Simchat Torah

"Simchat Torah" translates the joy of the annual Jewish holiday — celebrating the completion and recommencement of the Torah reading cycle — into pure musical ecstasy. Feidman's clarinet spins with barely controlled euphoria, the melodic lines circling back on themselves like worshippers dancing with Torah scrolls in a synagogue. The rhythm is infectious, insistent, the kind of beat that moves congregations and concert halls with equal authority. What makes this recording distinctive is how Feidman sustains the intensity without tipping into sheer frenzy — there is always musical intelligence governing the ecstasy, shaping its peaks and valleys. The cultural function of this music is literal: it accompanies specific ritual movement, bodies in motion as spiritual practice. Even stripped of that context, it carries the residue of sacred celebration. It is nearly impossible to listen without physical response.