Thank you to my wonderful wife for surprising me with this gorgeous copy of The Shining. Truly one of the greatest cinematic scores ever produced #NowPlaying #TheShining #WendyCarlos #Ligeti #Bartók #Penderecki #WarnerBros #Vinyl #vinyligclub #vinylcollector #record #recordcollector #Soundtrack #SoundtrackVinyl #OST #Kubrick
Thinking about music for Good Friday, it’s almost “obvious” to go for one of Bach’s Passions, which I haven’t heard before I confess. However, Penderecki was calling to me after I found a CD of his St. Luke Passion at my library. And even though it was what I expected it to be, I was still blown away. Lost without any key, and listening to an orchestra and organ and choir play out in unorthodox ways, created multiple waves of dread, and recreated the drama of execution. But this drama isn’t theatrical, it is….it is almost brutally realistic. Despite the subject being Jesus Christ, the work has more focus on the human side of Good Friday, focusing on a man’s suffering and humiliation, on his mother crying for his pain, and the onlookers who either morn or hiss and mock him. The “ordinary” aspect of the crucifixion is that humans have been brutally killing each other in all kinds of imaginative ways through history. The “horror” is that the suffering of Christ is only still lamented because He is God, whereas we don’t express as much sympathy for people who are put to death every day. Out of sight out of mind maybe. It’s a very dark work, full of unique effects [especially the disturbing moments where the crowd mocks Jesus with vocal spitting and unintelligible babbling] and also works out of old Gregorian chant writing while still sounding completely “new” and unique. As bleak as the work is, it tries to end on a higher note of victory, and also at least tries to convey the message that we can work toward ending suffering if we recognize others as ourselves.
