Symphony No. 4 "Heichalos"

The Nashville Symphony. The Violins of Hope. A commission of Leshnoff for a new orchestra work has led to the first recording of a performance on these historic instruments. By all accounts, a moving experience for musicians and audience alike. The Symphony No. 4 is now available in a large score. “The Nashville Symphony pulled out all the stops for the community-wide cultural event Violins of Hope, including the commission of a new symphony from the composer Jonathan Leshnoff. His Symphony No. 4 'Heichalot' represents a spiritual journey that has as its goal a communion with the divine. This sonic odyssey begins in the human realm, which Leshnoff depicts with music that is fast, dark and mysterious. Serene music signals a kind of heavenly arrival. For the performance, members of the first violin section played the Violins of Hope, instruments that had once belonged to Jewish musicians persecuted during the Holocaust. It gave listeners the sense of distant voices, unfairly silenced, finally being restored.” -- John Pitcher, Nashville Scene