Sunday, January 1, 2017

And God’s Name Shall Be One (2001):

For A New Year

Before I begin:

I’m still here! I have neither abandoned this project nor you!

Because Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur 2016 were probably as late on the secular calendar as they can ever be (just like Election Day this year), much of September into October was taken up with services, preparation for same, and then, afterwards, getting caught up on everything that had to be postponed because of them. (Full disclosure: I conduct two synagogue choirs—one based in Pennsylvania; the other in NJ. In PA I conduct the choir in all the services; in NJ, as of now, I only prepare the choir for appearances on S’lichot [the spiritual “warmup” to the High Holy Days the Saturday night prior to Rosh Hashanah] and on Kol Nidrei [the evening service for Yom Kippur]). And when the Holy Days fall within visual range of midterms at school as they did this year—well, enough said...

All that, combined with work on a commission of a different sort since mid-October—design of an online course in fundamentals of music notation which, I hope, may yet go live in some form for this spring—and I’ve been incommunicado until now.

In many ways, at least the lecture-writing portion of that process has proven to be as satisfying as composing—but then there’s all the detailia one must be certain is covered—not nearly so satisfying. There remains some of that yet to be completed, which I hope won’t take long.

So; briefly: something for the turn of another year: And God’s Name Shall Be One was written at the turn of the current century in January, 2001. The text (in English) draws from the 2nd half of the concluding prayer for all Jewish services (the Aleinu)—a prayer for world unity and tolerance, and comes from the first prayer book I knew when I was a child. It’s scored for SATB choir and may be accompanied by piano alone, rhythm section (piano, bass, kit, and opt. guitar), or chamber orchestra with rhythm section. This recording is of the version with rhythm section.

While it would be easy to say that a prayer such as this takes on even greater urgency in times like these, the fact is that it always has had urgency for one reason or another, because that for which we pray here remains so maddeningly elusive.


Here’s to putting the message out.

UPDATE: And God’s Name Shall Be One has just been published by MusicSpoke.com!

1 comment:

  1. Very glad to see you return, Brother! May you and yours enjoy every blessing in 2017!

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