Here are ten glorious pieces of music for Holy Week that will remind you that there is beauty in this world. As a lifelong Catholic, I’ve always taken Holy Week seriously in a personal way, and the reading of “The Passion of the Lord” on Palm Sunday always deeply affects me. You’d think I’d never heard the [...]
The music of Henryk Górecki, Arvo Pärt, and John Tavener is the music of a new civilization. These composers have gone against the prevailing grain of the twentieth century for the sake of a greater love. The attempted suicide of Western classical music has failed. The patient is recovering, no thanks to the efforts of music’s [...]
Since the deaths of the modern musical giants, a great many composers have exerted themselves writing ephemera that is forgotten as soon as it’s heard and means nothing to the vast majority of people. But there are modern choral composers that have produced music that means a good deal to a great many people. One [...]
In Arvo Pärt’s “Fratres” there seem to be all sorts of emotions simmering just below the surface. Dense, big, life-and-death emotions. Ancient spirituality. All of it affects you at such a gut level. It’s majestic. It’s minimalist. Mr. Pärt’s spirituality, his philosophy, is there, tucked invisibly into the music. There is something about going to [...]