Sunday Playlist - 2/7/2021

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzrVlXh4mc1OEofDeLkrT0Y_OxHpnajzt

Music models the way that different sounds, even dissonant voices, can become something strange and beautiful when they work in relation to each other. We have too little harmony in the nation right now, but it's the gift of all the works on this week's playlist. You'll notice that each is in four voices or parts, and while there is a great variety of styles, all tend toward harmony and resolution.

"O vos omnes" by Tomas Luis de Victoria is a setting of verses from Lamentations that seem particularly appropriate for these dark days, "behold and see if there be any sorrow, like my sorrow..." The Dry Branch Fire Squad harmonizes around a gospel classic about the healing that follows touching the hem of Jesus' garment. "Saint's Delight" is another Sacred Harp work from the Southern Harmony, and in "God Told Nicodemus" we get four-part joy from The Golden Gate Quartet. In the jazz piece that closes the list, we hear from pianist John Esposito (who is at Bard College) and the legendary Pharaoh Sanders on sax.