Osvaldo Golijov - Tenebrae (2000)

Two startling events in September 2000 led Osvaldo Golijov to write Tenebrae -Latin for darkness. Golijov, who is one of today's foremost composers, was in Israel at the outbreak of the second intifada, a 4.5 year period of violence that engulfed Israeli and Palestinian society after the failed peace talks of 2000.
A week later, back home in New York, he took his son to the new Planetarium , where they saw Earth as a tiny, sublime blue dot piercing the vastness of space. Perplexed that this awe-inspiring planet could be the home of so much torment, Golijov began to compose from the perspective of a traveler's viewpoint on a spaceship orbiting Earth. From the distance, all we see is heavenly beauty, but as the ship draws closer, the pain under the surface begins to reveal itself.
The name Tenebrae -Latin for darkness- takes inspiration from the piece "Troisieme leçon de ténèbres," by French composer François Couperin, which Golijov quotes throughout this composition while maintaining a fluttering, ethereal atmosphere. Couperin wrote his composition for the Tenebrae service, a Christian service held during Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, when Lamentations is read. After completing Tenebrae, Golijov realized that his composition, too, invokes this kind of medieval reading of Lamentations, in which a somber voice journeys through the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, only to arrive at the final, repeated word: Jerusalem.
What to listen for: beautiful melodic lines over the ethereal accompaniment, the dramatic dialogue between soloists and the long, slow, plaintive cello solo; extended techniques such as sul ponticello (when the players move their bows very close to the bridge to bring out an excess of upper partials to create an icy soundscape).
Camerata Del Sol performed this work live on April 16, 2023 at New Mexico State University's Atkinson Recital Hall.