Happy Holy Week! This post and the next will present the oratorio “The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross” that I wrote back in 2009. Of course, there is nothing more appropriate for this week than a setting of this work. Currently, I am revising the piece, something I don’t do very often. I suppose it is because the piece is very dear to me and at the time I wrote it, I poured everything I had into this single work. The most important parameter that I gave myself for the piece was simply that my choir at the Monastery could sing it. One challenge I continuously face is simply one of accessibility. And not accessibility in the sense of whether the music is “traditional” or “contemporary,” but accessibility in the sense that a small choir of about ten people can pull it off. Out of that was born this piece. I’ll explain the revisions when the second post comes later this week.