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ALPHA AND OMEGA

by TONUS PEREGRINUS, Antony Pitts

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1.
Though the mountains be removed... Yet My covenant of peace shall not leave you... Sing, O barren... great shall be your children’s peace. (Isaiah 54:1,10-11,13) Jerusalem, the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, the voice of crying no more. (Isaiah 65:19) Comfort, comfort... Jerusalem, proclaim to her that her warfare is over... (Isaiah 40:1-2) The LORD upon this mountain will make a feast for all [peoples]... ADONAI- Tzva’ot [the LORD of hosts] (Isaiah 25:6) I will lay foundations and your walls with precious stones... (Isaiah 54:11-12) The shroud upon all nations here will the LORD destroy... (Isaiah 25:7) ADONAI ELOHIM [the Lord GOD] I will walk among you, and My people you shall be. (Leviticus 26:12) He, swallowing death in victory, will wipe away all tears [from all faces]... (Isaiah 25:8) ‘immanu-El (Isaiah 8:8) The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw... They shall not hurt nor destroy on all My holy mountain... (Isaiah 65:20) Be glad in His salvation, our God, we will rejoice! See, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us... we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. ADONAI (Isaiah 25:9) I create new heavens, and a new earth... (Isaiah 65:17) And in Jerusalem I will rejoice! Yerushalayim! (Isaiah 65:19) [based on KJV/AV, CJB translations; some sentences paraphrased for hymn metre]
2.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest.
3.
Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
4.
With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow keeping his promise,... but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8,9) God is great beyond our knowledge; the number of his years is unsearchable. (Job 36:26) a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh, and lived among us. (John 1:1,14) a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. ...to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour,..
5.
...and the day of vengeance of our God. (Isaiah 61:2) On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. (Zechariah 14:4) a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years and then he died. (Genesis 5:27) ...they ate, drank and married up to the day Noah entered the ark; they knew nothing until the Flood came and swept them all away. (Matthew 24:37,38,39) ...like a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:1,2) I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days... (Daniel 7:13) a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens... (Daniel 12:2,3) We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed... (1 Corinthians 15:51) Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us, but he will heal us,.....after two days he will revive us, on the third day he will raise us up. (Hosea 6:1,2) Who has ever heard of such a thing?.....Can a country be born in a day, a nation brought forth in a moment? (Isaiah 66:8) ...in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. (1 Corinthians 15:52) a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. God finished the work he had done, and on the seventh day he rested. (Genesis 2:2) ...in the last days scoffers will come, “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3:3,4,5,6) They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4) Whoever is thirsty let him come... (Revelation 22:17) Satisfy us at daybreak with your unfailing love that we may sing for joy. (Psalm 90:4,12,14) a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. But no-one knows the day or the hour... (Matthew 24:36)
6.
My Dove 07:22
“I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house.” “My dove, my undefiled is but one, she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her and blessed her.” (Song of Songs 3:4; 6:9)
7.
I AM that I AM. I AM; be not afraid. (Alleluia) Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I AM one that bear witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me. ...if ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins. When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I AM, and I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things. If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Amen, amen, I say unto you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad. Amen, amen, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. (Exodus 3:14; John 6:20; 8:25b,18,24b,28,31-32,51,56,58)
8.
I AM the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst. I will raise him up at the last day. I AM the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:35,40,51,53-54)
9.
Lazarus is dead. I AM the Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this? Jesus wept. Lazarus, come forth! (John 11:14,25-26,35,43)
10.
I AM the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. As long as I am in the world, I AM the light of the world. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness. (John 8:12; 9:5; 12:46)
11.
I and the Father are one. I AM the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. I and the Father are one. (John 10:30; 14:6,9-10,13)
12.
I AM the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I AM the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples. (John 15:1-8)
13.
Amen, amen, I say unto you, I AM the door of the sheep. I AM the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I AM the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. The hireling fleeeth because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I AM the good shepherd, and know My sheep and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep. Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life that I might take it again. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. (John 10:7,9-11,13-15,17,16)
14.
I AM Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (Alleluia) I AM the first and the last. What thou seeest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches. It is done. (Alleluia) I AM the beginning and the end. I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. And behold, I come quickly. I AM Alpha and Omega. (Alleluia) Amen. (John 18:5; Revelation 1:8,11; 21:6; 22:12,13,20)

about

Of all the arts, music seems most able to embody the fragile connection between Time and Eternity, and thereby the paradoxical truth of an incarnate Creator – the ‘Word made flesh’. Nowhere is this more fully explored than in the sayings of the ‘I AM’ who made Himself known in the burning bush and on the shores of Galilee.

This recording is a sequel, or perhaps a prequel, to Seven Letters and is dedicated to my late father-in-law, Boudewijn Jonckheere.

The “I AM...” Sayings of Jesus (1996-2007)

The words
Anyone who reads through the Gospel of John should be shocked by the statements of identity uttered continually and uncompromisingly by the young rabbi from Nazareth almost two thousand years ago. Certainly contemporaries of Jesus (or Yeshua) – learned scribes and elders on the lookout for the Messiah – were shocked both to the core of their understanding of God, and to the point of demanding execution for blasphemy. The idea that Jesus ‘was just a good man’ makes no sense next to the evidence recorded in John’s Gospel: clearly this man was utterly delusional – mad, bad, and dangerous to know – unless, of course, it was truth that was being told. “Before Abraham was, I AM” is the clearest statement of all, and comes at the end of a long dialogue in John chapter 8; the reaction to it brings the dialogue to an end, as words are replaced by stones in the hands of an angry crowd. Jesus is specifically referring to the sacred Name of God revealed to Moses at the Burning Bush: “I AM who I AM” (Exodus 3:14).

There are seven variations on this theme, scattered throughout John’s Gospel, and summed up with “I AM Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End” which comes several times in the Book of Revelation (traditionally also ascribed to John). The seven statements, known as the Great “I AM” sayings of Jesus, are: “I AM the bread of life” (John 6:35,48,51), “I AM the light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5, 12:46), “I AM the door” (John 10:7,9) “I AM the good shepherd” (John 10:11,14), “I AM the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), “I AM the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and “I AM the true vine” (John 15:1,5). In addition, there are two abnormal occurrences in John’s Gospel linked directly to the words “I AM”: when Jesus walks to the disciples in their boat out on the Sea of Galilee (John 6:20), and in Gethsemane when those who have come to arrest Jesus fall backwards to the ground (John 18:5).

The music
In attempting to set these sayings to music – at different times and for different occasions over the past decade – I wanted to convey something of the essence of each statement, and, across the whole series, to trace the identity of the Person making these extraordinary statements. Each of the eight motets is for a different number of voices (between 1 and 8), and each focuses on a different melodic interval; while at the same time, there is a common harmonic core and an exploration of related rhythmic and structural ratios. Although each piece was written quite separately, when combining them into a whole I discovered significant musical relationships of which I had not been consciously aware (such is the mystery of the creative process), and which have made it a surprisingly natural procedure. I have mostly made notational changes to make it easier to perform the motets together, although in a couple of the more recent settings I have found it necessary to rework the material in more depth. Although each piece can be performed separately, or any number of them in any order, I have settled upon a particular formal order for the cycle which is primarily a musical one, following the expansion of the intervals (from unison, through seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, and sevenths, to octaves) and making sense of the inherent tempo relationships. It is not simply the order in which they appear in John’s Gospel (the first four and the second three statements are interleaved), nor is it the order in which the settings were composed (although apart from the final motet to be written, which appropriately stands at the head of the cycle, it is pretty close). The series is framed by Before Abraham was, I AM and I AM Alpha and Omega, and in-between are the seven ‘variations’.

Antony Pitts

credits

released April 19, 2023

Recording details: June 2007
Bromley Parish Church, United Kingdom
Produced by Stephen Rice
Engineered by Mike Skeet

Cover artwork: The Burning Bush by Blandine van Noordt-Grauer (photo by Harry Jonckheere)

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TONUS PEREGRINUS London, UK

Cannes Classical Award-Winners – from Pérotin, Pärt (No.1 Album Passio), Pitts (The Naxos Book of Carols & Gramophone Editor’s Choice on Hyperion) to Mad World and more...

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