
Psalm 114 (Bruckner)

Bruckner's Psalm 114, WAB 36, is a psalm setting of verses 1 to 9 of a German version of Psalm 116, which is Psalm 114 in the Vulgata.
History.
The work was composed in 1852 in St. Florian. Bruckner dedicated it to Hofkapelmeister Ignaz Assmayr for the celebration of his name-day. The work was rehearsed at that time, but it was not followed by a public performance. The original manuscript, which is somewhat incomplete in detail, is stored in the archive of the St. Florian Abbey.
The work was premiered by August Göllerich on 1 April 1906, using a copy of the manuscript. The work was first recorded by Matthew Best in 1987 and edited by Paul Hawkshaw in 1997 in Band XX/1 of the ', based on the dedicated ', which had been retrieved in 1957 in a private collection in Vienna.
During a concert on 25 June 2017 with the Missa solemnis, Łukasz Borowicz with the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin performed also Bruckner's Psalm 114. The later Accentus CD ACC 30429 of this concert did however not include a recording of this performance of Psalm 114.
Text.
 (Thanks for salvation from great perils)
Setting.
The 209-bar long work in G major is written for five-part mixed choir (SAATB) and three trombones.
"The music is at first of an impressive archaic austerity, bare in harmony, and strikingly simple in texture. E minor is the opening key, but G major ultimately dominates." The structure of the psalm, which is quite simple in concept, is grounded on liturgical practice. The composition begins with a four-phrase, homophonically constructed "Alleluja", which serves as an antiphon to the psalm setting. The individual verses, with the exception of verses seven and eight, are clearly separated by strong cadences or a few beats of silence. "[Bruckner] relied to the trombones to reinforce contrasts delineated by the silences that would become so poignant in his later music." The trombones are so reinforcing the contrasts between ""Es umgaben mich die Schmerzen des Todes" (shift to minor) and "Kehre zurück meine Seele" (return to major). The truly inspired work, which projects a profound understanding of the text, captivates the ear with interesting harmonies and varied timbres and textures. The final words of verse eight ("meinen Füße vom Falle.""), which are set in a two-voice canon over a dominant pedal, provide an effective bridge to the large-scale, five-voice double fugue, which ends with a powerful unison on "im Lande der lebendigen."
Bruckner's Psalm 114 is an aurally pleasing and expressive composition that does not deserve the near oblivion to which it has been relegated. It represents another important step in his slow process toward a purely musical career.
Discography.
There are three recordings of Bruckner's Psalm 114: