Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Abide With Me by Thelonious Monk



I'd never heard Monk's version of this until it was pointed out to me by my ever-favorite lit-blogger Patrick Kurp.

The similarity to the finale of Mahler 9 has been pointed out many times. When I was at my most ambitious with the old chorus, I thought of taking the whole text of Abide With Me (every verse) and setting it as a hymn to the music of Mahler 9's last movement. But you'd certainly need a 50-member chorus of steel in order to make it happen. Some things are probably best left dreams...but the dream abides.

2 comments:

  1. Wow. That is wild. Hadn't heard that yet.

    Tj
    tjjazzpiano.blogspot.com

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  2. Very nice. I had never heard this before.
    I recently posted an appreciation of Thelonious Monk at a blog I publish "The Eclectic Ear" over at WordPress. Feel free to stop by! http://timbrosnan.wordpress.com

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