just (after song of songs) (David Lang)

just (after song of songs) by David Lang

Northwestern University Recital Chorus
Matthew Cramer, conductor

Performed live March 17th, 2019 in Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL). Recording by Sean Keenan.

Ensemble:
Aryssa Burrs
Hannah Dixon-McConnell
Lucy Evans
Megan Fleischmann
Ilana Goldstein
Lauren Kelly
Chelsea Lyons
Kira Neary
Molly Phelan
Bahareh Poureslami
Hannah Schiller
Tiana Sorenson

Henry Koch, viola
Richard Mazuski, cello
Isaac Frank, percussion

***

note from the composer:

"just (after song of songs)" is a setting of a text I made by finding certain things in the Song of Songs. The original text is of course the most passionate and erotic of the ancient Jewish books, and it is always strange to encounter it in the Bible. In 2008 I wrote a choral piece called "for love is strong," in which I made a similar text from the Song of Songs, trying to use the words to see through the relationship between the man and the woman in the story to the relationship between Man and God. According to Jewish tradition the Song of Songs is a metaphor for our passion for the Eternal, so the words themselves become very important.

One thing that has always interested me about the text is that the man and the woman in the Song of Songs have attributes, they notice things about each other, they own things, they have features that are desirable. In a love between people this would be no surprise. In a love between Man and God, however, that might mean that in this text are clues to the nature of God’s own attributes, and a record of how they might attract us.

For my text I listed everything personal or owned that is attributed to the man and to the woman. To clarify who is speaking I started every phrase of his with ‘just your’ and every phrase of hers with ‘and my.’ It is interesting that in a text about a love that is shared there are only seven instances of ‘our.’