Osvaldo Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind

Chronique

Composed in 1994, this touching work, expertly played here by the Kronos Quartet with David Krakauer on clarinet, bass clarinet, and basset horn, "is a kind of epic, a history of Judaism". The central image is of Isaac the Blind, the greatest Kabbalist rabbi of Provence, who approximately 800 years ago wrote that everything in the universe are products of the Hebrew alphabet's letters. The piece begins slowly with a Prelude that gradually develops a "heartbeat" and pulse, like "an accordion". The wonderful Jewish music inflections of David Krakauer on the woodwinds add the perfect emotional characters required in each of the movements. The first movement proceeds through many moods, at once like a joyful klezmer band, and ending with the most moving of cries, in a monologue on "the rhythm of death", and a renewal of the heartbeat oscillations. The second movement begins slowly again with a pathetic melody exchange between the clarinet and solo violin that has the quality of an ancient tale told late at night. This gradually turns into an extremely lively Presto dance. The third movement is a lovely and plaintive shepherd's flute-like melody played on the clarinet and echoed in the solo violin. Strange fluttering tones and harmonics from the strings hang in the air. The Postlude is a haunting memoryscape that ends with an unresolved chord.

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