![]() ![]() What was the catalyst for The Gospel According to Mark? The project inspired him to consider-and invite others to consider-the connection between music and prayer, as well as music’s ability to deepen our perception and experience of the divine. The Gospel According to Mark was a departure from commercial music and has reacquainted Nickel with his lifelong faith. Much of Nickel’s career has been concentrated in film and television he created scores for Discovery, CBC, Lifetime, A&E, and Hallmark. ![]() The passage “leaves the listener with an unfinished story, with something that we must take with us, in our hearts, souls, and minds,” Nickel wrote in the album notes for The Gospel According to Mark.įor the Canadian Christian, the process of composing the oratorio was a personal, spiritual journey. The voices and instrumentation subtly, peacefully fade away. The orchestra and voices weave together, swelling and retreating as the amen repeats over and over, accompanied by deliberate and steady open chords. The conclusion of the work, “The Ascension and Amen” (Mark 16:19–20, KJV), isn’t a glorious crescendo or grand chorus. Nickel’s work invites listeners to meditate on the gospel text and open themselves to the ways that the marriage of the music and Scripture might move their emotions. Besides its length, The Gospel According to Mark differs from these older works in its exclusive use of the gospel text, without poetic elaborations or additions. Nickel’s composition contributes to a genre with historical roots dating back to the 17th century Handel’s Messiah is one prominent example of a sacred oratorio, as is Bach’s St. The work will be released in its entirety on Good Friday by Avie Records, and excerpts are available in three EPs: Salvation, Prophecy, and Death and Resurrection. Nickel’s composition leads the listener through Mark’s account of Jesus’ ministry, sculpting and shading the story through the use of voices, timbre, theme, and meter.Īs many Christians around the globe observe Holy Week, The Gospel According to Mark offers a musical addition to the canon of artistic meditations on the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. The resulting work is an expansive, seven-hour musical. When composer Christopher Tyler Nickel set out to create an oratorio of Mark’s gospel, he made an ambitious decision to set not just the narrative but the whole text to music, word for word. ![]()
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