Blogging A-Z Day 2: Birthdays, Bach

Let's hope that this one doesn't crash the server... Do enjoy  another all-time favourite of mine for Holy Week, J.S. Bach's St John Passion, sung here by the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir, conducted by John Eliot Gardner. This is another work that I've been fortunate enough to sing in in the past, although not, I would add, with the outfit above, (way, way beyond my capabilities). I find the opening particularly moving. When we sung  it, we had some liturgical dancers performing along to the overture. They   took it to a  truly different dimension.

B  is also for birthdays - mine! After 50 *ahem* years I'm growing accustomed to having my birthday in and around Lent and Eastertide. This year it falls on Good Friday. What a  dilemma! Do I celebrate or go along with the mood of the liturgy  for the day.  Any thoughts?

Now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology,  you should receive this post at  7 a.m. BST,  tomorrow, just in time to browse over with your morning coffee. If you live in the UK, that is. Or more likely, as this morning, you won't. I'm not sure if it was April Fool's gremlins in the works or my own ineptitude that did it. Luckily I just had time to press the magic button and send my bons mots soaring into cyberspace before I rushed for the train.

St John Passion

Here's another piece  for what I've decided to call a Holy Week Pilgrimage: Herr, Unser Herrscher, the opening chorus from JS Bach's St John Passion, sung here by Trinity College of Music.  For me personally it's at times like this that music goes far deeper than words ever could; even more so if I've taken part in the work myself in the past.   I've particular memories of the dance that was set to the opening section ; it added yet another nuance to the experience, truly lifting it from mere performance to prayer.