"Entrapped Bird"

"ציפור כלואה"

Composing Year:

1998

Instruments:

Mezzo-Soprano, Violin, Oboe (or Clarinet) and Piano
or Mezzo-Soprano and Piano

Duration:

10'

Text by Yair Hurvitz

Mira Zakai - mezzo-soprano, Gabi Bokovsky - oboe, Hagai Shaham - violin, Menachem Wiesenberg - piano (1998)

This song cycle, written in 1998 for voice, violin, oboe (or clarinet) and piano, is based on three poems by the late Israeli poet Yair Hurwitz. I used only three of the 18 short poems, all relating to death, and taken from his last book, which he wrote on his death bed. The entrapped bird is a metaphor of his soul being imprisoned in his sick body, waiting, in a sense, to be freed. I’ve tried to portray this dark and very painful atmosphere in my music using a chromatic and expressive musical language.