This coming 4th Sunday of Lent the saintly figure around whom the service is centered is Simone Weil, so as you might expect the music will be all French. The composer for this morning’s post is Erik Satie. Many people have heard his Gymnopédies. A few have heard his Gnossiennes but may not know their names. But, very few know his Messe des pauvres (Mass for the Poor), As mesmerizing as Satie’s more well-known works are, the Prière des orgues (Organ Prayer) is mesmerizing in an entirely different way, and entirely different emotion, one for which I cannot find an adequate word. This recording is from my organ CD of long ago, “Time Grown Old.”
Hilton Kean Jones 