Nigun of Four Gates (2021) - Benjamin Gabbay

"Nigun of Four Gates" is a reimagining of “The Alter Rebbe’s Nigun of Four Gates” (aka “The Nigun of Four Stanzas” or "Nigun Daled Bavos"), a wordless nigun attributed to 18th-century rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. In the original tune, each of the four musical phrases (“stanzas”) is meant to correspond to one of the four Kabbalistic spiritual realms, through which the singer’s spirit is raised by the recitation of the nigun. In this interpretation for cello ensemble, each stanza undergoes extended thematic metamorphoses intended to reflect the improvisatory, meditative, and intimate manner in which a nigun is typically performed. Colour and momentum are built up with each stanza before culminating in the spiritual ecstasy of the fourth stanza.

“There are gates in heaven that cannot be opened except by melody and song.”
Attributed to Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

This premier performance was a part of the March 2023 Student Composers' Concert in Walter Hall at the University of Toronto, March 14, 2023.

Many thanks to Professor Alexander Rapoport for his invaluable guidance during the composition of this piece.

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Cello I - Benjamin David Louwersheimer
Cello II - Tuuli Olo
Cello III - Lyndon Kwan
Cello IV - Hayley Chan
Cello V - Maren Helyar
Cello VI - Kevin Zi-Xiao He
Cello VII - Sirui Chen

Conductor - Benjamin Gabbay

The background that appears in the title screen of the video is from a photo of the east wall of the Córdoba Synagogue in Córdoba (aka Cordova) Spain, built in 1315. (Original photo by Roy Lindman: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) The pattern carved in the wall is said to represent the ten Sefirot (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/....