Search - John Schlenck, Timothy Mount, Vedantic Arts Ensemble :: Hymns of Yearning: An Album to Sing With

Sublime music for those with a taste for Classical music and

W. Davis | Kingston, NY | 04/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can't praise this album highly enough. Many of the 14 songs moved me to tears. Schlenck bring all the skills of classical music to bear in producing these songs which are full of the pathos of yearning for God. Although he is a devotee in the Vedantic tradition of Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, and three of the songs are about these towering personalities, most of the songs have a universal appeal. For instance "You are my all and all" speaks to people of all traditions trying to attain one-pointed love for God. The very first song, "Seek the Eternal," is based on a text from Isaiah. It enunciates the spiritual challenge to all of us upon this planet. In the third song, "Guide and Protect Us," God is addressed as Mother. This is strange to us Westerners but does God really have a sex? The second to last song, "You shall find me," comes from the Bhagavad-Gita but its message is utterly universal: "Give me your whole heart, Love and adore me, Worship me always, Bow to me only, And you shall find me." This is repeated over and over with the melody for this transmuted through every possible permutation with stunning effect. In these 14 songs the combination of music and chorus weaving together in intricate harmony is highly inventive and utterly beautiful. Is John Schlenck Johann Sebastian Bach reincarnated?"