The cat saved my life

I've been looking for a way to combine my admiration to the poetry of Israeli poet Daliah Ravikovitch with my own music for many years. The Cat Saved My Life is the result of a long process in which editing, splicing and joining together of fragments of texts from Ravikovitch's oeuvre preceded composition itself. My idea was to create a collage in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Starting with the bitter-sweet statement "nothing human is foreign to me, but neither is it very close", and ending with the Ars Poetica meditation on the nature of writing poetry ("writing poetry is perhaps a pleasant thing"), the cycle visits other important thematic stations in Ravikovitch's work: The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, depression, rescue fantasies in the form of an exotic world which is beyond reach ("if you can't give me an ocean, give me snow-glazed mountains") and more. The music comments on the text and sometimes hints at what is beyond the scope of textual expression. It was important for me to allow a clear presentation of the text through the music, resulting in a piece abundant with transparent textures, and with the musical projection of the vocal part into the ensemble of instruments. The piece is a work in progress which started in 2009; to date it contains 15 songs and one instrumental movement, and there are further movements and songs planned. Excerpts from the whole cycle may be performed separately. The piece was commissioned and premiered by Ensemble Meitar, and was awarded the 2011 NewEar Composition Competition prize for student category.