Music for Your Week: Holiness and Cheesiness

Three albums for this conflicted week

Stream last week’s Walter Martin Radio Hour: The Thanksgiving Special

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Hi ok I’m not going full blast into holiday music yet but, since everything is covered with snow where I live, I wanted to get into some serious uncut indoor music this week.

1) Duruflé: Requiem (1947)

The upside of not being a classical music scholar or a religious person is that I can appreciate this music the same way I appreciated music as a kid—purely as a listening experience.

Maurice Duruflé at the organ

Growing up, I spent a lot of time in church pews, listening to the glorious sounds of organ and choir music, staring up at the vaulted ceiling, wondering what the hell the folks at the podium were talking about. This music takes me right back to that sacred place.

I even wrote a song about that place.

Duruflé’s Requiem is especially intriguing because, although it was composed in the 20th century, it draws deeply from the Gregorian chants of the 9th and 10th centuries. So you sense an ancient beauty, but also a modern minimalism and calm.

As the holidays approach it’s a great way to access some holiness without any cheesiness.

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