on December 29, 2012 403 views
When I publish this video it's Good Friday 2008, I guess that's why I turned my attention to this peaceful music, full of mysterious beauty.
Famous Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, the Romanian National Chamber Choir "Madrigal" and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ion Marin, perform the sacred prayer song 'Priveghiati si va rugati' ('Watch and pray'), a gem from the Romanian Orthodox Church music repertory. The composer is Gheorge Popescu-Branesti.

here are the lines:
priveghiati si va rugati (watch and pray)
ca sa nu cadeti in ispita (that ye enter not into temptation)
sufletul este zelos (the spirit indeed is willing)
iara trupul neputincios (but the flesh is weak)

The recording is from Angela Gheorghiu's album 'Mysterium - Sacred Arias' (2001), that I highly recommend. Buy it and hear more of this great music!

from the liner notes (by Alexander Gerdanovits):
"This music (..) has over the years taken on a deeply spiritual quality for Angela Gheorghiu. Its profound significance had already revealed itself to her in her Romanian childhood home of Adjud, where she and her sister Nina would sing it together. (..) these songs possess great emotional, almost ineffable power for the singer. They evoke for her the mystical aura of Orthodox churches, dominated by incense and candlelight, and the spiritual intimacy of Moldavian monasteries in Northern Romania. They express a reverent awe in the presence of the mysterium fascinans, in which the full plenitude of existence is made manifest, as is the yearning for God. Traditionally they have always been sung by a choir. On this cd they are heard for the first time with orchestral accompaniment, specially created for the recording."

The pictures in my video are mostly beautiful icons and fresco's from orthodox churches and monasteries in Eastern Europe.

Peace for Everyone...
Categories: Chant