Never Again", with its barely audible violins, trumpets and clarinets. It is so silent it's disturbing. There are points throughout the rest of "Kristallnacht" when you think the worst is over but then you realize its just begun. So if you are looking for a musical experience unlike any other then "Kristallnacht" may be for you."

Uncomfortable masterpiece.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 11/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 1992, John Zorn, then best known for his Game Pieces, tribute albums and the more recent genre-defying triumph of Naked City, entered the studio to record his first real exploration of his Jewish Heritage-- a musical tapestry to represent "Kristallnacht", or the Night of Broken Glass. For those unaware of the incident-- Nazi Germany planned a coordinated attack on the evening of November 9, 1938 on Jewish businesses and synagogues-- destroying everything they could-- 7500 business were destroyed, over 250 synagogues were burned, and nearly a hundred Jews murdered. This is the subject for which "Kristaalnacht" was written.

In the studio, Zorn assembled a small ensemble-- Mark Feldman (violin), Marc Ribot (guitar), Anthony Coleman (keyboards), Mark Dresser (bass) and William Winant (percussion), along with David Krakauer (clarinet and bass clarinet) and Frank London (trumpet) on a pair of tracks-- to record the seven movement piece. It is, in all senses, a modern masterpiece, one of the most beautiful and horrible statements of music ever made, and it may well be the most powerful recording in the catalog of John Zorn.

"Kristaalnacht" contains a bit of everything-- opening with a loping klezmer piece ("Shtetl"), ominous and dark, with the brief, melancholy lines over accordian interspersed with recordings of Adolf Hitler. This gives way into the justifiably noteworth "Never Again"-- twelve minutes of the sound of glass breaking punctuated by the sound of running and brief musical interludes-- Zorn warns against repeated listens, but after the moody openers, it's a thing of tortorous emotion. Most importantly, it accomplishes what it sets out to do.

When it does finally end, the piece moves in dozens of different directions-- "Tikkun" feels like after the storm, where the air is still electric but somehow stil, "Tzfia" finds Zorn's cartoon influence and the Naked City soiund coming forth, brief interludes and seemingly random swaps of sounds and instrumentation dominate the piece, no one sound stays present for more than 20 or 30 seconds. When the piece does settle (in the track "Barzel"), it is frantic, angry and uncomfortable, and certainly hard to process and understand. The album closes on a frantic note-- the genre defying, guitar driven "Gariin" is something totally unique, over frantic percussion and a walking bass line, Ribot manages some of the most astonishing guitar playing you've ever heard.

When it's over, it's an experience. While I think Zorn has done better work than "Kristaalnacht", I don't think anything in his catalog quite matches its power. Highly recommended."

"the window shatters at your feet. the men laugh."

Lord Chimp | Monkey World | 04/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes we enjoy a musical experience not because it is nice and fun, like a pop song, but because the experience is challenging and incites an uncomfortable emotional reaction that is very powerful. _Kristallnacht_ from 1992 is John Zorn's earliest Jewish themed album, centered on Jewish existence in the twentieth century, and it is hopeful and tragic. I have listened to the album quite infrequently compared to most of the other Zorn discs I have, because it is actually rather upsetting. And this is not just because of the brutal second track, "Never Again", a punishing onslaught of high-frequency noise and breaking glass. The whole album hits like a metaphysical sledgehammer. And as always, Zorn's collaborators are some of the best musicians in the world (Marc Ribot, Mark Feldman, Anthony Coleman, Mark Dresser, William Winant, Favid Krakauer, Frank London).

"Shtetl" is an atmospheric klezmer piece for violin, trumpet, and clarinet, where trumpet solos grow more intense as German announcements appear and add fear to the foreboding but otherwise peaceful evocation of ghetto life. Then "Never Again", Zorn's representation of the "night of broken glass"...it is hard to explain its power. i think the warnings about nausea and dizziness from listening to this are somewhat dubious, but listening on headphones except at very low volumes is definitely a bad idea. Some speakers put the high-frequencies out harshly, some do not. The piece is about 13 minutes and consists largely of high-pitched electronics and manifold layers of shattering glass. A few other sounds and samples are interspersed, like footsteps, pizzicatos, voices, and a bell. It is not easy or pleasant to listen to, but it is a very well done composition and I would like to think that most mature listeners could "handle" this it. What follows is "Gahelet", which is far less abrasive but unsettling in its own way. The piece takes form out of near-silence -- gossamer wisps of electric guitar, violin legatos, and distant sounds of voices on the radio.

"Tikkun" is a short cut-and-paste style piece, for acoustic guitar, violin, and percussion. It swings randomly between different moods and tempos. Similar is the file-card composition "Tfizia", which starts with a dissonant splatter of petulant noise. It then proceeds through nearly twenty stylistic changes in its eight minutes, including cartoony klezmer, gnashing metal, avant-garde rackets, rumbling low piano keys accompanied by metallic screeching, voices & static, and beautiful trumpet solos evoking Middle Eastern lands. Even though this piece changes very often, it feels very coherent on some level (not just cuz lots of the parts are "jewish" sounding, ok).

"Barzel (Iron Fist)" is the militaristic assault, its heavy, distorted guitars and odd-meter percussion sounding like brutal metal in slow motion, with creepy sounding sirens and weird electronic noise slashing through the sludge. Suddenly everything drops out to just very distorted guitar shredding and some kind of static-y sample of unintelligible jewish singing. Then everything kicks back in before it ends. At loud volumes this is almost as brutal as "Never Again", but it lasts only two minutes. The album fades on a nice note, "Gariin". It starts very minimal, with just drumming, then grows into a very peculiar piece with jazzy drums and bass and amazing guitar jamming from the god Ribot, which gets progressively dissonant before climaxing with a startling crescendo. Very busy and noisy, it sounds like a highly musical construction yard. It fades out with just percussion.

An excellent album, worth engaging with deep attention and an open mind. One of Zorn's best in terms of overall experience.

"

Great and scary album; beware the second track!

Douglas S. Benson | Burlingame, CA USA | 04/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've got about 30 Zorn albums, and this is one of the greats. Not one of the more listenable albums, though there are some great Klezmer-inspired pieces here. The second track is like being inside the breaking glass of Kristallnacht, and it's not a listening experience that I can recommend more than once or twice--in fact, it's the only piece on the album that didn't make it to my iPod.But the rest of the album is chilling, effective, and terrific."

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CD Details

CD Reviews

	John Zorn Kristallnacht Genres: Folk, International Music, Jazz, Pop, Classical Track Listings (7) - Disc #1 Shtetl (Ghetto Life) Never Again Gahelet (Embers) Tikkun (Rectification) Tzfia (Looking Ahead) Barzel (Iron Fist) Gariin (Nucleus-The New Settlement)
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