Description
Perusal Score
Video
Music by Andrea Clearfield (2020)
Poetry by Mirabai Starr
Commissioned and performed by Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson, Artistic Director
Douglas Harvey, cello
Austin Haller, piano
Duration
8 min 30 sec
Premiere
February 20, 2020
St. Martin's Lutheran Church, Austin, TX
Conspirare
Craig Hella Johnson, Artistic Director
Douglas Harvey, cello
Austin Haller, piano
St. Martin's Lutheran Church, Austin, TX
Conspirare
Craig Hella Johnson, Artistic Director
Douglas Harvey, cello
Austin Haller, piano
Commissioner
Conspirare and Craig Hella Johnson
Instrumentation
SATB, cello, piano
Program Notes
Prayer to the Shechinah was commissioned by Conspirare and Craig Hella Johnson, and set to poetry by Mirabai Starr. The piece is an homage to the Shechinah, the feminine face of God. The Shechinah is at once gentle and fierce, ethereal and yet manifest. The work is a prayer and a plea to the Shechinah to be with us now during the peril of these times, to “restore wholeness to our fragmented souls” and “kiss the tear-streaked face of humanity.” The music alternates between rhapsodic solos, reverent hymn-like passages, and urgent propulsive rhythms.
With gratitude to the Brush Creek Foundation, The Copland House and the Ragdale Foundation for providing invaluable time and space to compose this work.
–Andrea Clearfield