Rituals

About Rituals

Rituals is an album of contemporary classical music by American avant-garde composer John Zorn. The piece takes the form of an opera in five parts and was premiered at the Bayreuth Opera Festival in 1998.

Article

Contents

Reception

The Allmusic review by Dan Warburton awarded the album 3½ stars stating "It's a well-crafted work, superbly performed".

Writing for Pitchfork Media, Matthew Murphy stated "for established Zorn enthusiasts, Rituals is replete with moments to confound, enrich and delight, and will surely lure you to its darkened altar for frequent repeat ceremonies".

Track listing

All compositions by John Zorn.

"I" - 4:48

"II" - 7:45

"III" - 4:21

"IV" - 5:21

"V" - 4:19

Personnel

Jennifer Choi – violin

Fred Sherry – cello

Tara O'Connor – flute, alto flute, piccolo

Michael Lowenstern – clarinet, bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet

Peter Kolkay – bassoon, contrabassoon

Jim Pugh – trombone

Stephen Drury – piano, harpsichord, celeste, organ

Kurt Muroki – bass

Jim Pugliese – percussion, wind machines, water, bullroarers, gravedigging, fishing reels, paper, bowls of BBs, bird calls

William Winant – percussion

Heather Gardner – voice

Brad Lubman – conductor

Production

Produced by: John Zorn

Mastered by: George Marino at Sterling Sound, NYC

Article from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), where it is maintained by volunteer editors.

Notable quotes

“A prayer couched in the words of the soul, is far more powerful than any ritual.”
— Paulo Coelho, Brida
“Empires do not suffer emptiness of purpose at the time of their creation. It is when they have become established that aims are lost and replaced by vague ritual.”
— Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah
“Ritual. One more gaudy emptiness in place of the real thing. One more hope gone.”
— Nancy Kress, Words Like Pale Stones, in Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling (eds.) Black Thorn, White Rose (1994), , p. 25
“Sleep is the most moronic fraternity in the world, with the heaviest dues and the crudest rituals. It is a mental torture I find debasing... I simply cannot get used to the nightly betrayal of reason, humanity, genius.”
— Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory
“A daughter who respects you while you’re alive is far better than a son who performs the rites and rituals after you’re gone.”
— Sanu Sharma, Daughter
“Bea says that the art of reading is slowly dying, that it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day.”
— Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.