We need to talk about Yehezkal.

Is classical music cool yet?

I've been waiting so patiently for the last 5 years for classical music to make a return, outside of the stereotype that it belongs only to the ears of the upper class but can we talk about the work of Yehezkal Raz yet?

Somebody tell me it's time.

There's actually very little information out there about him which adds a sense of mystery to his being, it's incredible being that he's been picked up by the likes of Ryan Reynolds as seen in an instagram story posted on his platform.

It's known that he started off his training in electronic music before moving into classical composition, which can be noticed in his earlier works which have a completely different energy to his most recent stuff.

So I figured rather than sitting here and telling you who he is, I'm going to give you my top five songs and introduce you to his music because ultimately, that's the theme of todays publication.

Without further ado, I introduce you to Yehezkel Raz.

1. Ballerina

Ballerina was the first song I found after a playlist I was listening to ended and jumped to radio. I remember stopping what I was doing, dropping my shoulders and just breathing out. It was instant. I've been obsessed since.

Ballerina belongs to the album 'Preludes, book 1 - streams' and the entire album is fantastic, but Ballerina. It envisions everything you could possibly envision when ballet comes into play. I describe it as 'Nutcracker meets Studio Ghibli' because it has the same whimsical feel to it as the afforementioned. Ballerina has actually taken the number one spot on spotify as his most played songs with an astounding 21,614, 008 plays.

2. Before you left

This next one comes from the same album as Ballerina, and in all honesty If I was to recommend any album to listen to first, it'd be streams. It's so gentle and delicate by nature and emotion. It has the capacity to break your heart and lift you back up in mere minutes.

Before you left is as heartbreaking as you'd expect. With a sombre and melancholy feel, it tells a tale of someone that didn't leave intentionally. A depiction of death perhaps. It's a magnificent piece, that leaves the very same hole in your heart that the power of death, grief and mourning do.

3. Corals under the sun

Corals under the sun is a duet composition by Sivan Talmor and Yehezkel Raz and it's astounding. The album itself is aptly titled underwater fantasies and without a word, both composers manage to depict tales of sirens through vocal sounds rather than spoken word.

The delicate tinkling of the piano keys in an upper key, in comparison to the lower key base notes is just everything. I've never known anyone to be able to put a sound to the feeling of the sun glistening off of water, until I'd heard this song.

Couple this with the airy orchestra vocals, you get the exact same feeling that you would had you come across a siren before your demise. It's incredibly clever.

4. Childhood

This piece begins exactly as I thought it would but goes exactly where I wouldn't have guessed. The playing of singular keys in the beginning tells me a story of a bored little boy. Whether he was bored in his childhood or not, perhaps gifted without access, who knows?

A lot of his pieces feel too short, because you want them to last forever and this is a great case for it. I can feel summer breezes, fields of wheat, a time to play and a time to sleep. It's astounding to me that in little to no words, the imagination can take such a hold when it comes to his work.

This is also another great album to listen to. It's an original soundtrack called rain in her eyes. Definitely worth checking it out.

5. Behind every decision

This is another of my favourites and I think over time, this might top Ballerina for me. In the beginning, he plays with hesitation as you would when making a difficult decision. The crescendo here builds quite quickly and is has such a calming and beautiful melody through-out, before running off to an end. To me this signifies, a decision being made, being carried out and coming to an abrupt end but you might make something else of it.

You can find Yehezkel Raz on instagram here and you can find him on spotify here for further listening. For those of you without access to streaming music sites, you can find a full extension of his music on youtube here.