“‘The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind’ (1994) is the piece that launched Osvaldo Golijov, born in Argentina and trained in Israel, into his international celebrity orbit... Golijov's use of the string trio [quartet] medium is steeped in high-culture smarts and technical sophistication, that of the klezmer clarinet teeming with idiomatic inside knowledge. All of it was tailor-made for the demonic virtuosity that guest artist Jonathan Cohler could bring to it.”
“Part klezmer, part standard string quartet, the work [‘The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind’] actually attempts...to resolve a folk (klezmer) tradition, which is generally personal and individual, with the serious traditions of classical music, which attempt to resolve difficult musical conundrums while at the same time producing emotional reactions.
Man does it work. It has been performed and recorded by many fine players, but this evening's work by the chamber players and clarinetist Jonathan Cohler proved exceptional.”
Page
Twitter Page
Channel
Twitter page
Channel