The portion about King David and Absalom reminded me of a long-ago memory from my childhood. One of my grandparents had an illustrated Bible stories book from the late 1800s/1900s that ended up with my Mom and made quite an impression on me as a kid. The image I most remember was that of a painting of Absalom and his glorious hair stuck in a tree with Joab in hot pursuit. I need to go back and revisit that image sometime now when I'm at my parents' house again.
Whitacre's piece is incredible - it's putting me in the mood (chorally) for my annual pilgramage to listen to Handel's Messiah on Thursday evening.
My local symphony in my town used to have a “Messiah” performance where you could bring a Schirmer score and join in from the audience. ([Edit:] They had the scores available for purchase at the performance.)
Sadly, that ended before I had enough of a voice, much less choral chops, to be able to follow along! 😢
Listening again to Eric Whitacre's TED talk, I was again moved to tears.
To say that I had a working-class upbringing would perhaps be an extreme case of Gilding the Lily. As in, Federal Housing Project.
Therefore, I consider myself to have been (undeservedly) blessed in this life, by my tutelage by, or friendship with:
Professor Henryk Kowalski, my violin teacher at Brown University;
Maestro Boris Goldovsky, of the Metropolitan Opera, the Curtis Institute, and the New England Conservatory;
Morten Lauridsen, the composer of "Sure on this Shining Night," from Part 1; and
Eric Whitacre, the composer of "When David Heard."
And also, my 40+ years of working with violinist Arturo Delmoni; and my 30+ years of working with Bob Ludwig, the mastering engineer (who, I am sure, knows more classical repertory than I do).
another john marks post is another fiercely intelligent well curated look into a different sphere of human expression that was before entirely unknown to me and i feel as though i am all the better off for learning of it
For us philistines who are more Howdy Forrester than Yitzhak Perlman, Jascha Heifetz was "widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time" and after hearing his Carnegie Hall debut, another leading violinist said "We might as well take our fiddles and break them across our knees."
Whereas, if I had auditioned (I sucked at auditions--I just could not face the fastball) for Mr. Heifetz's USC Masterclass/Master's Degree, Mr. Heifetz might have said, "John, would you please break your violin across your knee?"
Now, the truth of the matter is that I once played a couple of Bartok Duos with Arturo Delmoni... but at home; no audience except my future ex, who later that night, in bed, chided me for "Walking all over Arturo."
John, thanks for sharing your expertise - always a treat to read your work and learn something new. I think you’re right about David. Imagine the grief and regret of a father seeing his own progeny destroy each other. Hard not to see the failing as his own.
Well, David is the "Most-Quoted Poet" in all of human history, isn't he? We are pretty much stuck with him. So I think it important to see him clearly.
David could not bring himself to punish Amnon for Amnon's having raped his own half-sister. Who of course was David's own daughter. Ironically enough, the name Absalom literally means "The Father of Peace." Well, it seems Absalom made an exception in Amnon's case. My surmise (and it is just a surmise) is that David's unwillingness to punish Amnon was the root cause of Absalom's rebellion.
I have to say, on the subject of David, that when Hamas made their assault on Israel more than a year ago, I immediately thought of Nathan's rebuke to King David for arranging the Murder-by-Proxy of Uriah, so that Uriah was not around to defend his wife Bathsheba:
"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. NOW, THEREFORE, THE SWORD WILL NEVER DEPART FROM YOUR HOUSE, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’"
I don't know about anybody else, but surely, that makes my blood run cold.
The Old Testament could hardly be filled with more never-ending vendettas, retributions, trade-offs, redemptions, marvelous occurrences, tragedies, prices-to-pay, etc. Who really knows what to make of it? Even God's favorite, David, was as compromised as anyone. Perhaps we hear more of his shortcomings because it balances his glory.
Speaking of which, David praised the Lord a lot, obviously, but damn, did this guy fail spectacularly too. Does that tell us you can do whatever you want as long as you give God the glory?
When you read about how terribly David failed, as you mention, one is forced to think that Goliath was probably the better guy who just happened not to be "chosen" as the victor. Alright, alright, who knows about that, but there appear to be a lot of "non-player characters" in the Bible who are deliberately simplified just to play a part in the larger story. How is this fair?
Of course it isn't. The Old Testament is confusing.
NB: It is only a coincidence that the theologian who wrote the book has the same name as the fantasy/comedy writer who wrote "The Hitchhiker's Guide..." series.
My first ex wife was a mezzo soprano (a voice range that's a dime a dozen) with a Master's in music so I got more exposure to choral music than I would have had I married someone with my own musical disability. I can play the stereo, I'm not tone deaf but I sing worse than Rick Beato...
Her stories about recording with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus in the late 80's were interesting. Also at that time there was a movement to restrict the singers' eligibility as Grammy voters due to their overwhelming numbers.
Anyway, thanks so much for this John. I really enjoyed it.
I had never heard that about singers and voting for the Grammys. I was a voting member, all I had to do was prove I had six commercial releases for which I had had some kind of professional responsibility.
My totally rigorous voting criterion was, "The cutest white girl with the shortest hair."
Except I did break that rule from time to time. I had to vote for Deanna Carter just because the title of her album made me laugh out loud: "Did I Shave My Legs for THIS?"
In addition to being exposed to some music I never would other have been, I was inspired to re-familiarize myself with the MS Estonia incident, and RoRo incidents in general. I am constantly amazed at how many terrible maritime incidents have occured on ships run by developed countries in my lifetime.
The wikipedia page on it was surprisingly good, and luckily not taken over by the conspiracy theories surrounding the tragedy.
It seems a definitive english language book has not been written about it, with the best account an expansion on an article from the Atlantic that I read years ago, but only a small part of a larger book. There is also a 2010 account of survivors stories, but it is reviewed as being light on technical analysis. I suppose there isn't much of a market for books that fall closer to a fleshed out and explained NTSB (or foreign equivalent) report than a disaster novel.
That was the example used to teach about the free surface affect.
It should have been used to teach about human failings.
With the MV Estonia, if you imagine yourself in that situation, you can think about how you would have been a survivor, and how you could help others get to the boats and stay warm.
The Free Enterprise...
It wasn't how instant the capsize was, it was how slow the dying was. So many trapped, alive and freezing slowly.
I wouldn't want to hear the music that brings out that feeling
Real late to the party here, but thank you, John, for these two pieces. Over the last few years, choral music has become one of my favorite genres. Sacred, classical, chants...my knowledge of subgenres here lacks greatly, but it basically boils down to "choral music that is meant to be sung in a cathedral in a language I do not know." Some of the highest art, if not the highest, because of the truth spoken in the sacred, and because it is human voice, God's original 'instrument,' contained within his image-bearers. Pure, beautiful, sufficient, good, and true. Heaven, I believe, will look like, and be, many things, and one of those things will be this, and it will be even more excellent.
Voces8's rendition of "Sleep" is phenomenal, as is much of their work. "Carrickfergus," which features the vocalist Sibeal, is otherworldly. The second verse is achingly beautiful, with the harmony at 2:46 powerful, followed by the sopranos' soaring vocals through 3:00 is, well, what else does one say? I don't have words.
So now I have Tenebrea to look into as well. Thank you for that!
OOPS!!!
I just noticed that the link to the Qobuz playlist was not repeated here!!!
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/25258347
They have a 30-day free trial.
john
Pinning this comment, because I should have put the link in the article!
The portion about King David and Absalom reminded me of a long-ago memory from my childhood. One of my grandparents had an illustrated Bible stories book from the late 1800s/1900s that ended up with my Mom and made quite an impression on me as a kid. The image I most remember was that of a painting of Absalom and his glorious hair stuck in a tree with Joab in hot pursuit. I need to go back and revisit that image sometime now when I'm at my parents' house again.
Whitacre's piece is incredible - it's putting me in the mood (chorally) for my annual pilgramage to listen to Handel's Messiah on Thursday evening.
Thanks for sharing this stuff with us!
My local symphony in my town used to have a “Messiah” performance where you could bring a Schirmer score and join in from the audience. ([Edit:] They had the scores available for purchase at the performance.)
Sadly, that ended before I had enough of a voice, much less choral chops, to be able to follow along! 😢
Yes... Whitacre's piece can stand with anything written during the last 400 years of choral music.
Thanks for reading and thanks for writing in.
Dear Jack,
Thanks so much for hosting this.
Listening again to Eric Whitacre's TED talk, I was again moved to tears.
To say that I had a working-class upbringing would perhaps be an extreme case of Gilding the Lily. As in, Federal Housing Project.
Therefore, I consider myself to have been (undeservedly) blessed in this life, by my tutelage by, or friendship with:
Professor Henryk Kowalski, my violin teacher at Brown University;
Maestro Boris Goldovsky, of the Metropolitan Opera, the Curtis Institute, and the New England Conservatory;
Morten Lauridsen, the composer of "Sure on this Shining Night," from Part 1; and
Eric Whitacre, the composer of "When David Heard."
And also, my 40+ years of working with violinist Arturo Delmoni; and my 30+ years of working with Bob Ludwig, the mastering engineer (who, I am sure, knows more classical repertory than I do).
My friends at Steinway & Sons now own all my Christmas music, and it is available for FREE streaming here: http://steinwaystreaming.com/steinway/album.jsp?album_id=518065
All my best,
john
I graduated from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, with a BS in Computer Science.
My biggest regret is that I didn’t take advantage of their well-known conservatory there to learn to play the piano!
At 54, sadly, I don’t think I could learn well enough for my high standards! 😢
another john marks post is another fiercely intelligent well curated look into a different sphere of human expression that was before entirely unknown to me and i feel as though i am all the better off for learning of it
thanks a bunch for giving us these posts
I am again, moved to tears.
Thank you for your kind words.
I envision Western Culture as a "Bucket-Brigade Fire Department;" and this all only means that it was now my turn to pass along a bucket or two.
Any thanks should properly go to my hardworking parents, and to my teachers and mentors.
In my view, music is not just "entertainment."
It is a means to help souls along the path... if not to perfection, at least to being better.
all my best,
john
For us philistines who are more Howdy Forrester than Yitzhak Perlman, Jascha Heifetz was "widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time" and after hearing his Carnegie Hall debut, another leading violinist said "We might as well take our fiddles and break them across our knees."
Whereas, if I had auditioned (I sucked at auditions--I just could not face the fastball) for Mr. Heifetz's USC Masterclass/Master's Degree, Mr. Heifetz might have said, "John, would you please break your violin across your knee?"
Now, the truth of the matter is that I once played a couple of Bartok Duos with Arturo Delmoni... but at home; no audience except my future ex, who later that night, in bed, chided me for "Walking all over Arturo."
I was only trying to keep up with him, really.
john
John, thanks for sharing your expertise - always a treat to read your work and learn something new. I think you’re right about David. Imagine the grief and regret of a father seeing his own progeny destroy each other. Hard not to see the failing as his own.
Well, David is the "Most-Quoted Poet" in all of human history, isn't he? We are pretty much stuck with him. So I think it important to see him clearly.
David could not bring himself to punish Amnon for Amnon's having raped his own half-sister. Who of course was David's own daughter. Ironically enough, the name Absalom literally means "The Father of Peace." Well, it seems Absalom made an exception in Amnon's case. My surmise (and it is just a surmise) is that David's unwillingness to punish Amnon was the root cause of Absalom's rebellion.
I have to say, on the subject of David, that when Hamas made their assault on Israel more than a year ago, I immediately thought of Nathan's rebuke to King David for arranging the Murder-by-Proxy of Uriah, so that Uriah was not around to defend his wife Bathsheba:
"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. NOW, THEREFORE, THE SWORD WILL NEVER DEPART FROM YOUR HOUSE, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’"
I don't know about anybody else, but surely, that makes my blood run cold.
john
The Old Testament could hardly be filled with more never-ending vendettas, retributions, trade-offs, redemptions, marvelous occurrences, tragedies, prices-to-pay, etc. Who really knows what to make of it? Even God's favorite, David, was as compromised as anyone. Perhaps we hear more of his shortcomings because it balances his glory.
Speaking of which, David praised the Lord a lot, obviously, but damn, did this guy fail spectacularly too. Does that tell us you can do whatever you want as long as you give God the glory?
When you read about how terribly David failed, as you mention, one is forced to think that Goliath was probably the better guy who just happened not to be "chosen" as the victor. Alright, alright, who knows about that, but there appear to be a lot of "non-player characters" in the Bible who are deliberately simplified just to play a part in the larger story. How is this fair?
Of course it isn't. The Old Testament is confusing.
it's focused on israel, that's all.
your point is obvious and correct, of course, as to why the story of Goliath isn't in the Bible.
and yet they're in the line of Jesus!
There's a wonderful book, the title of which riffs of the story of the OT character Rahab: "The Prostitute in the [meaning, Jesus's] Family Tree."
https://www.amazon.com/Prostitute-Family-Tree-Douglas-Adams/dp/0664256937
NB: It is only a coincidence that the theologian who wrote the book has the same name as the fantasy/comedy writer who wrote "The Hitchhiker's Guide..." series.
john
My first ex wife was a mezzo soprano (a voice range that's a dime a dozen) with a Master's in music so I got more exposure to choral music than I would have had I married someone with my own musical disability. I can play the stereo, I'm not tone deaf but I sing worse than Rick Beato...
https://youtu.be/hNxqHopIrR0?si=P1Bl8WDieMG-oJAE&t=892
Her stories about recording with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus in the late 80's were interesting. Also at that time there was a movement to restrict the singers' eligibility as Grammy voters due to their overwhelming numbers.
Anyway, thanks so much for this John. I really enjoyed it.
Thanks!
I had never heard that about singers and voting for the Grammys. I was a voting member, all I had to do was prove I had six commercial releases for which I had had some kind of professional responsibility.
My totally rigorous voting criterion was, "The cutest white girl with the shortest hair."
Except I did break that rule from time to time. I had to vote for Deanna Carter just because the title of her album made me laugh out loud: "Did I Shave My Legs for THIS?"
john
Finally, an instrument Beato can't play!
I once again know more now than when I started.
In addition to being exposed to some music I never would other have been, I was inspired to re-familiarize myself with the MS Estonia incident, and RoRo incidents in general. I am constantly amazed at how many terrible maritime incidents have occured on ships run by developed countries in my lifetime.
The wikipedia page on it was surprisingly good, and luckily not taken over by the conspiracy theories surrounding the tragedy.
It seems a definitive english language book has not been written about it, with the best account an expansion on an article from the Atlantic that I read years ago, but only a small part of a larger book. There is also a 2010 account of survivors stories, but it is reviewed as being light on technical analysis. I suppose there isn't much of a market for books that fall closer to a fleshed out and explained NTSB (or foreign equivalent) report than a disaster novel.
I cringed and cringed and cringed when I learned, back in the day, of the sinking of the RoRo ferry "The Spirit of Free Enterprise."
Ya cain't make stuff like that up.
Jesus wept.
john
That was the example used to teach about the free surface affect.
It should have been used to teach about human failings.
With the MV Estonia, if you imagine yourself in that situation, you can think about how you would have been a survivor, and how you could help others get to the boats and stay warm.
The Free Enterprise...
It wasn't how instant the capsize was, it was how slow the dying was. So many trapped, alive and freezing slowly.
I wouldn't want to hear the music that brings out that feeling
Real late to the party here, but thank you, John, for these two pieces. Over the last few years, choral music has become one of my favorite genres. Sacred, classical, chants...my knowledge of subgenres here lacks greatly, but it basically boils down to "choral music that is meant to be sung in a cathedral in a language I do not know." Some of the highest art, if not the highest, because of the truth spoken in the sacred, and because it is human voice, God's original 'instrument,' contained within his image-bearers. Pure, beautiful, sufficient, good, and true. Heaven, I believe, will look like, and be, many things, and one of those things will be this, and it will be even more excellent.
Voces8's rendition of "Sleep" is phenomenal, as is much of their work. "Carrickfergus," which features the vocalist Sibeal, is otherworldly. The second verse is achingly beautiful, with the harmony at 2:46 powerful, followed by the sopranos' soaring vocals through 3:00 is, well, what else does one say? I don't have words.
So now I have Tenebrea to look into as well. Thank you for that!