For me it's always music that has the power to reduce me to tears, whether it's a hymn my dad used to sing, the track from a Leonard Cohen album or a piece of choral music. Something reaches deep inside and touches me, leaving me totally exposed. There's real sadness but it's tinged with joy. For a few moments I feel truly alive.
The YouTube clip is of Westminster Cathedral Choir singing Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium, one of the last pieces of music to make me well up. It's filmed in the Cathedral which is one of my favourite buildings and where I light a candle every time I'm in or around Victoria.
I'm just the same, always have been. My dad could never listen to the Last Night at the Proms when I was little because I always started blubbing.
ReplyDeleteHello Gareth
ReplyDeleteI'm really hoping you're at the Exultate concert right now because they sing this piece! I was at last night's performance. Wonderful stuff. They did this piece with the lights out and the choir spread out around the church - a circle of pure sound in silence and candlelight. Utterly magical and yes it brings a tear to your eye. They did In the bleak midwinter in the same way and it was gorgeous. Got to the end, held the last note very quietly and then the conductor held the silence for seconds....and more seconds... and more. Wonderful.
Bests d
I was at that concert d and enjoyed every single second of it - especially the Magnum! I am completely in awe of Exultate and so grateful for the opportunity to hear them sing so often. Sorry to have missed you though.
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