Rising – Tulev, Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt (version 2)
Toivo Tulev – Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt (version 2)
Sunrise, Friday May 29
Our farewell to May.
It is fine to let this one go.
in a lovely green meadow
Have we ever appreciated the Sun more?
We’ve chosen an odd way to leave May – a work that captures how we feel as we recede cautiously from May, not quite fully throwing ourselves into the Pool that is normally June.
Most people we know aren’t back to the church, the beach, the Tavern on the Hill.
Toivo Tulev’s Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt, Psalm 23.
Simplicity.
Women singing in unison. John at the piano. Rebecca Harris asking questions with her violin. More playing than singing, which focuses our ears on the song.
On the words of the song.
It is all song.
This recording is the odd part: it’s a bit messy and wonderful. It’s alive. It feels like we are really there, in the room.
It begins with a lot of ambient noise under the music – rustling, floorboards creaking, footsteps. There’s a reason for that, and it’s why this is one of our favorite moments in all of our concert-journey stagings. We are concluding a concert about the relationship between Mothers and their Sons. We separate: the men of The Crossing move together and sit on the steps to the chancel, facing the audience.
They try to be quiet; they are not.
They watch the women, who turn and, facing their Sons, walk backward, slowly.
Then, they sing.
He leads me to fresh water,
to refresh my soul powerfully
They keep walking. They gently move away from us – the men, the audience.
They are quiet.
They seem to fade from There to Not-There in front of us.
Then, they are gone.
We hear them as if in a Memory. As if in a Dream.
A dream that was May.
through the blessed word of grace.
It is obvious why we love to sing this piece.
Strength in simplicity.
In singing together as One.
In the Voices of Women.
to entrust myself totally
To say good-bye.
To a May we will never forget.
But are glad to see go.
- The Whole Team @ The Crossing
Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt
(version 2)
music by Toivo Tulev
words a paraphrase of Psalm 23, from Becker Psalter (1602)
recorded live in concert at The Crossing @ Christmas,
December 15, 2017 at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill
The Jeffrey Dinsmore Memorial Concert
audio by Paul Vazquez of Digital Mission Audio Services
Rebecca Harris, violin and John Grecia, piano
video art by Beth Haidle
* * *
Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt,
dem ich mich ganz vertraue,
Zur Weid er mich, sein Schäflein, führt,
Auf schöner grünen Aue,
Zum frischen Wasser leit' er mich,
Mein Seel zu laben kräftiglich
Durchs sel’ge Wort der Gnaden.
The Lord is my faithful shepherd,
to whom I entrust myself totally,
He leads me, His lamb, to pasture
in a lovely green meadow,
He leads me to fresh water,
to refresh my soul powerfully
through the blessed word of grace.