Instrumentation: SATB Choir
Duration: 2:30
Premiere: 11/8/96
Christopher Newport Choir, Bill Witwer, conductor
Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA
Program Note:
Adonai Ro’i, my setting of Psalm 23 in the original Hebrew, flowed from my response to the terrible assassination of Yitzhak Rabin on 11/4/95 and is dedicated to his memory. I composed the main draft during the week following his death. Though one feels that no response is adequate, music, as well as this particular psalm, offers some comfort. I wish to thank conductor Judith Clurman and my husband Michael Kubovy for their assistance with the Hebrew prosody. Adonai Ro’i is available on New World CD (No. 80504-2) “Divine Grandeur,” in a recording by the New York Concert Singers, conducted by Judith Clurman. –JS
Press Quotes:
“Pieces like…Judith Shatin’s Adonai Ro’i were beautifully shaped and provided a calm relief from the cheery folk styles.” –Times Union, Joseph Dalton
Adonai Ro’i (Psalm 23) for a cappella SATB choir was composed by Judith Shatin. It was written during the week after November 4, 1995 which marked the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, then Prime Minister of Israel. The text of Psalm 23 is sung in Hebrew with simplicity of texture and harmonic language. While the words of the text attempt to provide comfort to those morning this tragedy, there is an undercurrent of sadness and loss. There are many nice moments of texture and register contrasts in this accessible work. –Prairie Sky Music Publishing
(Cover image by Biegun Wschodni on Unsplash)