Golijov: Yiddishbbuk / Palmer, St. Lawrence String Quartet

This collection of chamber works by Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov (born in 1960) is centered around performances by the St. Lawrence String Quartet. This is full-blooded, first-rate contemporary chamber music that emphasizes emotion and rich textures over the thorniness and preoccupation with technique that has been the dominant factor in New Music since World War II. Yiddishbbuk contains four works written between 1992 and 2001. Many of these works deal with the Jewish experience, reflecting Golijov's own roots and making tasteful use of gestures identifiable with Judaic music, such as sliding tones, Hebrew scales and leaping, and Hora-like rhythmic patterns. The focus of Last Round is the tango and it serves as a tribute to bandoneonist and composer Astor Piazzolla (1921 -- 1991). Scored for double string quartet and double bass, Last Round begins with a fast section that literally pummels the listener into attention; once it has done that, it never lets go. It is followed by Lullaby and Doina, which is the most comfortably approachable music here. The title work, Yiddishbbuk, is both the oldest and most in-your-face work on the disc, but that shouldn't stop anyone from checking it out. Listeners who enjoy the string quartet music of Stravinsky and Charles Ives will doubtless find something to enjoy in Yiddishbbuk. Todd Palmer joins the St. Lawrence on multiple clarinets in the final work, The Dreams and Prayers of Issac the Blind, which is probably the disc's weak point, as the music, while it is in character, isn't as focused as the rest of the works here. These performances by the St. Lawrence String Quartet can be regarded as definitive and the recorded sound, produced by veteran Max Wilcox, is outstanding.