Good Friday Reflection Through Music

Perhaps Good Friday,the most somber and grave day of the year, is a day that can be given to prayer and some private musical reflection. Here are three pieces that I find reflective of the character of this day. If you have 15 minutes for reflection, please stay a while.

The first piece is Adagio in G Minor by Tommaso Albinoni (9:54). Whenever I hear this selection I instinctively associate it with Good Friday and Our Lord's Passion. It begins very quietly; with a distinct feeling of a purposeful and trudging movement. Waves of pathos build slowly and finally reach a crescendo. The end comes with a quiet and sweet violin. If you close your eyes and picture The Way of the Cross...

The second piece I favor on this day is Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik Satie. (3:28) After the Lord's death there is an emptiness that is not reconcilable: the feeling is more than loss, it's uncertaintly and misunderstanding. The work reflects a mild dispirited confusion where the final phrase is slightly discordant. This piece is also slow (lent) but not as heavy as the first. For me it reflects the despair of time in between death and resurrection.

My final selection is somewhat more hopeful. It is Schumann's Traumerei. (2:28) It's performed by the master pianist Vladamir Horowitz in Moscow.This is a favorite among the Russian people whose history has been filled with tragedy. The piece conveys sadness but its ending is more encouraging: it is peaceful and we know that we are reconciled. I enjoy the quiet appreciation and reassurance on the faces of members of the audience. They are recollected and witness an attentive spirit. They are vulnerable and open to the music's message.

We adore you O Christ and we praise you, Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

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