Quick Christmas post

On the CD player now:

Arvo Part's Te Deum - some of the most powerful music I have ever listened to. This is deep emotional music stripped back to its bare essentials, where even the pauses - the short aching silences - grab at my heart.

And when, almost at the end, the choir sings in full voice, accompanied by the full orchestra:

Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos,
quemadmodum speravimus in te.
In te, Dominus, speravi:

The might of the heavens come crashing down on me.

Then that single quiet unaccompanied voice pleadingly sings that line again:

In te, Domine, speravi:

So fragile, so vulnerable.

So utterly alone.

This is awesome music.

Merry Christmas to everyone.