Sunday Playlist -1/24/2021

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzrVlXh4mc1Nl0PNxL9Uq71CBlcTMPdPv

This week’s list is more eclectic than usual. But each piece and performance has a story, and perhaps the eclecticism will mean that something will touch you, whatever your state of heart.

Morton Feldman composed the work from which the first piece is taken as a commission for an octagonal chapel in Houston where 14 Rothko paintings are installed—the final works before his tragic death. The chapel is named for him, and this mysterious piece from Feldman’s suite is for viola, vibraphone, and voices.

When Pastor Joy told me that she would be reflecting on the passages where the disciples are called to be fishers of people, I began hearing the duet from The Pearl Fishers. Now, Bizet’s opera has nothing to do with the gospel story, but the duet does concern a spiritual experience, in which two friends recall seeing a goddess in a temple as the town was called to prayer. Notice, in particular, when the main musical theme returns at the end of the duet. This is a gorgeous performance.

The melody to “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” is Kingsfold, a folk tune claimed by both the English and Irish and given its name by Ralph Vaughan Williams, who lived near the village of Kingsfold and used the melody in several of his works. Like the return of the melody in “Au fond du temple saint,” the descant in the final verse of this hymn will transport you. 

Next we swerve to something completely different, though still harmonious. The bluegrass supergroup, Hot Rize, is young in this recording, and decked out in their 70s best. They perform “Prayer Bells of Heaven.” Then, continuing in the mode of tent revival favorites, we end with Tennessee Ernie Ford singing “The Old Rugged Cross,” a favorite among his fans (my grandfather having been one of the biggest).