Tag Archives: J.S. Bach

Learning Bach

Moments of success are rare: arpeggio-dances, impossible harmonies, the sound as simple as the wind yet execution like a fear – fingers always forgetting how, only ever stumbling on success. Evasive moments of perfect beauty capture souls yet pass with sudden fumbles and flustering confusion when the movement of the hands cannot so perfectly attuneContinue reading “Learning Bach”

Epiphany: To an unknown painter

Too regal: There were no drapes to hail Him king, no cherubim in the background, aloft, casually decking the scene, mid-song. Yet this is right: if there were crowns, they would be laid at His feet; and knees, if wise, would know to bend. We foresee the pious, in the corners, turned toward their futureContinue reading “Epiphany: To an unknown painter”

Expectation (The Cornucopia of Heaven)

Expectation After J.S. Bach, “Mass in B Minor: Et Expecto Resurrectionem”   We              begin           small: a kernel        dropping        to soil a weak          and fickle      seed a broken        passing         moment dust                          expectantly,                                   expectant… of what           breaks forth                               in trumpet-shower,             in polyphonic spring,                        Continue reading “Expectation (The Cornucopia of Heaven)”

Esurientes implevit bonis (After J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in E-flat)

Two women who knew the truth of a God who exalts the humble were Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel. Both were unlikely mothers, one a virgin, the other barren and ridiculed by her husband’s other wife, Penninah. When Mary heard the news that she was bearing theContinue reading “Esurientes implevit bonis (After J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in E-flat)”

Psalm: Chorale (The Cornucopia of Heaven)

Early on Saturday morning, the fire brigade was called to my church – a 150-year-old heritage-listed building on the corner of one of Melbourne’s most iconic streets, and the building which my fiancée and I recently booked to celebrate our marriage. That day, the Bible reading my church family was looking at in our devotional timesContinue reading “Psalm: Chorale (The Cornucopia of Heaven)”

From Ashes: Sturm und Drang

Out of the storm, He comes,                         He comes, clearly, speaking victory –             comes with calmness in His step                         and silence for each dread.   Watching mountains quake,                         they quake to see such sureness step upon             these waves of doubting fury;Continue reading “From Ashes: Sturm und Drang”

Concerto No.4 (After Rowan Williams’ “Bach for the Cello”)

Bach’s ‘Cello Suites are for me the supreme example of contemplation in music. They don’t deal with the emotions very much, there is nothing spectacular but just a single line unfolding itself. And I always see it as a kind of silver line in the middle of darkness… Rowan Williams As a child, I adoredContinue reading “Concerto No.4 (After Rowan Williams’ “Bach for the Cello”)”

Sprawl: For Les Murray (and Bach)

February is a short month, and so sadly I am having to speed up our journey through Les Murray’s poetry. My final poem for the month is an original work written in response to this interview with Murray from Image (Winter 2009-10) as well as Murray’s own description, in a personal letter, of his visit toContinue reading “Sprawl: For Les Murray (and Bach)”