16 Jul Metzarim

Metzarim (2024; words from Psalms; contralto, vln., vlc., pno.; 17 min.)

Metzarim: Program notes

Lawrence Cherney of Soundstreams approached me in 2019 to compose a piece on the theme of nigunim, the wordless melodies sung by Ashkenazi Jews. My thoughts wandered to a text by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, loosely translated as: “The whole entire world is a very narrow bridge, but the main thing is not to freak yourself out.” I never imagined how apt those words would prove: a pandemic delayed the work’s premiere for five years, and a tragic conflict in the Middle East shattered countless lives, setting Jews at odds with their neighbours and with each other.

When I learned that I would be collaborating with Aviva Chernick, a wonderfully soulful singer and cherished colleague, I looked to the Psalms. There I found lyrics which take us to heights of joy and depths of sorrow, beseeching the divine to spare us from hatred and oppression, lamenting the ephemerality of our lives. Metzarim (which translates as “narrows”) traces a journey from a place of constriction and darkness into light and joy.

Metzarim / Narrows was commissioned by Soundstreams (Lawrence Cherney, Artistic Director) with the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council. Many thanks to Aviva Chernick for helping to shape and tune up this piece, to Aviva and the Gryphon Trio for bringing it to life, and to Lawrence Cherney, who commissioned it, for giving my musical voice a platform over so many years, forging a wonderful creative partnership and journey.

Metzarim: Lyrics

Chaneinu, Adonai, chaneinu!
Ki-rav savanu vuz
rabat savah-la nafsheinu ha’la’ag hasha’ananim
habuz ligei yonim.

Show us kindness, Adonai, show us kindness!
We have had more than enough of hatred.
Long enough have we endured the scorn of the complacent,
the contempt of the high and mighty. [Psalm 123:3-4]

Hodiyeini Adonai kitziy umidat
yamai mah-hi
eidah me-chadeil ani
hinei t’fachot natatah yamai
v’cheldi ch’ayin negdecha
ach kol-hevel kol-adam nitzav. Selah.

Tell me, Adonai, when is my end,
what is the measure of my days;
I want to know how fleeting my life is.
You have made my life the width of my hand;
its span is nothing in Your eyes;
no one endures any longer than a breath. Selah.

Shim’ah t’filati Adonai
v’shavati ha’azinah el-dimati
al-techerash ki geir anochi imach
toshav k’chol-avotai
hasha mimeni v’avligah
b’terem eileich v’einenei.

Hear my prayer, Adonai;
hear my cry;
see my tears;
for I am a stranger with You,
a sojourner, an alien like my ancestors.
Spare me, that I may know joy again,
before I pass away and am gone. [Psalm 39:5-6, 13-14]

Yis’m’chu hashamayim v’tageil ha’aretz
yiram hayam umlo
ya’a’loz sadai v’chol-asher-bo
az y’ran’nu kol-atzei-ya’ar.

Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it,
the fields and everything in them rejoice;
then shall all the trees of the forest shout for joy. [Psalm 96:11-13]