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Listen for a moment to the astoundingly beautiful voice of soprano soloist Graciela Guzman ‘11, as she and the Grinnell Singers perform Sviridov's “Sacred Love” under the direction of professor of music John Rommereim.
Rommereim says “The text of this piece is so simple and at the same time so profound, wedding together in a few words the essential kernel of human love and an image of the sacred that goes beyond any creed:
O Love, you,
you, O Love
are sacred.
From the beginning you are persecuted
Your blood is poured out.
O Love, you,
you, O Love
are sacred.
“This song has particular meaning for me because it evokes memories of singing it under the direction of Vladimir Minin, one of Soviet Russia's most revered conductors in 1988 in New York, at the festival celebrating the millennium of Christianity in Russia. Coming at the heels of decades of repression of sacred music in the Soviet Union, that concert was a powerful, cathartic moment when people who had been divided were brought together by music charged with great spiritual intensity.
“We tried to recreate that effect in this 2010 performance.”
They certainly did. Guzman’s voice — at once reverent, melancholy, and hopeful — illuminates the text like a glowing, silvery filament.
Listen!
