"Neshima" is Orí Harmelin’s exciting debut solo lute and theorbo album. Orí Harmelin explores a new realm of possibilities for personal creation as a modern musician using the musical language of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The album contains Orí’s arrangements of madrigals, motets and chansons by Cipriano de Rore, Josquin des Prez and Thomas Tallis, alongside his own compositions of variation pieces such as La Monica, the Passacaglia and Ballo del Granduca as well as original compositions using the tools of this musical language.
Additionally, this album contains one piece for theorbo written for Orí Harmelin by the composer Simon MacHale. "Neshima" is Hebrew for breath. In enhancing on the title Orí Harmelin wrote "our breath is our constant friend. While breath is universal in that it is what connects us with life, it is also extremely personal, my breath is my life". Between Orí Harmelin’s creation of this album, its name, and Harmelin’s performance, we experience an extremely intimate encounter that connects us to the world of historical plucked instruments on a whole new level. © Passacaille