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<\/a>The beautiful thing about Catholic life, if you love it, is that everything streams into it: literature, music, theater and art, politics, science. Everything can remind one of the beauty of creation. Everything can be a sign of Christ\u2019s presence. Even music you know nothing about.<\/a>
I have written before about the joys of Pandora Radio<\/a>, a Web service that allows you to build your own customized stations. Like a song? Make it the \u201cseed\u201d of a new station and Pandora will grow you a whole wildflower garden of music with similar qualities.<\/p>\n
Thanks to my pal James, I\u2019ve been listening to Stile Antico Radio, which features polyphony<\/a>, mostly from the Renaissance. But Pandora is sneaky. It will start slipping you stuff that\u2019s from an entirely different era or even planet just because this<\/i> music has features of that<\/i> music. Thus I met Arvo P\u00e4rt (pictured).<\/p>\n Believe me, I know nothing about the guy except what I read in Wikipedia. But I love the umlaut. And I love the music. So, presto, I asked Pandora to create another station for me, and for the past week, while out walking, I\u2019ve been listening to Arvo P\u00e4rt Radio on my iPhone, complete with cool white ear buds.<\/p>\n Here are some selections from Arvo P\u00e4rt Radio (how do you <\/i>pronounce that name?!<\/i>), with minimal liner notes from the honestly ignorant Mr. Bull.<\/p>\n Arvo P\u00e4rt, \u201cAgnus Dei\u201d<\/b> Eric Whitacre, \u201cWater Night\u201d<\/b> Sir John Tavener, \u201cThe Lamb\u201d<\/b> If you read music, you\u2019ll especially enjoy this piece by Sir John, \u201cFuneral Ikos.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qfGsZcDwSZg<\/a>\n Henryk Gorecki, \u201cTotus Tuus\u201d<\/b>
Born Estonia 1935. Apparently still living, or was living the last time his Wiki entry was updated. Made up his own style of composition called tintinnabuli but \u201calso finds inspiration from Gregorian chant.\u201d Those in the know say he belongs to the school of \u201choly minimalism.\u201d I say I like his stuff.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9DebCLdf_c0<\/a>\n
Now this guy is young, born 1970, yikes, 19 years younger than me. He shouldn\u2019t even be allowed on this site. But get a load of his music. It\u2019s beautiful. <\/b><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HYvRhVJXM-k<\/a>\n
Born in England in 1944, he claims to be a direct descendant of 16th-century composer John Taverner, but I say, if so, what happened to the second r? Strikes me as a bit of a poseur, but then I hear this setting of William Blake\u2019s \u201cThe Lamb,\u201d and I no longer care.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XyBp9hrzDQE<\/a>\n
Again, it was James who tipped me off to Gorecki, and I\u2019ll close with this piece. Born in Southwest Poland in 1933, he wrote it in 1987 in honor of Pope John Paul II and one of his return trips to Poland. \u201cTotus Tuus\u201d was JPII\u2019s apostolic motto, \u201cAll Yours,\u201d an expression of his devotion to Mary. Do you have any favorite pieces by any of these modern masters?<\/p>\n
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