Elijah’s Chariot

“….the risk they [Kronos Quartet] run with an almost encyclopedic repertoire was more than compensated by the discovery of…Judith Shatin, of whom we appreciated a splendid Elijah’s Chariot.” – Il Gazzettino (Vicenza)

“….More interesting was Elijah’s Chariot by Judith Shatin, which used the taped sound of the shofar (the rams’ horn used by Jews during a High Holidays service) to generate a dense and affecting musical dialogue. Using the shofar’s proud, vaulting dissonance as material, Shatin draws the quartet into ever tighter thickets of sound, which climax and then dissipate as Elijah is transported to heaven….”- The San Francisco Chronicle

“The instrumental pinnacle was Judith Shatin’s Elijah’s Chariot, a symphonic poem for string quartet, with the four instruments representing the wheels of the prophet’s fiery conveyance to Heaven.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“The Shatin work…is a single long movement based on the sound of a shofar, a ram’s horn blown in the Jewish liturgy. That ancient sound is ingeniously manipulated electronically and serves as the point of departure for exploratory sonorities in the string quartet. In addition, the traditional Hebrew melody “Eliahu HaNvai” is introduced, developed and repeated in simple and elaborate variations at the end, played and hummed by the Cassatt Quartet. The work is inspired by the story of the biblical prophet Elijah and reflects his religious intensity. Shatin reveals her mastery of the union of the electronic medium and live performance in projecting a visionary experience.” – Charlottesville Weekly

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