Oh God, remove the heavy stone Choral single edition SSAATTBB

Christine Lavant’s text O Gott, heb auf den schweren Stein (Oh God, remove the heavy stone) is a tormented human’s extremely intense and impressive cry for help in poetic form. At the beginning of this striking choral composition this plea for redemption is depicted very vividly. Time and again this scream collapses and is replaced by the fear of an inner rigidity correspondingly set to music. At this point, however, Johann Sebastian Bach’s final fugue Dona nobis pacem from his Mass in B minor is more and more audible, sung by a solo quintet or ensemble. Bach’s music continually softens the rigidity of the composition and segues to a conciliatory ending.