About

The heavens express your fire is excerpted from the two-movement work Evening Meditations, setting an interpretation of the beginning of Psalm 19 by Norman Fischer – a Zen Buddhist monk of Jewish origin who translated many of the Psalms in his book Opening to You. The text and the music imagine nature and creation as a continuous process of divine energy pouring forth to sustain the miracle of existence. The slow, meditative, but “fiery” opening leads to an energetic, urgent section, “day after day… night after night,” beginning unison in the chorus with ostinato figures in the piano, eventually blossoming into rich choral harmonies. The conclusion brings back the meditative quiet of the opening, with rhythmic echoes of the faster central section.

This piece was commissioned by the Horace Mann Chamber Choir, Timothy Ho, conductor. In talking about writing a new composition for the choir, Tim and I discussed writing a piece which belonged to the Jewish tradition, but at the same time expressed universal ideas. This fit  closely with an important personal theme in my music—a sense of wonder and gratitude for the natural world around us as central to finding the sense of the spiritual in our lives.

It was a pleasure to write this piece for this excellent high school chamber choir (which included my daughter Cass). My great thanks to Timothy Ho, an inspiring teacher and conductor for these fine students. “The heavens express your fire” received its premiere performance in New York City in March 2011. –Gerald Cohen

Score

Text

The heavens express your fire
The night sky is the work of your hands
Day after day is your spoken language
Night after night your perfect knowing
There is no speech, there are no words
Their voice falls silent
Yet the music plays everywhere
To the ends of the earth its clear notes float out
To the end of the worlds the words pronounced
Become a tabernacle for the sun

-Norman Fischer,
based on Psalm 19