SKU: GI.G-1095
Composed by James Jordan
& The Same Stream. GIA
ChoralWorks. Music
Education. Choral score.
GIA Publications #1095.
Published by GIA
Publications (GI.G-1095).
The Universe
works in strange ways.
Recorded almost three
years ago, none of us
could have known that
when this recording was
released the world would
have lived through a
life-altering pandemic or
a tumultuous upheaval in
the cultural awareness
that now surrounds us.
The work that opens this
recording—with the
words of Quaker George
Fox that end with,
“So be faithful,
and live in that which
doth not think the time
longâ€â€”provid
es a haunting premonition
regarding the time in
which we live, Quaker
George Fox is strangely
prophetic about these
days and perhaps provides
a future caution for us
all. The music chosen for
this recording is
strangely and poignantly
relevant, I believe, for
each of us. “The
Fruit of Silenceâ€
by PÄ“teris Vasks
reminds us to visit those
beliefs that are most
sacred in the work by
Cortlandt Matthews. A
deeply personal Requiem
by Peter Relph, in
reflection, remembers the
hundreds of thousands of
lives lost in the
pandemic. And then there
is Thomas LaVoy’s
“O Great
Beyond.†All great
texts are timeless and
speak to the universality
of the human condition.
Particularly, the George
Fox text set by Jackson
Hill and the Tagore text
set by LaVoy give us
messages to reinforce the
humanness of each of us
for hope. Two other works
on this recording
poignantly remind us of
the passing of life, with
the Relph Requiem and
especially the final
movement of “O
Great Beyond.†May
these words give comfort
to all those who endured
the deepest of
Life’s losses
during our shared
pandemic journey. For so
many loved ones, goodbyes
were said in silence, and
alone. It is our hope
that all the music on
this CD will show us a
way for living as we move
forward and also give
loving comfort to those
who have lost loved ones.
Peace, my heart, let the
time for the parting be
sweet. Let it not be a
death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory
and pain into songs. Let
the flight through the
sky end in the folding of
the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of
your hands be gentle like
the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful
End, for a moment, and
say your last words in
silence. I bow to you and
hold up my lamp to light
you on your way.
—Rabindranath
Tagore in The Gardener
(1913).
James Peter Strange
