Name: Sonnet on the Crucifix - mezzo solo (movt.12) by rokmusic
Duration: 5 min 54 s
Description: One of the solo movements from my oratorio 'The Crown of Life' - this time for the mezzo-soprano. A slow, passionate and heartfelt setting of Alabaster's sonnet, with lots of orchestral colour. Unfortunately, one of the trombonists inadvertently changed the B flat minor chord at around 0-30" into a major chord - not a lot I can do about that now...!

Hauser playing Rachmaninoff Vocalise on Cello 

Night ~ Rachmaninoff

A poem from my late father. An old tape I recovered.

** Sinfonia dos Mundos **

Que faço aqui, eu que vou
tentando o verso e a prosa
num Cosmos que começou
por uma explosão monstruosa?

Que tenho a ver com o percurso
do hélio e do hidrogénio,
com o teórico discurso
desses físicos de génio,
que tentam aprisionar
o real em equações,
e compatibilizar
galáxias e electrões?

Nada tenho. E, no entanto,
leio seus livros profundos,
buscando a chave do canto
da sinfonia dos mundos.

Sinfonia Dos Mundos

Recently, God woke me in the middle of the night and gave me a vision experience like never before. He revealed to me that Jesus is coming back very soon and many people are not ready for His return. Because I love you, I am bringing this message to you; and that is to turn from going your own way and follow Jesus today. It's urgent, the 11th hour before His return.
Much love, Tracey
www.traceychattaway.com

Are You Ready - Tracey Chattaway

Just the plain text of Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6, announcing the birth of the promised Messiah. It's also part of my Isaiah full project.

Porque um menino nos nasceu, um filho se nos deu, e o principado está sobre os seus ombros. E o seu nome será Maravilhoso, Conselheiro, Deus Forte, Pai da Eternidade, Príncipe da Paz.

Isaías 9:6

(1/25/2025) TCOAALicity

One of the solo movements from my oratorio 'The Crown of Life' - this time for the mezzo-soprano. A slow, passionate and heartfelt setting of Alabaster's sonnet, with lots of orchestral colour. Unfortunately, one of the trombonists inadvertently changed the B flat minor chord at around 0-30" into a major chord - not a lot I can do about that now...!

Sonnet on the Crucifix - mezzo solo (movt.12)

Dedicated to the early Christians possibly worshiping in the catacombs. Actually, the idea that the catacombs were used as hiding places is disputed. But I've used it anyway. And "damnatio ad bestias" did certainly happen.

*** Leaving Rome ***

The sand of the arena is warm and soft
and it will soon be soaked with the sufferings of life.
Simply to believe has become complicated,
but no man can hide forever in dark places.
Today I stand and open my arms to the upright Sun.
As brothers start falling, the crowd yells and asks for more.
I now contemplate my last and few unpleasant options:
The jaws of lions, the claws of bears, the cruelty of swords.
Strangely enough, there is peace in my soul.
No fears. No regrets.
One way or another, I'm leaving Rome.
I'm leaving Rome…

Leaving Rome JFC (based on Debra Buesking / Stefan Kraft instrumental)

I watched some years ago a TED presentation, and I was impressed by an interesting idea about sheep and sheperds. I do not recall the topic of the presentation nor the identity of the presenter. Here I wrote down the basic idea in my words and made some extrapolation regarding our human condition.

Javier Valero track I used with permission is found in https://soundcloud.com/jvaleroalb/rpr07_64/comment-2292988850

*** MORNING PRAYER *** 

How clever of sheep to acquire shepherds!
Doing so, they outsource their protection from predators
their food finding, their health maintenance.
All that for just a small loss of freedom.
They can even afford to be more stupid
than their relatives trying to survive in the wild.
And that is why, at each new dawn, 
I prostrate myself and praise the Lord, 
the Gracious, the Merciful, saving us from extinction.    
Thanks to Him, I can afford to be a mindless idiot.

Sheeheep.wav by HerbertBoland -- https://freesound.org/s/75190/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Sheep in a field on the top of a mountain in Bask Country by felix.blume -- https://freesound.org/s/138424/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Morning Prayer (Based on Javier Valero Piano Piece)

In specific domains of human reasoning, like the games of Chess and Go, AI is now outmatching the best human capabilities. Music creation is now being explored, with already quite pleasant results. This is dedicated to the AI that may someday replace us. It's a sci-fi short story, describing a musician's last desperate attempt to stay afloat... 

*** Last Human Musician ***

Rats! Another pointless meeting with an automated record label!…
They showed a total lack of vision regarding my new music genre proposal.
I did explain it was not a matter of taste. At most, a matter of smell.
How comes they don't see the assured success of Explicit WC Pop?
A most promising new genre, full of realistic AI generated laments,
and lots of melancholic moaning and groaning behind locked doors.
This allows for complex textures and exquisite microtonal harmonies,
the perfect bed for my haunted lyrics, focused on the waste of our lives.
But alas, my two best demos
"Throwing Up at Martha's Cocktail" and the amazing
"I Shouldn't Have Eaten That Salad"
were utterly rejected. 
As I left the label building, angry and broke,
it suddenly dawned on me that I no longer have a place to stay.
I couldn't pay my rent… 
I would now gladly eat some cheap ultra processed food, 
if only I could pay for it.
Well… Who cares, anyway? 
I'll just try to sleep, perchance to dream, laying in the freezing cold.
This is going to be a long, long  night coming. 
I suspect not too long before I'm gone…

Last Human Musician

COMPLICADAMENTE

Maria, para quê fazer simples,
se o posso fazer complicadamente?
Tu já me conheces, tu sabes o quanto eu aprecio
nunca seres simplesmente.

Tudo o que faço e digo, o faço e digo complicadamente.
Sou inimigo, sempre fui inimigo do simplesmente.
Que o simplesmente complica-me com os nervos,
baralha-me as ideias.
Sabe-me ao primarismo desses servos
que broncamente arrastam as cadeias.
São estas as principais razões porque ajo e penso complicadamente,
e que, por paradoxo, são a chave
de um outro e bem mais simples simplesmente:
Maria. Simplesmente Maria...

Not easy to capture the ambiguities of the portuguese lyrics, but here goes a try:
COMPLICATED WAY
Mary, why should I do things in a simple way, if I can do them in a complicated way?
You know me, you know how much I appreciate that you don't simply exist.

Everything I do and say, I do and say it in a complicated manner.
I'm wary, I've always been wary of the "simply",
because the "simply" gets on my nerves, confuses my ideas.
It tastes to me like the rudimentary nature of those servants that drag their chains in a clumsy way.
These are the main reasons I think and act in a complicated manner.
And this, paradoxically, is the key for another and much simpler "simply":
Mary. Simply Mary.

Complicadamente

Follow me on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3zF1mkoB680B6i6bLfZ6u8

The Atlas Fantasia Suite is a collection of music composed by Mike Hastings for Solo Piano and additionally arranged for String Quartet in early 2019. The Bela String Quartet performed the string arrangement at The Sonic Temple recording studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia on April 1st, 2019.

Anna Wedlock from The Bela String Quartet crafted variations on these same themes in her release "Anna's Variations on a Theme from The Atlas Fantasia".
credits
released May 17, 2019

Performers:

1st Violin: Emilie Pare
2nd Violin: Anna Wedlock
Viola: Carrie VanSlyke
Cello: Catherine Little

Original Composition & Arrangement by Mike Hastings
Recording, Mixing & Mastering by Mike Hastings

The Atlas Fantasia Suite

Atlas Fantasia No.2 for String Quartet

Mike Hastings - Atlas Fantasia No.2 for String Quartet

I love composing; always have done. I write Opera, Oratorio, Orchestral music, Chamber music, Church music and Song. An ongoing project is composing 'Songs without Words' for solo piano; it is a way of trying to articulate my experience of life, its joys and its pains, its hopes and its disappointments. Currently I have composed 218 songs without words.
For further information including please message me on SoundCloud - I will get back to you and we can use other media to discuss music (one of my favourite pastimes!)

Sonnet on the Crucifix - mezzo solo (movt.12)

rokmusic

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