Oeuvre: Pater noster

Una tarde que nos dio que pensar sobre el destino de los héroes y la insondabilidad de los oráculos: reabrir la herida sobre lo humano, demasiado humano.

Not for Josep Pons is the neat, crystalline programming of Oliver Knussen or similar: this sprawling Proms debut by the Catalan conductor encompassed a perplexing variety of music, never really looking like it would form much of a coherent whole.

Unless you’re actually performing it liturgically, it’s very difficult to know what to do with sacred music these days. The masses of Palestrina, the motets of Byrd, the cantatas of Bach – all seem to merit our attention today, but not for the religious reasons for which they were originally written.