Assignment 16 - Referential Critique of a live or recorded performance

Assignment 16
Referential Critique of a live or recorded performance




“The lord is my shepherd” – John Rutter, Requiem

The other day I was listening to music on my computer and “The lord is my shepherd” from John Rutter’s Requiem came on. I had the pleasure of performing this work on the main stage at Carnegie Hall under the baton of noted choral conductor Anton Armstrong on Easter Sunday in 2006.

I will include the text since it provides the basis and the inspiration for the music:

The lord is my shepherd:
therefore can I lack nothing.
He shall feed me in a green pasture:
and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.
He shall convert my soul:
and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness,
for his Name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff comfort me.
Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them
that trouble me:
thou hast anointed my head with oil,
and my cup shall be full.
But thy loving-kindness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the
Lord for ever.


The music begins with beautiful, light strings that accompany an oboe solo with intertwining harp lines that continues throughout; right away the music has an ethereal quality to it and remains in a heavenly or vast expanse-like state. Upon reading the first three lines of text, there seems to be not a care in the world. The music is structured accordingly as well – absolutely tonality, harmony, and purity in the vocal part sung by the soprano section. As the piece continues, it is evident that John Rutter is employing the “word painting” technique. To say that he succeeds is an understatement; he brings each line and phrase to life through colors and harmonics. Just as the listener starts to relax into this comfortable state, the accompaniment drops out and the choir sings in the relative minor. The immediate effect of the modulation to paint “the valley of the shadow of death” is felt. He begins to use stepwise, chromatic motion to paint the next few lines. There is a holy yet somewhat unsettled feeling with his alternating use of A Major and E7 half-diminished. Out of nowhere, on “my cup shall be full”, the tiniest chromatic steps form a B7 chord and it seems as if the Heavens open and God himself can be heard. It is one of the most striking yet subtle moments in the whole piece and it manages to capture the essence of the text perfectly. There is a quick modulation back to C Major where the sense of absolute purity and harmony is renewed. A climactic C Major moment on “in the house of the Lord” occurs followed by inner vocal and orchestral lines that are suspended and resolve to lull us back into a complete state of peace by the end.

Meta-Critique

It is somewhat difficult to write a meta-critique because of the fact that I don’t know how good my referential analysis is in the first place. I’ve included a YouTube video I found with the audio and images of the score to help the reader listen and follow along. As cliché as it may seem, this piece really is one that is extremely difficult to put into words. Word painting is an accurate term I used in my analysis, but it doesn’t come close to accurately portraying how the music facilitates the text and how it speaks to a listener. In most cases, however, I do tend to feel like I pick up on referential meaning in music and am able to articulate my thoughts accordingly.