Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1

Sir Adrian Boult conducts Ralph Vaughan Williams - Norfolk Rhapsody


"There's something about VW's work, that I can't quite put my finger on, but, its that indefinable quality of making you feel bigger inside than outside, the music is THAT good, its almost too much to listen to, this piece, fantasia on a theme by thomas tallis, lark ascending, the wasps etc etc, they all have 'it' beautiful" --fauxsham

Shostakovich before bed

A slice of heaven for a cold November night...






Dmitri Shostakovich's son, Maxim Shostakovich conducts Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major which is performed by Maxim's son, Dmitri Shostakovich Jr. and accompanied by the I Musici de Montreal

Music for a September Afternoon

Brian Crain, Adagio con Amore, from his Symphony #1

Granados: Spanish Dances, No. 2, "Oriental"

Julian Bream and John Williams play Granados' Spanish Dances op 37 no 2 "Oriental." An orchestral version of this came up on Pandora recently, and I have fallen in love with it.

MEDITATION for Maundy Thursday: Durufle's "Ubi Caritas"

After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.---Matt. 26:30

"Ubi Caritas" is an ancient hymn of the church, that has been regularly used for Maundy Thursday services. According to Wikipedia,

The Gregorian melody was composed sometime between the fourth and tenth centuries, though some scholars believe the text dates from early Christian gatherings before the formalization of the Mass. It is usually sung at Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and on Holy Thursday evening at the Mass of the Lord's Supper.......Maurice Duruflé's choral setting makes use of the Gregorian melody, using only the words of the refrain and the first stanza.

 I have long loved the music of Maurice Duruflé  (11 January 1902 – 16 June 1986). A perfectionist, he only published 13 works in his lifetime. "Ubi Caritas" is one of the  Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens, Op. 10.  His version only uses the first stanza:


Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.   / Where charity and love are, God is there.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.   / Christ's love has gathered us into one.
Exultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.  / Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum. /  Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.  / And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

I can think of no better hymn to sing before following Jesus to the Mount of Olives.

Latin Text

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Simul ergo cum in unum congregamur:
Ne nos mente dividamur, caveamus.
Cessent iurgia maligna, cessent lites.
Et in medio nostri sit Christus Deus.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Simul quoque cum beatis videamus,
Glorianter vultum tuum, Christe Deus:
Gaudium quod est immensum, atque probum,
Saecula per infinita saeculorum. Amen.

 English Translation


Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ's love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
As we are gathered into one body,
Beware, lest we be divided in mind.
Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,
And may Christ our God be in our midst.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
And may we with the saints also,
See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.

O Mes Tres Chers Freres by Poulenc

"O mes tres chers freres" (from Quatre Petits Prières de Saint François d'Assise) performed by The Sons of Orpheus, Houston's Premier Male Vocal Ensemble

O mes très chers frères et mes enfants bénis pour toute l'éternité,
écoutez moi, écoutez la voix de votre père :
Nous avons promis de grandes choses, on nous en a promis de plus grandes; Gardons les unes et soupirons après les autres;
Le plaisir est court, la peine éternelle.
La souffrance est légère, la gloire infinie.
Beaucoup sont appelés, peu sont élus.
Tous recevront ce qu'ils auront mérité.
Ainsi soit-il

O my dearest brothers and blessed children throughout ages and ages,
hear me, hear the voice of your father:
We have promised great things, and we are promised greater still
Let us keep the first, and yearn for those to come.
Pleasure is short, punishment eternal.
Suffering is light; glory infinite.
Many are called, few are chosen.
All will receive according to their merit.
Even so may it be;
Even so shall it be.

"Beau Soir" by Claude Debussy

This is a beautiful impressionist song, sung by Renee Fleming.

Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses
Et qu'un tiède frisson court sur les champs de blé,
Un conseil d'être heureux semble sortir des choses
Et monter vers le coeur troublé.

Un conseil de goûter le charme d'être au monde
Cependant qu'on est jeune et que le soir est beau,
Car nous nous en allons, comme s'en va cette onde:
Elle à la mer, nous au tombeau.

 --Paul Bourget


When streams turn pink in the setting sun,
And a slight shudder rushes through the wheat fields,
A plea for happiness seems to rise out of all things
And it climbs up towards the troubled heart.

A plea to relish the charm of life
While there is youth and the evening is fair,
For we pass away, as the wave passes:
The wave to the sea, we to the grave.

And here is another version, with Joshua Bell playing the violin:

Maranatha!

I was the little girl Steve spoke about in his sermon the week before last. I am the one who always reads the end of books; and my favorite ending of all is Revelation 22.

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

The first and only time I ever heard Paul Manz' "E'en So Lord Jesus Quickly Come" was nearly forty years ago, sung by the Notre Dame Choir at mass one Sunday. I have never forgotten this music, a sublime union of word and melody. Tonight I was thrilled to discover it sung perfectly, by '09-'10 Augustana Choir, conducted by Dr. Jon Hurty. The choir performed at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, IA. According to this source,  "The text was written when Paul Manz's child was near death, during a night of worry and prayer. It is one of the few Christian hymns and anthems that manages to capture the powerful combination of lament and trust at the same time."

Paul Manz was 90 when he died, on October 28, 2009. The Free Republic reports that he was surrounded by family and that they sang "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come" as he departed. I can think of no better way to be ushered from this life into Christ's presence, and  I hope this piece will be able to be sung or played for my funeral service.

Peace be to you and grace from Him
Who freed us from our sins;
Who loved us all and shed his blood
That we might saved be.


Sing Holy, Holy to our Lord,
THe Lord Almighty God,
Who was and is and is to come;
Sing Holy, Holy Lord!


Rejoice in Heaven, all ye that dwell therein,
Rejoice on earth ye saints below,
For Christ is coming, is coming soon,
For Christ is coming soon!


E'en so Lord, Jesus quickly come,
And night shall be no more;
They need no light, nor lamp nor sun
For Christ will be their All!

Let all mortal flesh keep silence....

okay, I admit it...this is my favorite advent hymn


Here's part of the reason why.

I recently went to an interdenominational evangelical Thanksgiving service in one of the largest, newest churches here in Eugene. I really appreciated the segment where we we divided off into random groups of three or four to pray together. But it seemed that even then, there was not a moment where there wasn't music! Of course the worship team was centerstage (not an altar or pulpit in sight!) but someone was noodling on the keyboard the entire time, even during prayers.   I remember this occurring in the church that in grew up in...except the "background music" was on an organ, not a keyboard.  

As Brian Thomas writes below, it is as if we are ignorant of how to be silent, or unwilling to be silent. We are so culturally conditioned to expect noise and activity, even in worship. We crave amusement, novelty, celebrity, sensation and immediate gratification of our every desire. We are expected to be "productive."

Advent stands in stark opposition to all that. It is a time for hollowing ourselves out: for  waiting, watching and listening, rather than scrambling, consuming and producing.  It is a time for being patient/patients. May the Holy Spirit bore through our defenses and bare our souls to His still, small voice.

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One of the Best Things Our Sunday Morning Gathering Can Do Is Bore “The Hell” Out of You
writes David Fitch  (via Brad)

Recently, I was meeting in the corner booth (of the local McDonald’s) with the men in my triad (spiritual formation group) and we were talking about our Sunday morning gathering. I said “one of the best things our gathering can do for people is bore the hell out of em.” Sorry if this seems counter intuitive but I nonetheless believe it is true – literally true. Let me explain.

We had just finished discussing the intense pressures of managing all the details it takes to make it through a typical week in our American suburban lives. Some of us discussed how we can’t sleep because we keep remembering things we need to take care of in the middle of the night. We discussed the many mundane little things we have to do just to live normal everyday life – including sending in receipts for expenses, sending in receipts for healthcare flex accounts, filling in never ending forms for a mortagage re-fi, take children to the doctor, sign them up for sports/music programs, and so far we haven’t even got to what we need to do to fulfil responsibilities for our jobs. We’re not complaining so much as reflecting and evaluating. For many of us, this the state of our tormented lives.

Then what about church? Well, it seems church demands some additional things of us well? yes? Or is church the means by which we make God fit in to this crazy pace? For many, I fear, church has become a Christian necessity we perform on Sunday. Sometimes we pastors try to make it more appealing by selling it as a goods and services of the religious kind that might help each person better sustain what has become the rushed existence of our suburban lives. As a side note, sometimes, even more “stupidly,” we try to make church a place to take care of our kids, attract them to Christianity. We actually choose a church because of its appeal to our kids in the midst of this hectic American life because we do not have the time to patiently connect with and present with our kids. Church becomes an accoutrement that enables our families to survive the empty pace of Americana life.

In response to all this, what we may need is the opposite. We need a place where we gather to be trained out of these cultural insanities to encounter the living God.

It is stunning to me how many many people I encounter in a month who cannot even acquire even a modicum of mind space cleared of societal clutter to meet God. We live in a society where God is being organized out of our life experience (and this is most certainly true of our young people). If we don’t have the means to discipline our lives from societal noise, real living with God, listening and responding to his voice is lost from our horizon. God becomes an item to believe, an obligation to take care alongside the many others. And then, and I am dead serious here, other demons take over our lives. Our loneliness/our emptiness becomes filled by multivarious forms of fake pornogaphic substitutes. Demons take over. I see it everywhere.

In the midst of this, sometimes the best place (the only place) I can point people to is the gathering on Sunday morning. Go to the gathering. Not to get pumped up and inspired. Not to take some notes on the three things you can do to improve your Christian life. NO! Go to the gathering to shut down from all the noise – to submit yourself to Christ – the practice of confession – the listening to the Word – the submission to the receiving of the gift for life at the Table – to then once you have seen God again, praise Him as the one true source of your life in Jesus Christ. Go to the gathering to connect to the world that is all around you but somehow you have completely become lost to. Here is where the demons can be revealed and expelled. It is with all this in mind that I suggested that maybe the worst possible sign that our Sunday morning has got off track is to see that our youth are mesmerized (in the wrong way) and actually love listening to an entertaining sermon. For there is some learning here that we must lead out children into if they are not to fall victum to the “demons.” This is when I dared to say that sometimes “one of the best things our gathering can do for people is “bore the hell out of em.”

The challenge at Advent is not to have a show that will entertain everyone into romanticizing Jesus (although celebration is very important – we’re partying at Life on the Vine this weekend). Instead, the challenge at Advent is to learn how to wait for Him. Learn patience and wait. Prepare the place where He can come into our lives. It is in this Spirit that I say, one of the best things our Sunday gatherings can do for us this season is to “bore the hell out of us.” What say you?

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I really appreciate Brian Thomas' comment:

I love the idea of going to church to shut down from all the noise, but when I have planned for this as a part of our service it is incredible how uncomfortable it makes people. I used to think it was because we have lost the art of being silent in our verbally intoxicated world. Yet, as i was reading this I was thinking about the ways that we as a society tend to shut down from all the noise (alcohol, pornography, mindless video games, movies, books, shopping, etc.) I wonder if our discomfort comes from the fact that we don't know how to shut down in healthy ways or if its because we are afraid that in our silence that God might speak to us, and that is what really scares the hell out of us. Maybe that's the real reason we feel compelled to be so polished musically or so entertaining in the pulpit. We just don't know what we might do if God actually showed up. Scary things happen when he shows up and you just never know what he might say.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,

and with fear and trembling stand;

ponder nothing earthly-minded,

for with blessing in his hand,

Christ our God to earth descendeth,

our full homage to demand.

 

King of kings, yet born of Mary,

as of old on earth he stood,

Lord of lords, in human vesture,

in the body and the blood;

he will give to all the faithful

his own self for heavenly food.

 

 Rank on rank the host of heaven

spreads its vanguard on the way,

as the Light of light descendeth

from the realms of endless day,

that the powers of hell may vanish

as the darkness clears away.

At his feet the six-winged seraph,

cherubim, with sleepless eye,

veil their faces to the presence,

as with ceaseless voice they cry:

Alleluia, Alleluia,

Alleluia, Lord Most High!

The Cheese is on Fire

I love Greeks!

Janacek for an Oregon Autumn

It's that time again--autumn in Oregon, and time for Janacek's "In the Mists."

All Saint's Day and the Martyrs of Compiègne

This Sunday many Christians in the West will celebrate All Saint's Day. It is the one holy day of the Church year that I am certain will never be usurped by the market. I love the way the bonds of time and space are dissolved at the Table, so that for a brief while there is no separation between those who have gone ahead of us and ourselves. All Saint's Day is an extra reminder of the width and length of the Table to which Christ has invited us, and that many who will be our dinner companions have been faithful unto death.

Among them are the Martyrs of Compiègne , 16 Carmelite nuns who were guillotined ten days before the end of the Reign of Terror. Francis Poulenc tells their story in his moving opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites.

Here is the final scene, where the nuns go to their death, singing the Salve Regina. Listen how one by one their voices drop, until at the end only Sister Blanche is left. She has returned to join her sisters, and sings the final verse of the Veni Creator Spiritus until cut short:

Deo Patri sit gloria, et Filio,
qui a mortuis surrexit,
ac Paraclito,
in saeculorum saecula. Amen.

Now to the Father and the Son,
Who rose from death, be glory given,
with Thou, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven. Amen.
I don't think there will ever be a more brilliant staging of this opera than the old Met production, which leaves us with the image of the Place de la Revolution transformed into the Cross.

"The first time I saw this opera full staged was recently (April 09). I had to carefully pace my breathing the last four minutes-- if I hadn't, I would have sobbed out loud. The woman sitting next to me, a complete stranger, and I gripped hands during the entire execution scene." monteverdi1567

"My university is performing this, and I'm working as an usher. I sat in on the show for the first time last night. I hardly ever cry at things, but I cried during this final scene... It's so powerful. I didn't think I would cry, but I after I visibly flinched at the first guillotine sound, I couldn't hold back. Then when it ended, I had to sit for a moment and compose myself before going to the door to say good night to the audience as they walked out." honestguitarist

So on Sunday, I will remember and give thanks for these Carmelites, and for the nameless others of whom the world has not been worthy.

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia