You could be forgiven if you thought track two was a contemporary work commissioned as a score for a silent movie reissued on Blu-ray. And you’d be close in spirit: it’s actually a piano piece by 1920s jazzman Bix Beiderbecke. The Cholera in the title of the album by violinist Juliet Kurtzman and pianist Pete Malinverni doubtlessly stands for COVID and Candlelight—romance and comfort in a time of need and uncertainty? The opening number by Malinverni conjures ghosts of tango and the overall mood calls up lost worlds of cultivation. Imagine the duo at a Park Avenue salon circa 1920, entertaining guests in evening wear. Their musical skill is as evident as their love of the early 20th century songs they selected to record.
