A bit of a break from our regularly scheduled polyphony, I grant you that, but the subject matter (from the book of Revelation) and the purveyor (Saint Johnny) are no less sacred. I love the rolling rhythm of this one, and the depth of the other instruments augmenting the jangly guitar.
Sacred Sunday
REMIX WEEK! Sacred Sunday: “Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing,” John Wyeth meets Sufjan Stevens
StandardI’ve loved this hymn forever. The tune is lovely, of course, but the words are some of the most powerful in Christian hymnody. Sufjan Stevens writes some really beautiful and interesting secular music, so I was really excited when I found out he’d done an arrangement of the hymn. Stevens’s version adds new depth to my favorite verse:
“Here I raise my Ebenezer*, hither by thy help I’ve come,
and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God.
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.”
By placing the melody underneath the harmony, instead of the other way around, Stevens grounds the sentiments expressed in the lyrics – and, helpfully, makes it easier to hear the harmony in the first place. And, also, banjo. I’m a sucker for the banjo.
*Ebenezer means “stone of help,” and refers to a battle between the Israelites and Philistines. As described in the book of Samuel, God swayed the outcome of the battle in favor of the Israelites, and as a permanent memorial of their salvation, Samuel, an Israelite prophet and judge, dedicated a great stone to the battle – and named it Ebenezer.
Original tune sung by the mighty Mormon Tabernacle Choir:
Sacred Sunday: “Ave Maria,” Josquin Des Prez
StandardI know, I know, I get it – “Great, another Renaissance polyphony piece, awesome, haven’t heard that in a while.” Whatever. Wrap your ears around this beauty and them come complaining.
Beyond the basics details of when and where he lived, not much is known about Des Prez (c1450 – 1521). He was a Franco-Flemish composer who has about 370 compositions to his name, plus – allegedly – some graffiti on a wall in the Sistine Chapel. I for one am dying to learn more about the man who wrote this triptych of a motet. First, the canon of voices at the beginning; second, the unification of voices at 2:28; and third, the heart-breaking simplicity of the end – oh mother of God, remember me – at 4:00. Three is a significant number in the Christian religion – the trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – and I wonder whether that was the purpose behind splitting the piece into three segments. Whatever the purpose, thank heavens he wrote it at all.
Sacred Sunday: “Sicut Cervus,” Palestrina
StandardGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (or just Palestrina. Like Madonna is just “Madonna.” …Okay maybe not.) is one of the top four Renaissance composers, in my opinion. His music just aches with feeling. Born in 1525 in Palermo, Italy, Palestrina the Prolific gave the world 105 masses, 68 offertories, at least 140 madrigals, more than 300 motets, 72 hymns, 35 magnificats, 11 litanies, and four sets of lamentations before he died in 1594. This simple anthem, “Sicut Cervus,” is my personal favorite Palestrina composition out of everything he wrote. He manages to pack such longing into simple harmonies and phrasing. Listen to when the basses come back in at 2:06 to follow the tenors on “Ita,” the second half of the lyrics. It literally and figuratively deepens the sentiment expressed and creates the supported space for the sopranos to come in with the long “Anima” at 2:08. It’s a tough piece for me to sing because it always makes me choke up if I think about it too much. This piece really is my soul’s tuning fork.
—
Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus.
As the deer longs for running water, so longs my soul for you, O God.
Sacred Sunday: “Miserere Nostri,” Thomas Tallis
StandardThomas Tallis, you magnificent bastard. This piece is actually a canon, called a “six in two.” This means it uses six voices to produce a double canon. This means that the top two voices are playing off each other while the bottom voices are doing their own thing. You can track in the score how the second soprano follows the first soprano’s lead. It’s one of my favorite Tallis pieces – which is saying something, since I carry a serious torch for the guy. I love how it slowly builds to the two-minute mark, plus the interplay of the soprano lines between 2:46 and 2:56. But the most ingenious part of the piece is how it ends on a question, by which I mean the chord doesn’t resolve back to the tonic (or starting chord of the piece); it ends on the fifth. Miserere nostri – Have mercy on us, Lord. It’s a request. That the piece ends without resolution leaves space for that request to be answered. It just brings tears to my eyes every time.
Sacred Sunday: “Let Tyrants Shake Their Iron Rod”
StandardThere is a big protest right now at the White House on climate change. I am painfully and gratefully aware that, in my country, I have the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of speech. In my country, were I to join the protest, the police would protect me – not shoot me. This hymn is from my country’s revolution that was fought to create and enshrine these rights in law. I am filled with thoughts of Ukraine today.
Sacred Sunday: “Izithembiso Zenkosi,” Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Standardhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0T7wJOLa1k
In case you aren’t familiar with them, Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a ten-man acapella group from Durban, South Africa. The name is a composite of three things: Ladysmith is the name of founder Joseph Shabalala’s hometown; Black refers to oxen; and Mambazo is the Zulu word for axe, which Shabalala chose to imply his group’s ability to “chop down” its singing rivals. A well-chosen name, as the group has been singing for fifty years.
The group definitely sings about the Christian gospel, but Shabalala has said that he wants to make music that appeals across the religious spectrum. “Without hearing the lyrics, this music gets into the blood, because it comes from the blood,” he says. “It evokes enthusiasm and excitement, regardless of what you follow spiritually.” This makes me very happy. This is my absolute favorite Ladysmith Black Mambazo song. I love the rolling rhythm and the repetitive melody is very meditative while still being lively and uptempo.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo sounds like my childhood. I grew up listening to my Mom’s cassette tapes, playing in one half of the basement while she refinished some antique piece of furniture in the other half. Ladysmith Black Mambazo also sounds like springtime, and today is our last hit of warmth before the polar vortex closes in on us again. Put this on and throw open all the windows.
Sacred Sunday: “Oh Happy Souls,” Robert Shaw
StandardThis piece is an arrangement of an old New England hymn from around 1792. Originally called “The Slow Traveler,” it was, as far as I’ve been able to discover, published in hymnals regularly for only about a hundred years. I don’t know enough about Robert Shaw to know how he discovered it, but thank heavens he did. Robert Shaw and Alice Parker, his frequent collaborator, deserve a Nobel Prize for preserving this style of American music. There is so much of the American character in this piece. Its solid, four square construction is brave, unsentimental, and resilient. It bucks me up whenever I need it. This is a recording I pinched from my father’s vinyl record collection, which is why it sounds so scratchy.
Sacred Sunday: “Officum Defunctorum & Missa Pro Defunctis,” Cristobal de Morales
StandardSome Tune-Up fans might think it a bit of a cop-out to post an entire body of work instead of a song – since this blog is devoted to providing you with the “song of the day” – but I just was incapable of pulling this piece apart. It needs to be heard in its entirety; it’s just that gorgeous. Those of you who are up on your Latin will know that these two bodies of work are funereal – “Officum Defunctorum” means the office of the dead (a cycle of prayers), and “Missa Pro Defunctis” is the mass for the dead. Without knowing the titles and therefore purposes of these pieces, I wouldn’t have guessed they had anything to do with funerals, and that is one of the reasons I love them. The harmonies are the other reason. They are simple, accessible, and exquisite.
Cristobal de Morales is rightly considered one of the giants of the Spanish Renaissance, and really one of the great composers of the Renaissance in general. He was born in Seville, Spain, around 1500 and died in 1553. I cannot possibly overstate the importance of buying the Jordi Savall recording, if you’re inclined to get a copy of this for yourself. It is superlative.
Sacred Sunday: “St. Ludmila,” Antonin Dvorak
StandardGood morning! This will put some adrenalin in your coffee. The bassoon that supports the tune at 0:42 makes me smile every time. And of course the chorus at 1:31 and 2:59 grabs you by the lapels until you get out of bed. This is sacred music, Czech style. Hospodine, pomiluj ny! Mighty Lord, have mercy on us.
The Daily Tune-Up 