Day 12: March 29 - Sunday Morning Sounds
Music to wake up with. A bit late because I did not wake up with my alarm.
Fairuz - Bahabek Ya Lebnan
Lebanese singer, songwriter, Arabic icon Fairuz is one of the most recognized figures in the Arab world. There is a saying that ‘the Arab world wakes to Fairuz,’ as many people still play her music during their morning routine. Bahabek Ya Lebnan (I Love You, Lebanon) is a love song to her home country, Lebanon. In it, she adores it’s plains and valleys and the resilience of the Lebanese people as well as expressing her devotion to her home through glory and poverty and her hope that the Lebanon of 1970 would be reborn through it’s then struggles.
Morten Lauridsen - O Magnum Mysterium
An absolutely radiant work. One of the pillars of a contemporary choral tradition which includes Whitacre, Clausen, Gjeilo, Esenvalds, Mealor, and others. Lauridsen’s soft touch and harmonic craft is evident here, with the respirational phrasing which builds to a stunning, stunning climax. The text expresses wonder at the infant Christ and at the Virgin Mary. Performed here by the Chamber Choir of Europe.
George Benjamin - At First Light
Both a reflection on a painting by British painter William Turner and on the sounds of morning, At First Light is a staple of British contemporary classical. Benjamin creates a musical analog for the ephemeral yet solid tension in the Turner painting, with solid objects which appear out of and melt into resonant harmonies. Benjamin is also a masterful orchestrator and this is a celebration not just of morning’s colors, but aural color as well. Performed here by Ensemble Modern under the late Oliver Knussen.
United Sacred Harp Musical Association - Morning Prayer & Morning Sun
In 1959, musicologist Alan Lomax came to Liberty Church in Fyffe, Alabama to record the 56th Convention of the United Sacred Harp Musical Association. Those recordings are some of the best keepsakes of traditional American musicking, of proper Appalachian singing. They sing the first verses in solfege (like yesterday’s Philip Glass!!) before singing the words of the hymn in the later verses. The first track is the opening prayer for the convention.
Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - Sunday Candy
Classic Chance the Rapper track about glorifying God on Sunday. It bumps righteously.