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from Notturno
Roberto Dani - prepared drums and zither

5 Risvegli

Performed by C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, conducted by Perry Townsend; soloists: Grace Tyson, soprano; Cynthia Shaw, alto. Recorded March 11, 2023 at Christ Church Cobble Hill in Brooklyn. Thanks to Rev. Mark Genszler and Leslie A Frost, staff musician and C4 member.

O Oriens is one of the so-called “O Antiphons” for each day of the last week of Advent, so named because they all begin with the word “O”. Each of these titles is a name for Christ, reflecting his attributes as mentioned in scripture. Many English speaking Christian worshipers know these from singing the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (Veni Emmanuel), whose individual stanzas paraphrase the antiphons. O Oriens refers to Christ as the Rising Sun or Morning Star. Both the words and tune of the chorale „Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” are attributed to Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608), a German Lutheran pastor who also authored another celebrated chorale, „Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme.” Both of these melodies are perhaps best known in their harmonizations and other adaptations (chorale preludes, movements of cantatas, etc.) by Johann Sebastian Bach. While this hymn is most often associated with Epiphany (the Star of Bethlehem followed by the Magi), it is said that Nicolai wrote it in response to a pestilence that had struck his village in 1597.

The piece begins with a fanfare-like declamation of O Oriens for soprano and alto soli, who shortly are joined by the rest of the chorus. Though this section is quite chromatic in its harmonic language, it is connected, if only tangentially, to the oddball A major tonality in which much of the work lives. After the initial music concludes, the first verse of the chorale tune abruptly barges in after a short pause, clothed in a very full and active contrapuntal texture. Once it has reached a high point, the piece immediately reverts to a continuation of the text and music of the original treble-voiced duo, followed by a brief final challenge by the full choir to “darkness and the shadow of death.”

O Oriens: 

O Rising Sun, splendor of light eternal and sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

„Wie schön leuchtet Der Morgenstern“:

How beautifully shines the morning star
full of grace and truth from the Lord,
the sweet root of Jesse!
You son of David from the line of Jacob,
my king and my bridegroom,
have taken posession of my heart,
lovely, friendly,
beautiful and glorious, great and honourable,
rich in gifts,
lofty and exalted in splendour!

O Oriens/Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (2021)

A suite of four movements for Small Orchestra and Percussion compiled from revisions of earlier uploads: 1: Ostinato (March 2020)
                                               2: Adagio   (April 2022)
                                               3: Allegro   (May 2022)
                                               4: Epilogue (October 2023)
Suite for Small Orchestra and Percusson was mastered by John Cafarella

New tracks tagged #Contemporary Classical