Jesus Christus unser Heiland
As I've mentioned before, these pandemic projects have been a real boon for me, since they are compelling me to push further and further into the (by me) unknown. The some 30 chorales which I knew well before the Covid have turned into almost 70 at this point.
And of course it's not just the tunes themselves, remarkable and singable and attractive as they are; it's all the wonderful things that have been done with them by composers down through the ages.
Today we have a chorale which I did know--slightly--before all this. And I became aware of it in a funny way. Several years ago, I stumbled upon a CD called 'Terra Mofino' (an anagram of 'Reformation'), by a German jazz trio called Continuum. The album contains 10 tracks, each of them based upon a Martin Luther chorale. Some of you will recall that I've sent out a few of these tracks in connection with earlier projects.
When I first listened to the Continuum CD, I was puzzled by their arrangement of Luther's Easter chorale 'Jesus Christus, unser Heiland'. Not only was I not familiar with the chorale, but I couldn't really even find it in the texture. It seemed like little irregular snatches of melody, rather than an organized melodic structure.
Well: That's actually a pretty good description of the tune. Take a look at it below. It has a very limited range; its five phrases are irregular and rather cramped; the last two phrases are nearly the same as the first; and the middle phrase is just odd.
And yet: Unpromising as it might look, some pretty danged cool music has been based upon this tune.
Bach's independent chorale 364 (recording here) rests the tune upon a wide-ranging bass
and very active middle lines;
Bach's brief Orgelbüchlein chorale prelude, BWV 626 (recording here), places the melody, very straight, in the top voice, while lower voices trade several odd little motifs back and forth;
Michael Praetorius' 8-part setting from 'Musae Sioniae II' is a far larger conception, incorporating all three verses into an extended setting for 8-part double-choir. The very nice recording demonstrates a technique which Praetorius himself suggested: Covering certain parts with voices, and other parts with instruments. This often has the effect of making a performance both more personal and more ethereal, as it does here;
And finally, here's a link to that Continuum recording mentioned above. (It's also attached.) I love their interpretations for their divers means of bringing a melody to life, and for their thoughtful improvisations which always seem, even in their furthest explorations, to remember and to honor the melody
upon which each piece is based.
As I've mentioned before, these pandemic projects have been a real boon for me, since they are compelling me to push further and further into the (by me) unknown. The some 30 chorales which I knew well before the Covid have turned into almost 70 at this point.
And of course it's not just the tunes themselves, remarkable and singable and attractive as they are; it's all the wonderful things that have been done with them by composers down through the ages.
Today we have a chorale which I did know--slightly--before all this. And I became aware of it in a funny way. Several years ago, I stumbled upon a CD called 'Terra Mofino' (an anagram of 'Reformation'), by a German jazz trio called Continuum. The album contains 10 tracks, each of them based upon a Martin Luther chorale. Some of you will recall that I've sent out a few of these tracks in connection with earlier projects.
When I first listened to the Continuum CD, I was puzzled by their arrangement of Luther's Easter chorale 'Jesus Christus, unser Heiland'. Not only was I not familiar with the chorale, but I couldn't really even find it in the texture. It seemed like little irregular snatches of melody, rather than an organized melodic structure.
Well: That's actually a pretty good description of the tune. Take a look at it below. It has a very limited range; its five phrases are irregular and rather cramped; the last two phrases are nearly the same as the first; and the middle phrase is just odd.
And yet: Unpromising as it might look, some pretty danged cool music has been based upon this tune.
Bach's independent chorale 364 (recording here) rests the tune upon a wide-ranging bass
and very active middle lines;
Bach's brief Orgelbüchlein chorale prelude, BWV 626 (recording here), places the melody, very straight, in the top voice, while lower voices trade several odd little motifs back and forth;
Michael Praetorius' 8-part setting from 'Musae Sioniae II' is a far larger conception, incorporating all three verses into an extended setting for 8-part double-choir. The very nice recording demonstrates a technique which Praetorius himself suggested: Covering certain parts with voices, and other parts with instruments. This often has the effect of making a performance both more personal and more ethereal, as it does here;
And finally, here's a link to that Continuum recording mentioned above. (It's also attached.) I love their interpretations for their divers means of bringing a melody to life, and for their thoughtful improvisations which always seem, even in their furthest explorations, to remember and to honor the melody
upon which each piece is based.