Yitzhak Yedid - Myth of the Cave (2003)

Myth of the Cave is a suite in five movements for clarinet/bass clarinet, double bass and piano, composed by Yitzhak Yedid in Jerusalem, Israel, 2002, and premiered in Frankfurt, Germany, October 2002.

The fundamental idea of the composition was inspired by Plato's philosophic metaphor, The Allegory of the Cave:

Human beings sit in a cave, in chains, their backs to the entrance. The shadows of things moving outside are projected by the light onto an inner wall of the cave. As the prisoners have never been outside the cave since birth, they believe these shadows are reality. One of them succeeds in freeing himself and walks outside into the light. He realises that he has lived his whole life in the shadow of an illusion. Delighted by his discovery, he returns to the cave to communicate it to the others. Violence erupts between the one who ventured outside and those who do not want to understand. The story ends with the death of the person that had gained insight into reality.

Yedid found the allegory as an appropriate metaphor for the difficult reality of our time- a delusional reality, ignorance of the truth and of suffering in the world. The music expresses feelings of criticism, pity, prayer, mercy and a keen desire to recognise the truth.

Luke Carbon - clarinet/bass clarinet
Yitzhak Yedid - piano
Jonathon Coco - double bass