In Tzimtzum, Sarah Nemtsov brings a striking sense of ritual and transformation to the large ensemble format. Fusing Ensemble Nikel's raw-edged instrumentation with one of Germany's premier symphony orchestras under Peter Rundel, she channels religious and philosophical notions of contraction and emergence into sound. The four movements - Reshimot, Sh’vira, Tikkun, K’lipot - unspool moments of fragmentation and striving toward new unity.

Across the work, Ensemble Nikel’s electric guitar, saxophone, percussion and piano morph from soloist disruptors into participants in a much larger drama. Nemtsov builds worlds where abrasiveness and lyricism collide: orchstral clusters disintegrate into spare gestures, while electronics and microtonal textures gather tension, sometimes stretching the ensemble into unexpected rhythmic alignments or pockets of suspended motion. Rundel’s guiding hand ensures a constant play between surface chaos and the architecture beneath. The orchestral writing ranges from jarring masses to transparent whispers, making room for episodes of violence, estrangement, and periods where melody is allowed to briefly surface before splintering anew.

What emerges is a powerful meditation on rupture and return - not as neat resolution, but as a continuous, unpredictable process. The album is shaped with intention, refusing to glorify suffering yet grounding Nemtsov’s quest for connection in the real friction of bodies and instruments in space. Throughout, there is a sense of relentless curiosity - of music seeking, tearing itself open, assembling new meaning from the debris of its own breakages.