\n<\/p>\n
When composer Christopher Tyler Nickel set out to create an oratorio of Mark\u2019s gospel, he made an ambitious decision to set not just the narrative but the whole text to music, word for word.<\/p>\n
The resulting work is an expansive, seven-hour musical. Nickel\u2019s composition leads the listener through Mark\u2019s account of Jesus\u2019 ministry, sculpting and shading the story through the use of voices, timbre, theme, and meter.<\/p>\n
As many Christians around the globe observe Holy Week, The Gospel According to Mark<\/em> offers a musical addition to the canon of artistic meditations on the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. The work will be released in its entirety on Good Friday by Avie Records, and excerpts are available in three EPs: Salvation<\/em>,<\/a> Prophecy<\/em>,<\/a> and Death and Resurrection<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n Nickel\u2019s composition contributes to a genre with historical roots dating back to the 17th century; Handel\u2019s Messiah<\/em> is one prominent example of a sacred oratorio, as is Bach\u2019s St. Matthew Passion.<\/em> Besides its length, The Gospel According to Mark<\/em> differs from these older works in its exclusive use of the gospel text, without poetic elaborations or additions.<\/p>\n Nickel\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n The conclusion of the work, \u201cThe Ascension and Amen\u201d (Mark 16:19\u201320, KJV), isn\u2019t a glorious crescendo or grand chorus. The orchestra and voices weave together, swelling and retreating as the amen<\/em> repeats over and over, accompanied by deliberate and steady open chords. The voices and instrumentation subtly, peacefully fade away.<\/p>\n The passage \u201cleaves the listener with an unfinished story, with something that we must take with us, in our hearts, souls, and minds,\u201d Nickel wrote in the album notes for The Gospel According to Mark<\/em>.<\/p>\n For the Canadian Christian, the process of composing the oratorio was a personal, spiritual journey. Much of Nickel\u2019s career has been concentrated in film and television; he created scores for Discovery, CBC, Lifetime, A&E, and Hallmark.<\/p>\n The Gospel According to Mark<\/em> was a departure from commercial music and has reacquainted Nickel with his lifelong faith. The project inspired him to consider\u2014and invite others to consider\u2014the connection between music and prayer, as well as music\u2019s ability to deepen our perception and experience of the divine.<\/p>\n What was the catalyst for The Gospel According to Mark<\/em>?<\/p>\n I wanted to come back to music that serves something, serves a higher purpose. And for me, it\u2019s been a way of reacquainting myself a little bit with elements of my faith. I understand the world through music, and this is sort of my way of giving something back from my viewpoint as a composer.<\/p>\n Initially my idea was to distill the text and do something closer to a Bach Passion. But it\u2019s been done. Does it need to be done again by me? No, not really. But I like big challenges. I think the catalyst was just an exercise for myself to go back to the Gospels and dig a little bit deeper into them, musically at least.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve noticed that there\u2019s a bit of a gap between liturgical works of Bach, Monteverdi, Haydn, and even contemporaries like James MacMillan, and contemporary Christian music. There are two different audiences there. As a Protestant Christian, I feel like this kind of work just hasn\u2019t been there. I wanted to create something that allows a certain taking in and understanding of the gospel in a way it hasn\u2019t really been approached before.<\/p>\n Many Christians may not be familiar with the oratorio genre; if they are, it\u2019s likely through very famous works like Handel\u2019s Messiah <\/em>or Bach\u2019s St. Matthew Passion<\/em>. What was it that drew you to participating in and contributing to this genre?<\/p>\n The historical side of this is daunting. Bach was a genius. As a composer, you almost have to say, \u201cBach lived; we\u2019re done. Why write a note?\u201d I\u2019m never going to put myself in the league of these great composers. But you have to say, \u201cBach and Handel lived.\u201d Their music isn\u2019t irrelevant, but you have to put it out of your mind. It messes with your creative process.<\/p>\n My musical language is not the language of Handel or Bach. And I think there\u2019s something more, something more contemporary that can be added.<\/p>\n Traditionally, an oratorio would include Scripture and some poetic texts or libretto added by the composer or another writer. Why set the gospel text in its entirety? I imagine it was limiting as well as challenging.<\/p>\n Limits help. Part of it is that I didn\u2019t want to meddle with the text. I think it should exist as it exists; when you start excerpting it, you\u2019re leaving things out and changing meaning essentially through the juxtaposition of different texts. I didn\u2019t want to do that.<\/p>\n The King James Version sang really well, compared to other translations. On the practical side, the translation is public domain, so that helps. I didn\u2019t have to license it. The copyright issue limits part of what you can use, but the KJV actually sang quite well.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not uncommon for contemporary musicians to set Scripture in song\u2014worship artists often turn to the Psalms, for example. Your work is in an entirely different genre. Do you think that an orchestral work uniquely illuminates the gospel text?<\/p>\n I think so. The musician side of me first goes to structure\u2014it\u2019s easier to create a longer-form structure writing in an orchestral idiom. I started by going through the text and highlighting it in different colors thematically, breaking down the verses by color, so I could see the overarching themes. There is a miracle theme, which is heard in the beginning and comes back. There is a theme for any reference to death, which in its reversal becomes a resurrection motif.<\/p>\n [The orchestra] also gives a lot of flexibility in how you\u2019re going to use color and how you\u2019re going to paint or not paint the text. Especially for a text that doesn\u2019t sit in metrical units, if you actually started trying to break this text down into eight-bar phrases or four-bar phrases, it would drive you insane. I\u2019m not bashing songs; it\u2019s just, as a structure, [a song] is more limiting.<\/p>\n I\u2019m biased because it\u2019s the music I write and love. A huge chunk of my life is film and TV music, which is underscoring. Throughout history, most film and TV music has been played by an orchestra. Why is that? Because the color possibilities are endless. You can tell the story in so many subtle or not so subtle ways using the orchestra.<\/p>\n It saddens me that [the orchestra] is seen as a bit of a dinosaur. People don\u2019t connect with it in the same way anymore. But it\u2019s actually not that intimidating if you approach it asking \u201cHow is this emotionally affecting me?\u201d rather than looking for a chunk of meaning quickly delivered.<\/p>\n Do you think a case can be made that there is spiritual value in expanding your musical diet to include music\u2014orchestral music, for example\u2014if you normally don\u2019t listen to it?<\/p>\n I guess I can really only talk about my own experience, but there is so much beauty that can be created [in music]. It\u2019s transcendent. I guess I would say, don\u2019t worry about genre. Don\u2019t worry about whether this is your thing or not, and just let it wash over you. Just pay attention to the emotional journey of it. If you can free yourself of any expectation and just let go a bit\u2014in my mind, in that way it\u2019s like prayer.<\/p>\n The musical moments of my life that made me go \u201cI have to do this\u201d are those moments where you just sit back and this music just washes over you in a way that nothing else does. It is an acoustic, organic creation that physically connects to us; we feel it.<\/p>\n You said earlier that the process of composing this work helped reacquaint you with elements of your faith. What do you mean by that?<\/p>\n I was raised in the United Church of Canada. I went to Sunday school, did all that. It\u2019s always been there. It;s not that I ever didn\u2019t believe, but life kind of gets in the way. You go to university, do all this other stuff, and it falls by the wayside.<\/p>\n I say I\u2019m a frustrated particle physicist; that is actually where I would\u2019ve gone in terms of career if music hadn\u2019t bitten me and taken me in. Part of my journey has been reconciling things that appear disparate but really aren\u2019t. It\u2019s interesting talking to Christian physicists; I remember one of them saying something like \u201cEvery time we discover something, we\u2019re seeing God\u2019s genius. God\u2019s fingerprint is in all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s why I say \u201creacquainting\u201d rather than \u201creturning to\u201d [my faith]. I want this to play a more active role in my life. And I really would like it to play an active role in my music.<\/p>\n When I dig into it and try to articulate the emotional experience of it, I come away saying I\u2019m humbled\u2014humbled by the depth of God\u2019s love, of his grace, of Jesus\u2019 love for us, the sacrifice he made for us. It\u2019s beyond imagination.<\/p>\n
\n