With the premiere recording of Darius Milhaud’s Etudes, based on the original synagogue melodies of Provençal Jewry, the world-renowned Juilliard String Quartet leads off this unique collection of five Judaically inspired string quartets.

A rich bouquet of Ashkenazi sacred melodies pervades the string quartet by Sholom Secunda, the composer of Yiddish theatrical music better known for the song hit Bay mir bistu sheyn. German refugee composer Ruth Schonthal expands the quartet medium with a striking work dedicated to the memory of the murdered victims of the Holocaust. The Kol Nidre by John Zorn is a highly original exploration of motifs of the best-known Yom Kippur chant. A new recording of this work, as well as Two Hassidic Moods by the liturgical composer Abraham Wolf Binder, complete the program.