Instruments of Peace — July 24, 2020

Derived from a range of outstanding choral music, my themed Playlists are designed to be like concerts, of about an hour in length.

Eric’s Playlist this week considers peacemakers and the potential within all of us to do likewise, with music by Mendelssohn, Vaughan Williams, and Paulus, from Handel’s Messiah and Bob Chilcott’s arrangement of rock band U2’s elegy to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Listen on YouTube:

Listen on Spotify:

PROGRAM

Click the links for information on the pieces and texts/translations.

From Dona Nobis Pacem 

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

 

V. “The Angel of Death has been abroad”
VI. “O man greatly beloved”

Text

Performed by London Philharmonic Choir & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Conducted by Adrian Boult

 

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)

Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth)

Text

Performed by Tenebrae, conducted by Nigel Short

 

G.F. Handel (1685-1759)

For Unto Us a Child is Born (from Messiah)

For unto us a child is born,
Unto us a Son is given,
And the government shall be upon His shoulder;
And His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God,
the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
                    Isaiah 9:6

Performed by Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists, Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner

 

Arvo Pärt (b.1935)

The Beatitudes

Text

Performed by Theatre of Voices, conducted by Paul Hillier

 

Knut Nystedt (1915-2014)

Peace I Leave You

Peace I leave with you.
My peace I give unto you:
Not as the world giveth,
Give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled,
Neither let it be afraid.
                    John 14:27

Performed by The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, conducted by Grete Pedersen (Spotify)
Amadeus-Chor, conducted by Nicol Matt (YouTube)

 

Stephen Paulus (1949-2014)

Lord, Make Me an Instrument (from Prayers and Remembrances)

Text

Performed by True Concord, conducted by Eric Holtan

 

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

Agnus Dei: “One Ever Hangs” (from War Requiem)

Text

Performed by London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra & Peter Pears, tenor, conducted by Benjamin Britten

 

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Wie lieblich sind die Boten (from Paulus)

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good tidings of peace.
Their sound goes out through all the land, and through all the world their words.
                    Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:18

Performed by Kammerchor Stuttgart & Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, conducted by Frieder Bernius

 

U2; Arr. Bob Chilcott (b.1955)

MLK

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized.
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down on him
So let it be.

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized.
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Let it rain
Rain on him.
                    Bono (b.1960)

Performed by The King’s Singers

 

Russell Schulz-Widmar (b.1944)

Midnight Clear

Text

Performed by True Concord, conducted by Eric Holtan