Скачать или смотреть Thanksgiving: Thanks - Silvey

Thanks (from Help, Thanks, Wow, 2024)
Philip E. Silvey (1965-)
Text by Anne Lamott (1954-)

Composer's Notes:
"Thanks" is the second of three compositions based on Anne Lamott's book Help Thanks Wow: Three Essential Prayers, her unique take on keeping prayer simple. Responding with these three words alters how we see things. Giving thanks reminds us of the good in our lives. Following the longstanding choral tradition of the sung mass, I [Silvey] translated some of Lamott's writings into Latin including one word for each prayer; gratias for "thanks". I musicalized the natural rise and fall of Lamott's words and used the recurring interval of a minor second to create aural tension, a corollary to emotional anguish. This half step, specifically between a white piano key above a black one, captures a piercing clash, a visible reminder of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of a black man pleading for his life. The chantlike Latin phrases at the end of each movement reflect the speaker's altered state, transformed by the act of praying.
Philip Silvey, 2021