mike and ruth

In this evening’s recording session (the fourth of six this week), the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square recorded a Mack Wilberg arrangement of “The Prayer”. This song has resonated with many people around the world, as sung by Charlotte Church & Josh Groban, and also by Celine Dion & Andrea Bocelli. The music was written by David Foster. It is in both English and Italian. I really enjoyed singing in Italian again! The choir really enjoyed singing it and we are looking forward to the release of the new CD with this piece on it sometime in the next several months. This is representative of the kind of music on the recording: music of peace, reflection, and introspection. The CD contains mostly very quiet, peaceful music. Here are the words to this popular song that we recorded today. I hope you can see the message contained in the music.

The Prayer
I pray you’ll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don’t know
Let this be our prayer
As we go our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we’ll be safe

La luce che tu dai
I pray we’ll find your light
Nel cuore restero
And hold it in our hearts
A ricordarci che
When stars go out each night
L’eterna stella sei
Nella mia preghiera
Let this be our prayer
Quanta fede c’e
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we’ll be safe.

Sognamo un mondo senza piu violenza
Un mondo di giustizia e di speranza
Ognuno dia la mano al suo vicino
Simbolo di pace e di fraternita

La forza che ci dai
We ask that life be kind
E’il desiderio che
And watch us from above
Ognuno trovi amore
We hope each soul will find
Intorno e dentro a se
Another soul to love
Let this be our prayer
Let this be our prayer
Just like every child
Just like every child
Needs to find a place,
Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we’ll be safe

E la fede che
Hai acceso in noi
Sento che ci salvera.

The Tabernacle Choir has begun another series of recording sessions in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City for a CD to be released later this year. (Notice the quilts placed on the benches of the main floor of the photo below, to slighly warm the famous accoustics of this historic building.)

It will feature music of reflection and of quite comtemplation, and be different in this way. It will contrast with many of the choirs CDs which boast the huge sound of the 360-voice choir and 100-piece orchestra that will really raise one’s pulse with the huge, dramatic sound that results. This album will show how softly the huge forces can sing and how tenderly the lyrics can be sung to the delicate musical accompaniment. Sessions will take the entire week of evenings and all day on Saturday. A special videotaping session during the series will create a music video with singer Andrea Bocelli and pianist-composer David Foster with the choir, featuring them in the well-known song, “The Prayer” which is sung in Italian and English. We look forward to seeing the product in its finished form as well as the CD that will result. The choir will soon release a new CD and DVD for Christmas that was compiled from last year’s Christmas Concerts. The DVD features the entire concert with Baritone Brian Stokes Mitchell and actor Edward Herrmann which was widely praised as a triumph last year. You may want to see more information about these and other widely-acclaimed recordings of the choir and orchestra at http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/products/.