Jocelyn is a dear friend and she was kind enough to ask me to write the program notes for her evening length piece. I think I convinced her to let me do it because a) she doesn't like to write these things and b) I like to run my mouth off about music so, in a sense, it was the perfect marriage (but don't tell her husband). The piece I wrote for her now appears in the "Writings" section of my website so, if you're interested, you can see how my ramblings look when they're actually, like, edited and (hopefully) well-constructed.
But that's neither here nor there. This piece, you guys. This. Piece. Ohmygodit'ssoeffinggood!
It's difficult for me to put into words how amazing the experience of sitting through this thing was. It's a sort-of "chamber oratorio" that takes the Roman Catholic liturgy and supplements it with ecstatic poetry from pretty much every other faith tradition in an attempt (a successful one if you ask me...and you didn't) to describe her idea of the nature of God. It was commissioned by The Singers - Minnesota Choral Artists and, aside from the 40 voices in the choir, it featured soprano, tenor and baritone soloists, a cello quintet (with one of them taking a prominent soloist role) and a battery of percussion instruments. She wrote some pretty cool stuff and, at one point, the percussionists are playing an array of bells made from sawed-off oxygen tanks as well as banging tiny gongs and dipping them into buckets of water to alter the pitches. Way cool.
But that's just the upfront statistics on the work. What Jocelyn has done is construct something of incredible beauty and--not to sound too dramatic--a sort of timeless relevancy. Honestly. I know that sounds like I'm painting in broad strokes and being hyperbolic, but I swear it's true. To take on a subject as enormous and contentious as what the Dalai Lama calls "interreligious harmony" is incredibly ambitious. To then go on to write a piece as moving and successful as amass is another thing altogether. Very few composers would have the courage to put themselves out there like this and even fewer have the generosity of spirit to bring an audience--all of whom have their own ideas of faith and religion, mind you--along with them.
The experience of sitting through this piece is something that, as a concert goer, I don't think I'll ever forget and it's easily up there with some of the best pieces I have ever heard. The fact that I've known Jocelyn for years and had the opportunity to work with amass before it was premiered had little impact on my eventually internalizing the piece as a listener and, from the reaction the audience had, it's obvious they enjoyed it with a similar enthusiasm. By the end of the final movement everyone around me was openly weeping (myself included) and, after the final chord, there was a stunned silence in the hall before the entire audience immediately stood up and rabidly clapped for 10 straight minutes. Every single performer walked off the stage before the applause was over with. I've never seen anything like it.
If you don't know Jocelyn's music you need to go to her website and listen right this very second. I'll tell you that I'm not surprised she was able to construct something so beautiful and moving but I'll be damned if I can figure out how she did it. The patience she must have had to shepherd such a large work from concept to concert speaks to her vision and skill and I'm unbelievably inspired to count her as a friend and colleague.
And just as a counterbalance to this dramatic entry I'd like to say that, on the way back to Austin, I connected through the Denver airport and stumbled on this heinous advertising mistake. The amount of people this got past is ridiculous. It was backlit and rotating, you guys. Fail.
