To coincide with Good Friday, documentarian H. Paul Moon unveils his new film of Douglas Balliett’s “St. Mark Passion.” The film dropped at 8:00 this morning (3 p.m. Jerusalem time) and is now archived for viewing on demand.
If you don’t have time to listen it today, do try to catch it over the weekend. The idiom is attractive, the work is substantial and, although I only learned of it as the premiere showing was already in progress (I joined it about 45 minutes in), it strikes me as music that will bear repeated listening.
The performance was captured at New York’s Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and features the Theotokos Ensemble, with the composer himself directing and playing viol.
If you’re a regular attendee of concerts of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Balliett’s name and visage may strike you as familiar – his twin brother, Brad, with whom Doug frequently collaborates (as the Brothers Balliett), is the PSO’s principal bassoonist. Brad is also on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory and the Juilliard School, so it’s possible you might recognize him from those places too!
Doug teaches at Juilliard as well, as a professor of Baroque bass and violine. He writes cantatas for weekly church services and leads the Theotokos Ensemble every Sunday at St. Mary’s Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. As a performer, he has played with many notable ensembles. Prior to its premiere, his “St. Mark Passion” was given a reading by one of them, William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants. Not bad!
He’s also a poet, and for three years, he hosted a radio show dedicated to living composers with his brother on WQXR.
Here’s Paul’s film of the oratorio. Try it; you’ll like it.
https://zenviolence.com/balliett
Learn more about Doug Balliett at his website.
Elaborating on the Brothers Balliett and the ten-point “manifesto” that governs their creative process:
https://www.dougballiett.nyc/brothers-balliett
Doug’s remarks about the Passion:
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