Are we going to just chat for a minute, standing at the door, a pleasant visit among neighbors?
Then let’s get to the heart of it: the excellent choir Conspirare, led by artistic director Craig Hella Johnson, has a new album out with the Miró Quartet, “The House of Belonging.” Check out these world premiere recordings of poetic songs by contemporary and recent composers here.
Want to discuss it more? Follow me inside here…
“This is the bright home
in which I live,
this is where
I ask
my friends
to come,
this is where I want
to love all the things
it has taken me so long
to learn to love.”
David Whyte, from The House of Belonging
What is home? A place? (this whole earth, the universe, or a specific garden or forest) A person? A sense you find in yourself? Something unknowable?
The poems and the songs weave together the these ideas of house, home, belonging - our place in the world.
In addition to Whyte’s "The House of Belonging," the music weaves together poetry and prose by Wendell Berry, Hildegard of Bingen, Ludwig van Beethoven, Langston Hughes, John Muir, Rabindranath Tagore, and others, including a haiku by Kobayashi Issa (as translated by Robert Hass).
In this world
we walk on the roof of hell
gazing at flowers
Most (all?) of the compositions are world premiere recordings: perhaps you’ll know some of the names: Eastman alum Kevin Puts, Margaret Bonds (with her frequent collaborator Langston Hughes), Shara Nova, Derrick Skye, or Craig Hella Johnson. Others were new to me: Alex Berko, Michael Schachter, and Ross Lee Finney and Moira Smiley
There’s so much beauty here, and the music and the words combined weave a spell. You can find the album as a CD or download here and you'll hear selections over the next couple weeks featured on WXXI Classical. Thanks for visiting...
“Let my thoughts come to you, when I
am gone, like the afterglow of sunset at
the margin of starry silence.”
—Rabindranath Tagore
