Lera Auerbach (b.1973, Russia)

T’filah- ‘Prayer’ (1996)

“Like some of my other compositions, T’filah is my reaction to the tragedy of the Holocaust. I find the sound of the unaccompanied violin vulnerable yet powerful. A prayer is a dramatic union between a human being and their true self, between one’s soul and the eternal forces connected to it. To pray means to ask questions. What is the answer? Are there such things as answers? Henryk Szeryng once said: To breathe is to want, To want is to get, To get is to give, To give is to live, To live is to love.

Isn't this magic circle of words the sacred formula to all prayers and to the human longing for eternal harmony?”

• Lera Auerbach on T’filah.