John Zorn's Film Works is a continuing series of releases documenting the composer and saxophonist's soundtrack work over the past 15 years. That said, this ninth volume marks a departure in both documentation and in the composer's direction. In sharp contrast to the other releases in the Film Works series, which are all composites of soundtracks to numerous short films and/or cartoons, Trembling Before G-D is Zorn's first feature-length soundtrack and the only work included here. Trembling Before G-D is a documentary about "Hasidim and Orthodox Jews who come out as gays and lesbians and the ways in which they negotiate their sexuality and identity in religious communities. Shot over five years in Israel, Brooklyn, London, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco, in English with Hebrew and Yiddish, it is a work of global implications...." The film's producers Sandi Simcha Dubowski and Marc Smolowitz contacted Zorn after hearing his Bar Kokhba project. And while Zorn wanted to compose an entirely new score, the one track they insisted on keeping -- which sets the tone for the entire work -- is the organ/clarinet track Idalah-Abal, played gorgeously by Jamie Saft on organ and Chris Speed on clarinet. Zorn rose to this challenge by employing unusual (at least for him) elements in composing this soundtrack. The rest of the score was written using only the clarinet and organ by the aforementioned players, with some piano and Cyro Baptista's percussion featured on two tracks recorded later. The story of the recording of this work and the making of the film is documented thoroughly by both Zorn and, separately, by Dubowski in the extensive -- and, in typical fashion, beautifully printed -- liner notes. The title theme sounds at first like a Chris Speed clarinet solo, playing a variation on a Yiddish folk song (it's not). Upon closer listening, one can hear Saft's organ droning, ever so quietly, creating the tension that Speed's playing needs to carry the theme home not only as a lonely voice, but as a melody that is repeated in various pieces throughout the score. Next is the score's only solo piano piece, Mahshav, played by Saft. Again, an understated folk melody is augmented by extended minor chords (and with a small passage from Scriabin slipped through the melody). It is gorgeous, full of melancholy and dignity, almost processional in its pace and power.

1		Trembling Before G-D
2		Mahshav
3		Tashlikh
4		Yechida
5		Idalah-Abal
6		Simen Tov/Mazel Tov
7		Sholom Aleichem
8		Notarikon
9		Maskil
10		Trembling Before G-D
11		Mahshav [Duo]
12		Desert Montage
13		Kaporeh
14		Tashlikh
15		Nigun
16		Trembling Before G-D
17		End Titles
18		Kaporeh