O Antiphons
After a handful of performances of Andrew Smith’s “Nunc Dimittis” and a few of his other pieces, his neo-medievalness found a permanent home within our aesthetic. He came to us with the idea of this seven-movement piece and it became the longest commissioned work we’ve done, especially notable considering our shows are usually mosaics of three- to six-minute pieces, vignettes by comparison.
The texts refer to the coming of a certain messiah, but the music contains within it an entirely human sense of anticipation, of the kind that becomes tension that doubles in on itself. There is waiting, hoping, begging, but no arrival, no glorious burst of redemption. The piece is just about the longing.
O Antiphons was significant for both me and KHORIKOS because it was the first big project to come out of a years-long collaboration between the group and a composer. That relationship is heard and felt in the way we manipulate pulse and traverse dynamic range.
VENI ad redimendum nos, in brachio extento
COME, redeem us, with arm outstretched
. . . deprecabuntur
VENI ad liberandum nos
iam noli tardare.
[we beg]
COME and save us
without delay.
VENI, et illumine sedentes in tenebris et umbra mortis.
COME, and bring light to those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum
Ruler of Nations and their desire, the cornerstone binding two into one
O Sapientia, O Adonai, O Radix Jesse, O Clavis David, O Oriens
O Wisdom, O God, O Root of Jesse, O Key of David, O Star
What we verbalize is a tiny fraction of what we say.
Hear the entire piece on Andrew’s soundcloud, or as part of our eventual album release :)
