In May of this year I attended the premier of Keith Burstein’s new work, Finale With No Ending, a sextet, which offers tango, Jewish folk music with sumptuous classical orchestration.

On stage at the Royal College of Music, Burstein gave the audience some insights into its creation. An early memory of his father playing accordion in the family home in Hove, Sussex, was the spark which set him on his compositional voyage. What he had remembered was Klezmer music, traditionally associated with Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe.

Klezmer’s vibrant and expressive dance-led style seemed reminiscent of tango . Intrigued by the link, he had made in his head between the two genres, Burstein googled: “Klezmer music and tango”. He came upon the amazing realisation that tango was partially created by exiled Russian Jews who had settled in Argentina after the pogroms in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

It is of course amazing how different musical genres coalesce and transform in periods of upheaval and migration where music becomes a necessary outlet from poverty and tough living conditions. Naturally Burstein was excited by this musical discovery. He now had his work’s core ingredients to draw from: Klezmer, tango and classical music.

Finale With No Ending consists of four movements interlaced with three reflective, intimate interludes – often counterparts to the big symphonic moments which Burstein is so good at creating. 

The tango score, was deliciously seductive on first hearing. Burstein’s orchestration of the ensemble worked beautifully with Yuliia Humeniuk on accordion playing her melancholic, spare role with remarkable intensity. There was also joy created when she was joined by clarinet, piano and strings.

The jewel in the piece is the introduction of the horn. Burstein spoke of its symbolic and musical importance at the premier: “The horn evokes the deepest collective memory of humanity. It’s a signalling or summoning instrument – it feels as if it is calling you across time”. 

Derry Sowinski’s horn was a wonderful mellow addition to the ensemble. It both commanded attention and also bound the instruments together.

David Horvat on violin, was exceptional in creating those highly emotive moments Klezmer-style ‘crying’ effects. Marion Portelance on cello was also affecting in her poignant cello interludes.

Towards the finale, in the Heaven’s Gate movement, Burstein’s writing is particularly alluring – whirring ascents on clarinet and piano (repeated also in other instruments) magically and very gently take us through an ocean or heavenly skies – our ‘finale without an ending’.

KH

The Premiere performance of Keith Burstein’s Sextet was performed by the Ensemble of the Radical Romantics on 21st May 2026 at the Performance Hall, Royal College of Music, London.

Ensemble of the Radical Romantics: Clarinet, Connor Hargreaves, Horn, Derry Sowinski, Violin, David Hornet, Cello, Marion Portelance, Accordion Yuliia Humeniuk and Anastasia Matkovskaia on piano.

Commissioned by Mark Redman and a Michael Redman Scholarship Concert 2026