Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Lent is a time for contemplation, amongst other things. It's a season that lends itself particularly well to quiet, to extra mental space, and to looking at the big picture. Maybe that's why Arvo Pärt's music has special resonance during Lent. One of my dear friends began listening to Pärt during Lent some years ago, as a kind of devotional exercise, and I've kept that association since.

Think of the following video as a kind of 'spiritually-dense music video', a pastiche of images that explores natural beauty -- often times with spareness and austerity -- as a gateway to spiritual contemplation.

Voces8, the choir who created the video, says gives this commentary:

'We were inspired to create a video centered around the theme of cycles within nature, referencing our own mortality, with suggestions of the holy messenger in the deer, purity and love with the swan and finally the soul soaring up to heaven with the bird. The minimal setting of the music is reflected in the sparse use of colour, with inclusions of bright images that reference the ultimately uplifting nature of his beautiful music.'

The setting is of the Song of Simeon, the Nunc Dimittis:

'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.'

Blessings,
Justin