The classical music industry’s proclivity for size is impressive. Strauss is a case in point. Andris Nelsons’ new release on Deutsche Grammophon features the conductor leading the Boston Symphony and Leipzig Gewandhaus in an eight-hour and 32-minute marathon of works by Richard Strauss. Featured soloists include cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Yuja Wang. Absorbing the vast expanse provided me with considerable time to attempt to figure out how a single composer can be responsible for the worst sorts of classical schmaltz, jarring moments of jarring avant-garde noise and futuristic litanies. I hope to one day fully understand Strauss’ fantastic achievement.

William Brownlee

December 28, 2020

We Will Now Receive Your Offering

William Brownlee

December 28, 2020

Original image of a Louisville church’s signage by There Stands the Glass.

Attending a Latin mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in January was a highlight of my churchgoing life. I’ve since been reduced to watching virtual worship services on Sunday mornings. Two recent releases remind me of what I’ve been missing.

Emmanuel, a 12-minute EP by Kanye West’s Sunday Service choir, catapulted me back to Jerusalem. The odd variant of the Latin hymns sung at Catholic, Anglican and Episcopalian churches toys with convention. The impossibly esoteric recording may have a target audience of one. Thanks to everyone involved- I treasure my bespoke Christmas gift!

While decidedly secular, Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott’s Songs of Comfort and Hope is typical of the inspirational music occasionally performed as offering plates are passed among affluent Protestant congregations. In addition to providing uplifting beauty, cello and piano duets in this vein are likely to inspire bouts of generosity.

Treacly readings of classic melodies such as “Over the Rainbow” will undoubtedly provide comfort and hope to thousands of anxious souls, but Ma and Stott’s unabashed sentimentality sometimes makes me want to throw bricks through stained glass windows. Even so, a third of the 79-minute public service project is positively divine.