NarniaWeb Community Forums

Talking of choral music, I heard this one on Classic FM (which my car radio is perpetually tuned to) a couple of weeks ago and was so overawed that I just had to sit and listen to the whole of it: Lux Aurumque, by Eric Whitacre. It's been stuck in my head — I kid you not — ever since (interspersed with other music, of course, but I just keep on and on coming back to this one). There's just something breathtakingly ethereal about it, I think. I love the way he uses dissonance, too, in just the right places so that it sounds right instead of clashing.

Here are the words and the translation — it's actually a Christmas piece, as you can see, but there's something completely timeless about it:

Lux,
calida gravisque pura velut aurum
et canunt angeli molliter
modo natum.

Light,
warm and heavy as pure gold
and angels sing softly
to the new-born babe.

Hope no-one minds me posting again, but a church friend just sent me this link — a recording of the Jewish priestly blessing, Num. 6:24-26 ("The Lord bless you and keep you"), sung in Hebrew to what musicologists believe is its original tune, reconstructed from markings in the ancient texts. It is just awesome!