CLASSICAL OPUS no.71

Deodat de Séverac – “Tantum Ergo”

デオダ・ド・セヴラック – 「だけにして」

 

TIME COMMITMENT: 3 minutes

Enchantingly vertical, stylized as a soaring, almost astral invocation, this meditative motet strays closer to impressionism’s household names than to formal traditionalists.  The composer drew heavily upon rural traditions of southern France, which goes some way towards explaining the a-formal structuring of his works.  The Dutch recording here sadly sports only stills, but boasts better sound than other versions available online.

 

MUSIC

 

INFO

https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W14_GBAJY9366913

 

A REFLECTION

You are the space

That embraces my being and buries it in yourself.

Away from you it sinks into the abyss

Of nothingness, from which you raised it to the light.

 

Edith Stein: “A Poem”

 

Published in: on October 20, 2018 at 3:44 pm  Leave a Comment  

CLASSICAL OPUS no.77

 

Josquin Des Prez – “Missa pangue lingua”

ジョスキン・デ・プレッツ – 「ミサ・パンゲ・リンガ」

 

TIME COMMITMENT: 3 minutes

This jubilant prayer is based on Thomas Aquinas’ “Feast of Corpus Christi” which, unlike his printed works, survived as a manuscript.  The sublime invocation is resplendent in its multilinearity.  It urges to proclaim the divine glory, with a perfect union between the signifier and the signified.

 

MUSIC

 

INFO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missa_Pange_lingua

 

A REFLECTION

Hear, Shepherd Thou who for Thy flock art dying

Oh wash away these scarlet sins, for Thou

Rejoicest at the contrite sinner’s vow

Oh wait! to Thee my weary soul is crying.

 

Lope de Vega: “The Good Shepherd”

 

Published in: on October 14, 2018 at 8:53 am  Leave a Comment  

CLASSICAL OPUS no.94

Giovanni Batista Pergolesi: “Stabat mater”

ジョバンニ・バティスタ・ペルゴレシ：「スタバット・マター」

 

TIME COMMITMENT: 42 minutes

Ornate, magniloquent and exalted, this Marian hymn initially misleads with its prototypically laudatory majesty.  By the time we reach its 10th part (on the 28th minute mark), the unusual phrase structures begin to confuse the temporal organization.  It is hard to believe that this was penned by the same composer who shocked the late baroque mores with the levity of his opera buffa.

 

MUSIC

 

INFO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabat_Mater_(Pergolesi)

 

A REFLECTION

Love, that art Charity,

Why has Thou hurt me so?

My heart is smote in two,

And burns with ardent love,

 

Jacopone da Todi: “The Soul’s Over-ardent Love”

Published in: on September 27, 2018 at 6:00 pm  Leave a Comment  

CLASSICAL OPUS no. 100

Antonio Vivaldi – “Vedro con il mio diletto” from Il Giustino

アントニオ・ヴィヴァルディ – 「イル・ジュスティーノ」オペラ の 「愛する人と共に見る」というアリア

 

TIME COMMITMENT: 5 minutes

 

A forgivingly narcisstic counter-tenor piece of seductive, accretive proximity that few baroque arias afford.  The singer astounds with his superb control of intensity and infallible command of pacing.  Note the zero glottal attack, as if his timbral silk slithered stealthily into our ears.  And the visuals?  I cannot promise that future posts here will quench similarly oxymoronic desires.

 

MUSIC

 

INFO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giustino_(Vivaldi)

 

A REFLECTION

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops – at all

 

Emily Dickinson, “Hope is the thing with feathers”

Published in: on September 21, 2018 at 6:09 am  Leave a Comment  
Newer Entries »