I seem to have a bit of an accidental Basque theme going this week – yesterday’s carol was a contemporary setting of an old text by a Basque composer, and today’s carol is a traditional Basque carol.\u00a0 I’ve always loved this piece of music, even in my primary school days when we used to giggle about the chorus (to this day, I have to work hard not to sing ‘most highly flavoured gravy’ instead of ‘most highly favoured lady’).\u00a0 It’s such a lovely melody, and the harmonies are gorgeous – I love the way you have to wait for the dissonances to resolve. Also, I just like Mary songs.\u00a0 (I should probably be Catholic.\u00a0 Except that I would be a terrible Catholic.)<\/p>\n
I’m teaching this to my work choir at present, and they are loving it too.\u00a0 And doing a much better job than I am of singing the proper words.<\/p>\n
I was going to give you a traditional arrangement of this piece, but then I got completely captured by this fascinating version by Joshua Shank, in which he tries to paint the scene of the annunciation with music.\u00a0 It’s stunning – there is such a feeling of light and brightness in this piece, and somehow the way Gabriel’s words are set, with different voices and rhythms against each other, make me think of Madeleine L’Engle’s depiction of the cherubim as this unfathomable beast with so many eyes and wings that it almost seems plural even though it is only one creature.\u00a0 Very otherworldly, and a bit intimidating and even overwhelming, as an angel should be.<\/p>\n
Also, it’s rather lovely to hear a verse in the original Basque.\u00a0 None of the other arrangements I’ve heard do that.<\/p>\n