From prelude to church service at 
Saint Michael's Episcopal Church
Holliston MA

July 14, 2013

Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin
Matthew Jaroszewicz, piano



**********************
I asked a musical friend why he thought this composition was so evocative and these were his thoughts:

"I think it has that yearning quality within the rising and descending intervals. At first the music is tentative as though testing the water. Every time we strive for new heights, illustrated by rising 6ths, we fall back further i.e. descending 7ths. We are brought down to Earth as a reminder of our fragility. Finally though, we reach our goal as the music reaches the triumphant climax. The constant striving and yearning of the human soul to reach new heights."


Nimrod is a movement from Elgar's orchestral work, Enigma Variations, and we are playing an oboe/piano arrangement of it. Elgar used all strings, plus woodwinds brass and tympani for highlights. Nevertheless, even the single violin plus piano captures its grandeur. It is played each year for Rememberance Day in Britain. It brings me back 45 years when I originally played this in the Chicago Civic Orchestra. Elgar wrote this piece as a musical tribute to his friend Jaeger.

Here is a rendition that has been much commented upon.   A fire blazes in the comments from time to time about how this music piece illustrates the supremity of British civilization, etc., etc.  -- and I just want to say "Enjoy this music for its absolute beauty and let's not talk politics."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgoBb8m1eE





Nimrod - Edward Elgar

8-4-2013   One Vibration
by Ragu Rai Kaur    30 or 40 years ago

recorded at Guru Ram Das Gurdwara
Millis MA 

during Sunday worship

Harbhajan Kaur Khalsa, voice and guitar
Jagan Nath Singh Khalsa, violin



One Vibration

College Church of the Seventh Day Adventist
Lancaster MA
Saturday, February 14, 2015

An adaptation of Bach's chorale prelude  BWV 727
"Herzlich tut mich verlangen"

Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin
Kristjon Imperio, organ
Walker tracker circa 1992

O Sacre‏d Head Now Wounded -   Bach BWV 727

**** Pictured:  Gorgeous Handle  ****************

Sunday Service
March 15 2015 at First Parish Church of Berlin MA

with Bill Maxwell, piano


Handel Violin Sonata 4 was one of the first 'real' pieces of music I studied when I was a young student.  I've loved it all my life since.

The O Sacred Head Now Wounded hymn tune is also known as "Herzlich tut mich verlangen."

I first heard O Sacred Head Now Wounded at age 24 playing a Sunday service at Bethel Lutheran Church in University City, MO.    It is a favorite hymn of mine.  We found this setting in Bach's "Little Organ Book" and simply took the right hand part, gave it to the violin, and let piano cover the rest.  It certainly demonstrates that Bach's music is not wedded to a particular instrument.  The beauty shines forth, and its luminosity is from the hearts of the musicians expressing what they feel.  We are the music, while the music lasts.

Another quality I find in Bach's music is that I feel I own the music once I become familiar with it.  It is my voice, his is my voice, and nobody else can do it quite like me.  Thank God we have other souls in the world who feel exactly the same way, and when we come together, we bring our unique and heartfelt voices together in the music and it produces something greater than all the parts.  I feel in Bach that universality, that his music feeds the musicians and listeners without compare.

Georg Handel- Largo from Sonata 4  -  Bach O Sacred Head Now Wounded

From rehearsal in the living room of Mark Bartlett, April 25 2015.

A short segment from the 4th movement of Mendelssohn Trio in c, Op 66

featuring the Doxology tune, the hymn Old Hundredth


Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin
Dave Williams, cello
Mark Bartlett, piano

Old Hundredth - Mendelssohn Trio in c, Op 66

When I first discovered it contained the "Old Hundredth" tune, I knew we just had to perform this trio.  A musical moment like this makes the entire piece worth it.  I love hymn tunes, and it was wondrous to hear Mendelssohn combine it so sweetly with the other theme (which is rather scherzo-like).



May 2, 2015   Marlborough Public Library
Performance for friends

Mark Bartlett, piano
David Williams, cello
Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin

Mendelssohn Piano Trio 4th Mvmt Op 66 - Doxology

Oseh Shalom  trad., arrangement by John Leavitt

Choir of the First Parish Church of Berlin MA
with musicians from the community,
directed by Sarah Riskind.

May 31, 2015

I'm the lead violin in this piece.

Translation:
He who makes peace in his high places
He shall make peace upon us
And upon all of Israel
And say Amen

Oseh Shalom bim'ramov

For the Beauty of the Earth

An original setting by Sarah Riskind 

..... in honor of her last day of service as Music Director at First Parish Church of Berlin MA.

She will be leaving the Boston area to study for her DMA in  choral conducting in Washington state.

She dedicated the work 
"For the First Parish Church of Bertlin Choir and their mystic harmony"

It is in 6/8 with moments of 9/8 meter, and is reminiscent of the hymn Morning Had Broken.  The asymmetrical feel of the melody and the interweaving accompaniments makes it fresh and new.

The choir of First Parish Church accompanied by
Violin - Jagan Nath Khalsa
Piano - Bill Maxwell

This is an all-volunteer choir and the excerpt is from a rehearsal for the first performance, on Sunday June 21, 2015.

Excerpt from "For The Beauty Of The Earth" - by Sarah Riskind

May the long time sun shine upon you,
May all love surround you
And the pure light within you
Guide your way on.

Musical setting by Sat Avtar Kaur

Sat Avtar Kaur (Jamie Crowley), voice
Gurusangat Singh Khalsa, guitar
Robert Myers - percussion
Jagan Nath Singh Khalsa, violin   (violin enters at time-mark 3:00)

May the Long Time Sun Shine Upon You

Bach Siciliano from oboe concerto in F  BWV 1053R

John Hanulik, oboe
Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin
Sue Holcomb, violin
Pegeen Wylie Eslami, viola
Kristjon Imperio, keyboard

Siciliano  Bach Bwv 1053R  Fox Hill Village  May 22, 2016

This is an earlier master of Sat Avtar's Guru Ram Das chant on her Voice of An Angel CD.

Has more violin in the balance.

From "Voice of an Angel" CD
Sat Avtar Kaur (Jamie Crowley) vocals
Jagan Nath Khalsa violin
RC Solaris tabla

GRDA Chant Mastered21

Jan 23, 2013  Bach Arias class taught by Liz Anker

Aria from Bach's Easter Oratorio BWV 249

Amy Knight, soprano
Amy Kao, harpsichord
Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin

***
 
Here is my take after consulting the New Testament, Emmanuel Music and an on-line Bach Cantata discussion list on the meaning of the aria:   Apparently, the Jewish tradition of Jesus’ time involved embalming a body with spices and ointment and wrapping the body in a shroud.   After Jesus was entombed in the sepulcher, the apostles and mourners – mainly the women – prepared an additional mixture of myrrh, which was costly, and ointment to anoint the body of Jesus again, perhaps as a sign of great reverence and respect.   So, that’s the spices part.  The reference to the laurel wreath is that of victory.  In the ancient Greek and Roman world, gods, athletes, the Roman Emperors, those victorious in battle, were all depicted wearing the laurel wreath.  This may be a double meaning in this aria, as the New Testament contains several references to the victory over the grave that Jesus demonstrated – from I Corinthians:  “O death, where is thy sting; O grave, where is thy victory”.  This aria takes place as the mourners are heading toward the tomb with the spice mixture, before they discover that Jesus is no longer there.  Taking all this into account and thinking about the music and the smoky chromaticism, as you so aptly put it, I think this aria - sung by the mother of James, one of Jesus’ apostles – is trying to convey both the hope and fear that they must have felt in that in between period of knowing that Jesus was crucified and died, but not yet knowing that what he had said would happen had actually happened.   Interestingly enough, too, there is a section from the Gospel of Matthew where one of the apostles asks Pontius Pilate to give him permission to seal Jesus’ body in a tomb by itself with an immense boulder at the door and guards to prevent grave robbers from disturbing the body, or worse, to prevent any desecration of the body, as was common in the ancient Roman and Greek world.   So, the mourners who went to see Jesus may also have been worried they would get there and see the tomb opened and the body gone, but not for miraculous reasons.  That must have given Bach some extra emotional fuel for this piece, I think.  
 
So……
 
Soul, your spices need no longer be myrrh – soul, you know somewhere inside that there is no need for this myrrh and ointment and there is no need to mourn; you know you feel certain that a miracle has taken place and there will be no body to anoint
For only crowning with the laurel wreath will quiet your anxious longing – but, at the same time, you also feel deeply worried that you may just find a dead body in the tomb, and that Jesus will not turn out to the son of God, but just an ordinary man or worse, that you’ll get there and see that people have stolen the body or done something awful; the only thing that will calm you is to see that he did rise from the dead, meaning that we all will rise from the dead and ascend to heaven, just as he promised.
 
So, I think the Eastern feel is very appropriate here - evoking the sort of exotic nature of ancient Middle Eastern rites, especially in the mind of a North German Lutheran – and I think there is a sense of the long, emotional walk of the mourners toward the tomb, both fearing and hoping that they will not find him there.
 

Amy

Seele, deine Spezereien - Concert

Rick Clerici - songwriter and guitar
Jagan Nath Khalsa - violin

Recorded around Rick's dining room table.

I BELIEVE IN YOU
 
I believe in you,
No matter what you say.
I can see the truth in you each and every day.
Something in your eyes is deeper than the sea.
You have moved the tide
And it washes over me.
 
Do you know that time will heal the pain?
Even when the hurt's so deep inside.
There will be a cleansing rain
Of all your tears again
It will let you out,
Will set you free.
 
I can see the inside of you
You are quiet as the night
I can see the fire that burns so warm and bright.
In the moments of your story, and all of your life's scars
It will shine across the night like a bright array of stars
 
Do you see the road in front of you,
That winds on into dark and mystery?
Look at all the lights and sounds and the joy that you found
And all the life that's yet to be.

I believe in you,
No matter what you say.
I can see the truth in you each and every day.

There's something in your voice
It's music to my soul
That I listen every time because
I believe in you.


I believe in you,
I believe in you
I believe 
I believe in you.
I believe in you
I believe 
Oh, I believe in you
I believe in you.

I Believe In You

A joke told to me 40 years ago by Larry Shirley of St. Louis MO.

The Three Potato Daughters

Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin
Wayne Ward, piano

at home of Hilary and Ned Imbrie, June 16, 2018

Rachmaninoff - Vocalise   June 16, 2018

Wayne Ward, piano
Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin 

At the home of Hilary and Ned Imbrie on June 16, 2018

I created the violin part, looking over Wayne's shoulder and feeling my way in and around the music.

Beethoven Moonlight Sonata No. 14 in c# minor  June 16, 2018.WAV

Photo by Jim Calarese Photography

Music set by Edvard Grieg

recorded at College Church of the 7th Day Adventist
Lancaster MA

Dec 29, 2012

Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin
Kristjon Imperio, piano

Ave Maris Stella

At First Parish Unitarian Ch, Taunton MA
March 10 2013

Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin
Kaeza Fearn, piano

Violin up on altar and amplified through mic system. The piano is closer to the recorder.

Vocalise-Rachmaninoff

At First Parish Unitarian Ch, Taunton MA
March 10 2013

Postlude music

Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin
Kaeza Fearn, piano

Violin is on floor level with piano, hence more balanced and richer sound.

I asked a musical friend why he thought this composition was so evocative and this was his thought:
"I think it has that yearning quality within the rising and descending intervals. At first the music is tentative as though testing the water. Every time we strive for new heights, illustrated by rising 6ths, we fall back further i.e. descending 7ths. We are brought down to Earth as a reminder of our fragility. Finally though, we reach our goal as the music reaches the triumphant climax. The constant striving and yearning of the human soul to reach new heights." 



Nimrod is a movement from Elgar's orchestral work, Enigma Variations, and we are playing an oboe/piano arrangement of it. Elgar used all strings, plus woodwinds brass and tympani for highlights. Nevertheless, even the single violin plus piano captures its grandeur. It is played each year for Rememberance Day in Britain. It brings me back 45 years when I originally played this in the Chicago Civic Orchestra. Elgar wrote this piece as a musical tribute to his friend Jaeger.

Here is a much-watched rendition that has been much commented upon:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgoBb8m1eE


Nimrod-Elgar

Music from G. Handel's Xerxes

All Souls Unitarian Church
Braintree MA

Peter Freisinger, piano
Jagan Nath Khalsa, violin

Sunday Morning June 2, 2013

Ombra ma fu  6-2-2013

Jim Calarese Photo

Violinist, music organizer, chamber music lover, and writer in the Boston area.  Playing in churches, temples, yoga centers, community theaters, and special events.

Of late, have gotten especially much fulfillment from playing in church services of all denominations, sacred classical music, hymn accompaniments and new compositions.



Jagan-Nath-Khalsa

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