I. Open the Gate (Lyrics: Kadia Molodowsky, Music: Nachum Nardi) II. Summer is Over (Lyrics: Shmuel Bass, Music: Emanuel Amiran-Pougatchov) III. Michael is Five (Lyrics: Yitzhak Katznelson, Music: folk song) IV. Danny is a Hero (Lyrics: Miriam Yalan-Stekelis, Music: Max Lampel)

Text by Nurit Yarchi For choir a-capella

Text from Yom Kippuer's Prayer

This song cycle was written in 1998 for Voice, Violin, Oboe or Clarinet, and Piano. It is based on three poems by the late Israeli Poet Ya’ir Hurwitz. I used only three of the 18 short poems, all relating to death. This was his last book and he wrote these songs on his death bed. The entrapped bird is a metaphor of his soul being imprisoned in his sick body, waiting, in a sense, to be freed. I’ve tried to portray this dark and very painful atmosphere in my music using a chromatic and expressive musical language.

Lyrics: Yehuda Halevi