Soundtrack Of My Life

"Mortal Flesh" - Christian Forshaw

This might seem a strange inclusion to anyone who knows me for the Godless heathen that I am. However, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate many works that are religious in their origin. Mozart's Requiem Mass, for example, is simply the last word in genius. (I remember once someone suggesting that my liking for some religious music was some kind of hint at latent religiosity, to which my reply was along the lines that I liked Don Giovanni as well, but that didn't make me a latent drunken sex-pest.)

This piece is an arrangement of an ancient hymn that can apparently be traced way back to 275AD (let's hear it for Wikipedia, folks!) and which was set to the melody "Picardy" in the nineteenth century. I've listened to other renditions, but in my opinion this one wins hands down, mainly due to the way Forshaw slowly builds it - the ethereal intro, the simple first verse with solo singer, the marking of the beat and the organ holding a quiet monotone underneath it all, and then the accompaniment slowly starts to add more support in the second verse and the whole thing builds to the crescendo at the end. When I first heard this piece, Forshaw's embellishments on the saxophone seemed too much, but they have grown on me over time.