Just as I savour carols in the weeks before Christmas, at this time of year I turn to acapella Lenten choral traditions and the liturgical music of Easter. Agony expressed by the naked human voice.
You’d think in might deepen the anguish carried in a battered heart. Instead, it consoles.
Lifted in exquisite layers of harmony and polyphony, voices affirm that I am not the only one who suffers.
Beauty remains a constant consolation no matter what else fails.
On YouTube: Transcendent Lenten Choral Music
On Spotify: Good Friday in Jerusalem; Russian Calvary. Men’s Choir of the Valaam Singing Culture Institute; J.S. Bach Easter Cantatas and St. Matthew’s Passion