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MUSIC OF THE PROPHETS
Roger James / www.sacredscales.com, copyright © 2001
This recording by Roger James
(e-mail), in effect, accompanies his book Music, Spirit
and the Keys to Prophecy (discussed elsewhere on this site). It features recordings of
five passages of Hebrew Scripture, melodically rendered according to Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura's deciphering key.
The cover has a sample of the Hebrew Masoretic Text of Genesis 1 (taken from parts of various verses) written on
stone, facing a transcribed musical score of Genesis 1:1-6.
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Mr. James' approach to Mme. Haïk-Vantoura's discovery is rather different from that taken by the other recordings
featuring her work. Intending to make the music as accessible to non-Hebraists as possible, he uses various means
to connect the biblical melodies to English translation (verbal or melodic or both). For example, in "The
Creation" he plays and harmonizes the biblical melody of Genesis 1:1-2:3 on the piano, while reciting an English
translation over the music. Whereas in Psalm 23 he sings the Hebrew words to piano accompaniment, but changes the
rhythm of the melody to metrical form. In some cases the effect of these melodic-verbal "translations"
is striking and worthy of their subject matter (my favorite is Isaiah 6). In others, I believe that both Mme. Haïk-Vantoura
and I would agree that the intended sense
of the biblical melos is distorted. Something
is always lost and gained in any translation,
and that is precisely why Mme. Haïk-Vantoura forbade any "adaptations" of her arrangements to be
made during her own lifetime. That said, I believe that this first effort is a well-meaning and often
very good one,
and I find it regrettable that Mr. James has no present plans or ability to produce a second such effort.
Mr. James' Web site, http://www.sacredscales.com,
is currently offline. Inquiries concerning the availability of this recording should be directed to:
Roger James
SACRED SCALES
4105 N. Garfield Ave. #64
Loveland, CO. 80538 USA |
