Had you been fortunate enough to watch the Lessons and Carols service from Kings College on Christmas Eve, and then attend St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow for the Midnight Eucharist, you would have a chance to join in a magic moment twice in the same day!
On both occasions the choirs sang ‘O magnum mysterium’. by Morten Lauridsen….see photo above. The words are few….’O great mystery and wondrous sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord lying in their manger. Alleluia!
This is one of those pieces which seem to transcend all time, all space, all religions, all emotions, all words or language. Anyone who fails to be moved in some way by it really has not yet gripped the concept of something existing beyond us. On an emotional par with the Allegri ‘Miserere’, this piece should be listened to in a quiet place and with the mind at peace.
Such was St Mary’s, just after Communion, and with the lights gradually dimming , we were led into some other inner world, where not even a cough was heard, the breath was held, and the faint lights around the window ledges and over the Choir screen seeming to sparkle even brighter. As the final notes faded, the silence became more intense and some kind of tiredness set in as if we had been part of the choir and that heavenly host.
The link below gives you the music but not the sensation, as the audience permits no pause between the final notes and the applause……such a piece needs no applause only appreciation!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J0O8wTzvIc
Far better to get a CD, and sit at peace in your own space, and let the music and emotion wash over you……you are unlikely to ever be the same again!
