I’ve done paintings and movies recently, so why not music? Here—if you’re in the mood—is a Buxtehude setting of Psalm 41:2-3, Quemadmodum desiderat cervus, ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea, ad te, Deum. Sitivit anima mea ad te, Deum, fontem vivum. Quando veniam et apparebo ante faciem tuam? (“As the deer longs for the springs of waters, so longs my soul for thee O God. My soul thirsts for thee, God, the living spring. When will I come and appear before thy face?”). It’s sung by Charles Daniels, with the Purcell Quartet.
I am pleased to see you
I am pleased to see you mention Buxtehude, since I have a particular affinity with something that seems to come-through especially in some solo organ pieces – especially in the fuge and ‘variation sections’.
There is a quality hard to describe – yearning comes closest. He somehow feels like a fellow spirit calling across the intervening ages!
(Other, very different, composers which evoke a similar feeling in me are Dowland’s solo lute work and (perhaps incongrously) some of the piano pieces by Scott Joplin.)
Thanks for mentioning the others
I remember Dowland as nostalgic, but it’s been a while and I’ve listened to very little. I’ve never listened to Joplin.
If you ever wanted to explore
If you ever wanted to explore I would suggest Dowland’s lute music played by Julian Bream, and Joplin performed by Joshua Rifkin – these are pairings made in heaven!