Odon Parto's "Yiskor

Whew. The holiday season is pretty busy. I've got a lot of great music reviews coming soon and bunch of interesting topics to explore. But today, how about a nice video. It's not my usual pre-Shabbat groove, but consider a post Yom Kippur refresh.

The piece is Odon Parto's viola concerto "Yiskor" as performed by Berliner Philharmonie and soloist Avri Levitan in February of 2007. New York Times music critic Bernard Holland, whom doesn't like the piece, described it this way. "Odon Partos's "Yiskor" is a brief memorial to the victims of the Holocaust with soloist and strings. Written for the viola by a violist, it merges the fluency of an experienced player with the ethnic influences of Israel, Partos's adopted home. This is liquid, soothing music of slight invention. "Yiskor" goes down easily, leaving little aftertaste." He was writing, a bit unchartiably in my opinion, about a Israel Chamber Orchestra and Shlomo Mintz performance in 1994.

Avri Levitan Partos viola concerto "Yiskor"


Avri Levitan Partos viola concerto " Yiskor" 2 part

Hat Tip to YouTube user violamylove for posting the videos.