Sunday Playlist - August 16
We begin and end this week’s selections with hymns for communion. The first will be known by everyone at Clinton Avenue, and among the dozens of recordings on YouTube, I was taken by the bass choir director from Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. The last is a setting of O Sacrum Convivium by Olivier Messiaen. In the challenging key of F sharp major, Messiaen’s piece offers a wondrous interplay of dissonance and harmony. Note two moments in particular: at the third “sacrum” around 1:35, how it melts back into the major; then the breathtaking “alleluia” that begins around 2:38. Here are the lyrics (trans. from Wikipedia):
O sacrum convivium!
in quo Christus sumitur:
recolitur memoria passionis eius:
mens impletur gratia:
et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur.
Alleluia.
O sacred banquet!
in which Christ is received,
the memory of his Passion is renewed,
the mind is filled with grace,
and a pledge of future glory to us is given.
Alleluia.
In the middle is an archival recording made by Alan Lomax. Boyd and Ruth May Rivers recorded several gospel tunes for Lomax, and in this first of the set, they talk about their relationship to each other and music. Then Iris Dement, along with an all-star cast of folk musicians, gives us a traditional hymn that includes the story of the Good Samaritan and the words of promise, “he reached down and touched my pain.” Third in the center set is an intercultural ensemble featuring Kayhan Kalhor, an Iranian virtuoso on the kamanche, or spiked fiddle. Elsewhere, Kalhor describes the nature of his improvisatory style. He says that he gives himself over to the spirit of the music, and he never truly knows where it will take him. I recommend listening to some of his solo improvisations for a study of inspiration.
