15.10.09

rest soft



Usually, I don't post non-electronic contemporary classical on the blog, but today I'm making an exception. David Lang, a composer as well as a founding member of Bang on a Can, won a Pulitzer in 2008 for his work entitled The Little Match Girl Passion. The piece takes the format of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, but "intersperses Andersen’s narrative with [his] versions of the crowd and character responses from Bach’s Passion."

The result, performed by Theatre of Voices led by Paul Hillier, is a gorgeous, deeply sad meditation on death, charity, and transfiguration. I cannot help but want to listen to this piece over and over again, its layers so many, its counterpoint so graceful...it is really quite something. Below is the last 'section.' Do enjoy, and thanks to friend Peter for playing this on his radio show and bringing it to my attention.

Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier- The Little Match Girl Passion: We Sit And Cry

Imagine a techno ReComposure of that!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I heard that this blog is run by Alton Brown, is that true?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Brown

Anonymous said...

I got kicked out of school for writing "will you pay me money yet?" on the wall of the crit room with my own feces.

OWorldInvisible said...

This link has expired, ho. Put it up again. Baby wants a listen.