美国国家公共电台 NPR 150 Psalms, 12 Days: Music for Challenging Times At The White Light Festival

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

The Hebrew psalms² have inspired composers for thousands of years. Now New York's Lincoln Center is presenting all 150 psalms in a festival of choral settings by 150 different composers, including nine U.S. premiers³. It's called the "Psalms Experience," as Jeff Lunden reports.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE⁴: Lincoln Center's director of programming, Jane Moss⁵, says over the past few years, she's been thinking a lot about the contentious⁶ political landscape in the United States and abroad, the turbulent changes in the environment. And that led her to the psalms.

JANE MOSS: Historically, what the psalms have been for are challenging times. I mean, they are really explicitly⁷ designed to help you out when the going gets rough (laughter).

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UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Vocalizing, singing in foreign language).

MOSS: And they include, I might add - which I find wonderful - all sorts of human complaints to God (laughter) about, like, where are you in these challenging times?

LUNDEN: Moss and Lincoln Center have teamed up with Tido Visser, the music director of the Netherlands Chamber⁸ Choir⁹, who had the idea to create a series of 12 hour-long concerts featuring every single psalm¹.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in foreign language).

LUNDEN: Each concert is centered on a theme, says Visser - justice, faith, gratitude¹⁰, lamentation¹¹.

TIDO VISSER: These psalms are about refugees. They are about unrighteous leaders. They are about abuse of power. So they are incredibly timely. Although they are two and a half to 3,000-year-old texts that were written by our ancestors, they are about the here and now.

LUNDEN: Four different choirs¹² from around the world are singing music from the 12th century...

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UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in foreign language).

LUNDEN: ...To today.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRINITY CHOIR: (Singing in foreign language).

LUNDEN: Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw was commissioned to write music for Psalm 84.

CAROLINE SHAW: I really identified with it because it has to do with finding a home and finding a refuge, celebrating this sense of safety. But, also, there's a yearning¹³ for a home.

LUNDEN: Shaw says she was thinking of Syria as she wrote it.

SHAW: The second verse is, the sparrow found a house, and the swallow her nest, where she may place her young, which is just a beautiful image of, you know, a bird trying to keep her children safe, people trying to keep their families safe.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) The sparrow found a house, and the swallow her nest.

DAVID LANG: They were meant to be sung.

LUNDEN: That's another Pulitzer Prize winner, David Lang, who set Psalm 101.

LANG: One thing I really like about the psalms is that they're sort of like a catalog of all the different ways that you could have a conversation with God. So some of them are very hopeful, and some of them are very lamenting¹⁴. Really, sort of, like, every way you can imagine talking to God. This one seemed the one that was most like a negotiation¹⁵.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHOIR OF TRINITY WALL STREET: (Singing) ...If you come to me? I see the faithful. I try so hard to follow them. I see the liars¹⁶. I try so hard to push them away.

LUNDEN: Writing choral music is not easy, says another composer commissioned for the project, Mohammed Fairouz.

MOHAMMED FAIROUZ: Because it requires a certain commitment to simplicity¹⁷. There's nowhere to hide. The counterpoint's very, very exposed. It's sort of like the Oval Office has no corners, you know?

LUNDEN: And in these difficult times, conductor Tido Visser hopes audiences will get some comfort, contemplation and community.

VISSER: I truly believe that there's one amazing thing about choral singing, and it's the fact that it unites people.

LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) As the street lights do, and thrushes sing a requiem¹⁸.

1 psalm   

n.赞美诗，圣诗

参考例句：

• The clergyman began droning the psalm.牧师开始以单调而低沈的语调吟诵赞美诗。
• The minister droned out the psalm.牧师喃喃地念赞美诗。

2 psalms   

n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的)

参考例句：

• the Book of Psalms 《〈圣经〉诗篇》
• A verse from Psalms knifed into Pug's mind: "put not your trust in princes." 《诗篇》里有一句话闪过帕格的脑海：“不要相信王侯。” 来自辞典例句

3 premiers   

n.总理，首相( premier的名词复数 )；首席官员，

参考例句：

• The Vice- Premiers and State Councillors assist the Premier in his work. 副总理、国务委员协助总理工作。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法
• The Premier, Vice-Premiers and State Councillors shall serve no more than two consecutive terms. 总理、副总理、国务委员连续任职不得超过两届。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

6 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

7 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

9 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

10 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

11 lamentation   

n.悲叹，哀悼

参考例句：

• This ingredient does not invite or generally produce lugubrious lamentation. 这一要素并不引起，或者说通常不产生故作悲伤的叹息。 来自哲学部分
• Much lamentation followed the death of the old king. 老国王晏驾，人们悲恸不已。 来自辞典例句

12 choirs   

n.教堂的唱诗班( choir的名词复数 )；唱诗队；公开表演的合唱团；（教堂）唱经楼

参考例句：

• They ran the three churches to which they belonged, the clergy, the choirs and the parishioners. 她们管理着自己所属的那三家教堂、牧师、唱诗班和教区居民。 来自飘（部分）
• Since 1935, several village choirs skilled in this music have been created. 1935以来，数支熟练掌握这种音乐的乡村唱诗班相继建立起来。 来自互联网

13 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

14 lamenting   

adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Katydids were lamenting fall's approach. 蝈蝈儿正为秋天临近而哀鸣。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Lamenting because the papers hadn't been destroyed and the money kept. 她正在吃后悔药呢，后悔自己没有毁了那张字条，把钱昧下来！ 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡

15 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

16 liars   

说谎者( liar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest liars talk most of themselves. 最爱自吹自擂的人是最大的说谎者。
• Honest boys despise lies and liars. 诚实的孩子鄙视谎言和说谎者。

17 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

18 requiem   

n.安魂曲，安灵曲

参考例句：

• I will sing a requiem for the land walkers.我会给陆地上走的人唱首安魂曲。
• The Requiem is on the list for today's concert.《安魂曲》是这次音乐会的演出曲目之一。