Prayers and Meditations

These four movements for solo piano are tones poems based upon mystic texts by 13th c. Cistercian nun, Mechtild of Magdeburg. Rather than creating a musical narrative of the poetry, I focused on my response to these words, and often my responses surprised me. As I connected with the imagery evoked in the poems, I found that my internal responses were vigorous and passionate, as opposed to serene as the title of the work might imply. Prayers and Meditations is about what burns behind the quietude of prayerfulness.Soundcloud recording:https://soundcloud.com/n-lincoln-hanks-1/sets/prayers-and-meditations