Customer Reviews

Elias: The Prayer Cycle

5 star:		(92)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I first heard this as part of a radio program on the local NPR station, and was shamed into silence. The diversity of collaborators in this work (including US folk-rocker James Taylor, Yemenite singer Ofra Haza, Canadian rocker Alanis Morissette, the late Musrat Fateh Ali Khan [one of his last performances], the American Boychoir w/Devin Provenzano, the English Chamber Orch. & Chorus) shows the great number of fields that composer Jonathan Elias was drawing from.

The song "Hope" will lift your spirit, while James Taylor's melancholy vocals on "Grace" will move you to tears (At first, I thought he would be horribly out of place, but his voice fits the work perfectly!). The lyrics run all over the map in language. There are lyrics in Urdu, Mali, Latin, English, French, Italian, Hungarian, Dwala, Tibetan, German, Spanish and Hebrew, but they are listed in English in the CD booklet. I gather this is Elias' way of uniting the world. The lyrics are prayers, laments and pleas for forgiveness. The themes are loneliness, war and regret.

The style of music is definately classical, but does not limit itself to European roots. There are distinct influences from Africa, the Orient, and even various tribal nuances. For someone who was raised on European Classical music, it may be a shock to the system, but it works, and it is wonderful!

I forsee this recording to be one of the hand-picked few that future generations will draw upon for inspiration. As we as a people on this planet become closer, our world seems to become smaller. Our hopes, dreams, and cultures begin to overlap. This recording is proof that, when skillfully co-ordinated they can create incredible harmony.

Highly, highly reccomended.

There is music you hear, music you listen to, and music that truly fills and feeds your soul. If you are not moved in the first 60 seconds of Elias' powerful tribute to prayer and artistry, you need this recording more than you think. This CD contains much of what there is to love about music...rich choral backgrounds filled with suspensions that compliment the beautiful,primitive and raw voices of Morissette and Musrat Fateh Ali Kahn which are filled with pure emotion... classical guitar that accompanies the gifted and melancholy James Taylor...sweeping lines of gorgeous, soulful, skillfully constructed music. Elias says that prayer is what we turn to when all we have left is hope. I turn to his music, and pray that he has more still to come.

This CD defies any specific description of its content. It is most often listed as an "Alanis Morissette album" simply because she sings several songs. But, it is a mixture of styles, cultures, music and religious beliefs that is hard to explain but not easy to forget. Jonathan Elias has written a series of choral pieces on faith, no matter what religion you adhere to. Alanis sings in French on one song and in Hungarian on another. Such diverse talents as James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and the late international superstars, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ofra Haza lend their voices. Reading the lyrics in English adds to the understanding of what is being conveyed, but the melodies and voices joining in hope and faith are just as touching. This album is about faith in God or goddesses or nature, whatever beliefs you may have. It mixes beliefs and musical styles in a way I've never heard before. The music is moving, touching, breath-taking, and unforgettable.

I don't claim to know much about what makes music 'great.' There is a part of me that is sure that whatever it is, this CD probably doesn't have it... but then, if this isn't 'great,' who cares? The massive blending of a variety of cultural traditions may or may not work in terms of musical theory-- but it sure does work on an emotional level. I STILL get shivers on Track Three, "Hope." There is something essential about this CD that will haunt any listener for the rest of his or her life. Here, lyrics that echo the ancient prophets Jeremiah and Ezekial blend with an "Amazing Grace" of sorts, drawn from virtually all cultural traditions, and do for life at the turn of the millenium what no other recording has managed to do-- capture the core of our collective spirit.

I have been a fan of Jonathan Elias' "Requiem for the America's" (now out of print) since 1991. After that, I heard nothing further from or about him. I was surfing for CDs from Alanis Morisette and "The Prayer Cycle" came up. Being curious and noting that it was a Jonathan Elias project, I played a few of the samples. Unbelievable!!! Much like Adiemus' "Songs of Sanctuary" much of the singing is wordless. Instead, it is vocal interpretations of the poems written by Elias and performed to his musical compositions. No artist is on this album by chance. Clearly he had a vision and knew who to invite. What occurs then, is a wave of vocal emotion that is unarguably beautiful.

And here is what I found to be the ultimate hidden treasure in this CD ... the poems themselves.

I remembered these words from Requiem, " ... In our innocence, the world is young and strong / Beating at the center of perfection is the heart of man ... " and in reading the poems he wrote for "The Prayer Cycle" came to realize that his view of the world had changed a great deal. For track 6: INNOCENCE he writes, " ... Under a sky of innocence, we are now all dying, in a slow black rain. Was it failure of Man and Angels? Was it a failure of love? ... "

If you're looking for beautiful music and depths of meaning, then I highly recommend this for your collection.

and this cd takes me away. It is such a powerful mix of haunting vocals and ethereal musicianship. I listen to it and meditate. I listen to it and work out. For ears accustomed to the music of the Western world, you may want to be patient at first. But don't give up. Keep listening. And eventually it becomes a complex piece of art for the ears. Each time I listen I hear something different. This wonderful cd can lift you out of the world you are in at this very moment, and when you come back down, you are just a little more at peace.

And that is never a bad thing.

Since I first heard and bought this CD, I have purchashed over 10 copies and given them as gifts. Never has music overwhelmed me and brought me to tears the way The Prayer Cycle does (and still does.) The power this CD has on one's soul is truely a religious experience. If I had to get rid of all my CD's but one, I believe that this is the one I would keep. It's that powerful! If you are a serious listener, I highly recommend you get this and give it a serious listen.

It is comforting to find someone who understands the true nature of prayer. Not prayer as a simple act of religious ritual or as some blind spiritual requirement, but prayer as a means of earnest "request", of faithful hope, from something beyond our understanding. Johnathan Elias weaves a beautiful and haunting series of passages that transfer an understanding that prayer, and our deep need for it, need not be simply religious, just truely spiritual. Each passage is rendered from the understanding that the greatest aspects of the human condition are those that are filtered through the heart and generated from somewhere deep in the soul. Elias's prayers are true requests, perhaps not just from the heavens, but to each of us as individuals, for the sanctity of the human condition. Our sence of fear, envy, hate, hope, love, and understanding are transpired here in this important work.

I have listend to and collected choral work throughout the years, but I have yet to hear a piece of music that moves across cultural and religious boundries like this recording does. There is an honesty here that is communal rather than selfishly individual. Johnathan Elias belongs in an elite group of composers who is able to speak directly to the soul, regardless of race, color, language, or creed. Through the use of some very prominant yet seemingly unlikely performers (Alanis Moriessette, Ofra Haza, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Perry Farrell, and Musrat Fateh Ali Khan, to name but a few), Elias has proven that the idea of a request from the soul is universal, and that the human voice is heard on many levels and in many ways. I would highly recommend that recording to anyone.

Every now and then, along comes a piece of music that truly moves me. Even more seldom, along comes a piece of music that makes the musician in me sit up and take notice. Jonathan Elias' "The Prayer Cycle" has done both.

"Prayer Cycle" is a choral symphony in nine movements, but it is also a piece of world music. The English Chamber Orchestra and Chorus is joined by a stellar array of vocal solo talents. Distinctive western voices such as Alanis Morissette, James Taylor, and Linda Ronstadt are joined by equally distinctive eastern vocalists like Israeli Ofra Haza, Tibetan Yungchen Lhamo, Pakistani Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Salif Keita of Mali. Sadly, Ali Khan and Haza (one of my favorite vocal talents) passed away shortly after the production of this recording, leaving this performance as one of their last collaborations. It is a fitting memorial to two great voices.

Elias' music itself is a wonder. It is both ethereal and earthly, filled with slow ostinato and vibrant treble tones, and it fulfills its title by quietly guiding the ear and mind to a place of introspection, meditation, and revelation. The mix of languages lets us concentrate on the timbre of each voice, from Ronstadt's lyrical soprano to Morisette's anguished and near-tribal clarity, from Ali Khan's woody tenor to Yungchen's flute-like descant. The music is not thematic, but atmospheric, providing no melodies to hum after hearing the piece. Rather, each movement provides a distinct sphere of serenity in which we can slow down, listen, and enjoy the tug and play of the music.

I found this CD by chance sitting in the case of another CD in a meeting room in a Dominican retreat center. Within a minute through the first track I was absolutely hooked.

The banquet of spiritual voices drawn from around the globe, some haunting, others strident, others so pure and tender, are a feast in themselves. Take a quick look at the personnel, listen to a few samples. The melodies melt into my heart in the way other great sacred music has over the years. Give it a try!