(SW 1077)

God be gracious to us and bless us, Psalm 66

In this psalm motet for 4-8 voice choir, written in 1975, Christian Ridil skillfully combines his particular affinity for complex rhythmic structures reminiscent of late medieval vocal polyphony with jazz elements.

With this interesting blend, he offers a highly artificial counterproposal to the often rather simplistic style of the "Neues geistliches Lied," which was particularly fashionable at the time.

The psalm text, translated into German by Romano Guardini, is, as in Gregorian chant, meticulously captured and realized in its linguistic style, both rhythmically and melodically, and then performed line by line according to all the rules of vocal art.

In the approximately five-minute motet, homophonic declamatory passages and polyphonic, fugal sections alternate according to the meaning of the text. Where the work then reaches the full eight-part setting, the composer unleashes an almost "hymnic" sonic splendor.

Martin Schmeck

Please log in or register to get full access to the download pages of the sheet music.