SYMPHONY No.5 PHILIP GLASS SYMPHONY No.5 PHILIP GLASS Symphony No. 5 Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya NOVUS NY THE CHOIR OF TRINITY WALL STREET 1. Movement I, Before the Creation DOWNTOWN VOICES 2. Movement II, Creation of the Cosmos TRINITY YOUTH CHORUS 3. Movement III, Creation of Sentient Beings Julian Wachner, conductor 4. Movement IV, Creation of Human Beings 5. Movement V, Love and Joy Heather Buck, soprano 6. Movement VI, Evil and Ignorance Katherine Pracht, mezzo-soprano 7. Movement VII, Suffering Vale Rideout, tenor 8. Movement VII, Compassion Stephen Salters, baritone 9. Movement IX, Death David Cushing, bass 10. Movement X, Judgement and Apocalypse 11. Movement XI, Paradise Recorded May 17 - 20, 2017 12. Movement XII, Dedication of Merit Trinity Church in New York City I. BEFORE THE CREATION II. CREATION OF THE COSMOS There was neither non-existence nor existence then; When He decrees a thing, “White clouds shall float up there was neither realm of space nor the sky which is He but says to it, from the great waters at the border of the world beyond. “Be,” and it is. clustering about the mountain terraces. What stirred? Where? In whose protection? They shall be borne aloft and abroad —The Qur’an 2:117 by the breath of the surpassing soul-beings, Was there water, bottomlessly deep? In the beginning by the breath of the children, There was neither death nor immortality. when God made heaven and earth, they shall be hardened and broken by your cold, There was no sign of night nor of day. the earth was without form and void, shedding downward, in rain-spray, the water of life That One breathed, windless, by Its own impulse. with darkness over the face of the abyss; into the hollow places of my lap.” Other than that there was nothing beyond. and a mighty wind that swept over the surface of “Not only you shall help our children!” Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning; the waters. And he spread his hand out with the palm with no sign, all this was water. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light; spread downwards. The life force that was covered by emptiness, And God saw that the light was good; Into all the wrinkles and crevices That One arose through the power of heat. and He separated light from darkness. he set things looking like shining yellow corn-grains; Desire came upon That One in the beginning; He called the light day, and the dark night. in the dark of the early world-dawn they gleamed like that was the first seed of mind. So God said: sparks of fire. Poets seeking in their heart with wisdom found “Let there be a vault, They moved as his hand moved over the terraces, the bond of existence in non-existence. to separate water from water.” shining up from below, Their cord was extended across. and so it was; moving in the depths of the water. Was there below? Was there above? and God called this vault Heaven. There were seed-placers; there were powers. “And as these grains gleam up from the water, —Genesis 1:1-8 There was impulse beneath; there was giving-forth so shall seed grains like them, but numberless, above. spring up from your bosom Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it? When space turned around, the earth heated, when touched by my waters Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation? When space turned over, the sky reversed, to nourish our children.” The gods came afterwards, with the creation of the When the sun appeared standing in the shadows —Zuñi Creation Story universe. To cause light to make bright the moon, Who then knows whence it has arisen? When the Pleiades are small eyes in the night, Whence this creation has arisen – From the source in the earth was earth formed. perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not – From the source in the dark was darkness formed. the one who looks down, in the highest heaven, From the source in the night was night formed. only he knows —or perhaps he doesn’t know. From the depths of darkness, darkness so deep; —The Rig Veda 10.129 Darkness of day, darkness of night, of night alone. —The Kumulipo III. CREATION OF SENTIENT BEINGS IV. CREATION OF HUMAN BEINGS Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto stood on the Zambe, the son of the One Who Bears the World, The dawn has approached floating bridge of Heaven and held counsel dipped his hands in the water, and sprinkled hair all Preparations have been made together, saying, over the body of the chimpanzee and said to and the morning has come “Is there not a country below?” him, moreover, “You will always live in the forests.” for the provider, the nurturer Thereupon they thrust down the jewel spear of Heaven, born in the light —Bulu Creation Story and groping about found the ocean. begotten in the light The brine which dripped from the point of the spear Still Bumba our Creator was in pain. Morning has come for humankind came together He strained once again and from his mouth for the people of the face of the earth and became an island. This island was named nine living creatures came forth: The Creators went on thinking in the darkness, in the night Ono-goro-jima, the leopard named Koy Bumba, as they searched and they sifted and they made Ono-goro-jima the pillar of the center and Pongo Bumba the crested eagle, they thought and they wondered of the land. the crocodile, Ganda Bumba, and here their thoughts came out in clear light Now the male god circled to the left, and one little fish named Yo; they sought and discovered what was needed for and the female god circled to the right, next, old Kono Bumba, the tortoise, human flesh they went round the pillar separately. and Tsetse, the lightning, swift, deadly, beautiful like the yellow corn When they met the leopard, the white corn they united as husband and wife. then the white heron, Nyanyi Bumba, from the Split Place They gave birth to the islands, the sea, the rivers, also one beetle, from the Bitter Water Place the mountains, and the goat named Budi. the corn became the human flesh the ancestor of the trees, the ancestor of the herbs. The creatures themselves then created all the creatures. the water became the human blood the making, the modeling of our first mother-father —The Nihongi The heron created the birds of the air, The crocodile made the serpents and the iguana, This was done by the Bearer, Begetter The goat produced every beast with horns. Sovereign Plumed Serpent In the lead the whales proceed, Yo, the small fish, brought forth all the fish —The Popul Vuh Mingling beneath the sea; of all the seas and waters. The ‘opule fish advance in the distance; Surely We created man of clay The beetle created insects. They fill the deep ocean; of molded mud Then the serpents in their turn made grasshoppers Like kumimi crabs clustered on the reef; and before man, We created the jinn and the iguana made the creatures without horns. the youngest is carried by the current into darkness. of flaming fire. Black as night the opaque sea. —Boshongo Creation Story And your Lord said to the angels, “See, I am creating a mortal of clay —The Kumulipo of molded mud. When I have shaped him, and breathed My spirit in him, fall down, and bow before him!” Then the angels bowed save Iblis; IV. CREATION OF HUMAN BEINGS cont’d V. LOVE AND JOY God said, “What ails you, Iblis, that Come to the orchard in spring. life to the living – you are not among those bowing?” There is light and wine and sweethearts so you to me. “I would never bow in the pomegranate flowers. But tell me, before a mortal If you do not come Mãdhava, beloved, whom You have created of a clay these do not matter. who are you? of molded mud.” If you do come Who are you really? “Then go forth from here; these do not matter. Vidyâpati says, they are one another. you are accursed. —Rumi —Vidyâpati Upon you shall rest My curse, till The Day of Doom.” My beloved speaks and says to me: At the first note of his flute Said Iblis, “My Lord, respite me till the day “Arise, my love, my fair one, down came the lion gate of reverence for elders, they shall be raised.” and come away! down came the door of dharma, Said He, “You are among those for lo, the winter is past. my guarded treasure of modesty was lost, that are respited unto the day The flowers appear on I was thrust to the ground as if by a thunderbolt. of a known time.” the earth, Ah, yes, his dark body Said he, “My Lord, since you have seduced me the time of singing has come, shot the arrow that I shall tempt mankind on earth.” and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.” pierced me; —The Qur’an 15:26-37 Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! no more honor, my family Blow upon my garden, let its fragrance be wafted abroad. lost to me, Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest Only my life is left —and my life too fruits. is only a breath that is leaving me.