Earlier this winter, on January 14, NB posted a series of audio clips from a 2009 interview with BCE’s Miguel Felipe and composer Paul Crabtree. In that interview, Paul discussed his personal story. Today, with the concert only days away, we present the second half of the interview when Paul describes the genesis of his [...]

In 2007 Crabtree’s Tenebræ Responsories received their first concert performance. The concert was presented by Conspirare, under Craig Hella Johnson, in Texas. In preparation for that program, a short written interview was prepared and we thought it might be nice to reprint this for BCE audiences. Thanks to Paul Crabtree for sharing this… and see [...]

“Una hora non potuisti vigilare” is the eighth of nine responsories and depicts a Jesus full of frustration. As the narrative continues, Jesus shows that he knows he’s been betrayed and, at the same time, the disciples who he’s asked to sit up and wait with him have fallen asleep. Indeed, the life Jesus has [...]

“Eram quais agnus”, “I was like a lamb” begins the final trio of works in the Responsories. Considered the most difficult of the pieces by Crabtree, this movement runs over five minutes. The connection to Dylan—lyrics aside—lies in the unusual harmonic shifting of the work’s first half. In both Crabtree and Dylan, unusual minor progressions [...]

Paired with Dylan’s “Slow Train”, Crabtree’s “Unus ex discipulis meis” lifts Dylan’s harmonic progression to set Christ’s coming to terms with his betrayal. The movement includes, as the previous movements, the phrase “It had been better for him if he had never been born.” In each movement, Paul sets the music differently to depict the [...]

The fifth movement, “Judas mercator pessimus” is paired with Bob Dylan’s “The Wicked Messenger”. Like the others responsories in this nocturn at the center of the work, “Judas mercator pessimus” makes much of the text: “It had been better for that man if he had never been born.” It also has a raucous, Handel-like section [...]

The Dylan/Tenebræ pairing of this movement—Amicus meus + Positively 4th Street—was the inspired genesis of the whole project. The common emotions between the two texts is uncanny and, perhaps, points the Tenebræ listener closer to a human view of Christ. Connection between the two run further and include a direct musical quote of Dylan’s bass [...]

The third and final responsory in the first “nocturn”, or set of three responsories, is “Ecce vidimus eum/Unbelievable.” In this responsory, Jesus is depicted as homely and lacking in any desirable beauty. Paired against the responsory is Dylan’s “Unbelievable” which ends with the phrase: “It don’t matter no more what you got to say/It’s unbelievable [...]

Still trying to get a read on Paul Crabtree’s Tenebræ Responsories? Then be sure to hear the Dylan too! NB’s put together a mix on iTunes to collect all nine of the songs that inspired Paul. Listen and enjoy…

Ok, so maybe Dylan isn’t really working with BCE on TENEBRÆ but his music is infused into Paul Crabtree’s Tenebræ Responsories on the Songs of Bob Dylan. NB has chatted with Paul and parts of the interview will unfold in future posts. For now, though, we want to explore and understand the relationship between the [...]