New Hebrew setting of Ps. 121

by | Oct 24, 2013 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Earlier this year, Pete Eklund told me that he was planning to do a concert of different settings of Ps. 121 starting with the now Grammy nominated version by Jake Runestad. Pete asked for a setting in Hebrew that was pretty, accessible, and written for men’s chorus and piano.

I headed over to Guy Trainin’s house. Guy is a dear friend and was super helpful explaining the Hebrew to me. He even let me record him reading it. I have a little bit of Hebrew, so I took the text and made my own transliteration. Despite that, I still managed to get a vowel sound wrong at the beginning. It will be corrected for the next time.

Here is the premiere ably conducted by Matt Hill who will have a lovely future in the choral world.

א  שִׁיר, לַמַּעֲלוֹת:
אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי, אֶל-הֶהָרִים–    מֵאַיִן, יָבֹא עֶזְרִי.		 1 A Song of Ascents. {N}
I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: from whence shall my help come?
ב  עֶזְרִי, מֵעִם יְהוָה–    עֹשֵׂה, שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
ג  אַל-יִתֵּן לַמּוֹט רַגְלֶךָ;    אַל-יָנוּם, שֹׁמְרֶךָ. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
ד  הִנֵּה לֹא-יָנוּם, וְלֹא יִישָׁן–    שׁוֹמֵר, יִשְׂרָאֵל. 4 Behold, He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.

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