Kol Nidrei

A few months ago, a friend had to perform the piano part of Max Bruch's "Kol Nidrei." She did some research on the subject and came across a version that she wanted to share with me, convinced it would play nice with my kind of images.
I listened to it (on iTunes) and immediately bought it, my friend was obviously right (thanks Yuliia).

That "Kol Nidrei" is a composition by Matthew Owens, a remarkable cellist, who kindly agreed to let me "use" his music.

Here's what he says about his music:
"Recently, I was invited to perform Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei for 'cello and orchestra (piano). No longer satisfied with Bruch's florid and highly romantic rendition, I succeeded in convincing the impresario to allow me to compose my own version. I was already familiar with the use, by a wide variety of composers (Beethoven included), of the essential Kol Nidrei theme. However, research led me to examples of medieval plainsong adapted and developed by cantors for hundreds of years.
A conversation with a local rabbi led me to sources which outlined both the long, complex history of the legal Kol Nidrei-a device that originated in the Babylonian Captivity period and was employed to release the supplicant from the onus of ill-advised oaths-and that of its moral and legal importance, especially in times of oppression, such as that of the Inquisition. But the historical/legal story does not contain the essence of the evolving atonement theme as powerfully as it is captured in the musical fragments, lovingly elaborated by generations of cantors, right through to our times. Indeed, the message of the melodies is so mighty in a mystical and emotional way that in spite of sporadic debates on this subject, the music itself remains at the heart and soul of the Yom Kippur experience.
In my composition, based on the "Naumberg" fragments, I have sought to express, through the voice of the solo 'cello, the human and mystic spirit of the cantor in his improvisatory outreach, and to evoke echoes of the Patriarchs in their lone desert communion with the most exalted concept of deity yet known in human history.
This work is dedicated to my mother, in memory of my grandfather, for whom I played Kol Nidrei at our last meeting before his passing."

Matthew Owens' web site is here http://www.matthewowens.com/index.html

However, there is more: Matthew Owens is also a painter. There are many musicians who dabble in visual art, with relative success, but Matthew Owens is not dabbling, he is indeed an exceptional artist: http://www.matthewowens.com/painting/gallery.htm

Festival ready (.mov, Apple ProRes 422 HQ, .h264)