I left St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in New Haven with a soaring spirit. The Lessons & Carols service -- quintessentially Anglican worship interweaving Scripture and music -- had just concluded. Particularly memorable had been a haunting setting by Roderick Williams of one of the seven Greater Antiphons of Advent: "O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel" ("O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel"). This stunning piece has a dark edginess that beautifully captures what waiting for God can be like.
Dissonances rise and clash above powerful choral continuities; impressions of order are challenged by free-form melodic descants; a tenor solo seeks valiantly to unfold the narrative of Israel's redemption against the backdrop of luminous but subtly disturbing musical chaos.
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