Prayer places the English horn alone, without harmonic support or external frame. The instrument’s sound is naturally plaintive, yet full of warmth, making it a particularly intimate vessel for a musical prayer.

The work unfolds as a single line of inward speech. Its expressive world is one of breath, lament, invocation and silence, with the performer carrying the entire spiritual and dramatic weight.

In Auerbach’s catalogue, Prayer belongs to a larger group of solo works in which a single unaccompanied instrument becomes a complete interior theatre.

• Form One movement.
• Duration Approximately 6 minutes.
• Forces Solo English horn.

Prayer for English horn solo was commissioned by Candis Threlkeld.

The first performance took place in 1997 in Aspen, performed by Candis Threlkeld.

The English horn, with its darker and more veiled sound than the oboe, gives the work a vocal quality suited to prayer, mourning and inward address.

The title T’filah connects the work to the idea of prayer as an act of speaking, listening and inward witness.

Boosey & Hawkes lists a recommended recording by Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia, cor anglais, on Navona Records NV6500.

Navona Records lists the recording as The Prayer, performed by Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia on English horn.

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