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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Stephen Wigley.

Good morning.

One of the great joys of living in Cardiff is the opportunity to listen to music of all types and settings, from rock stars selling out the Principality Stadium to Jazz groups and Indie bands playing smaller clubs, from students studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to classical music and opera with the Welsh National Opera or the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ National Orchestra of Wales. And tonight we’re going to the last of this season’s Orchestral concerts at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay’s Millenium Centre.

The concert itself looks to be a real treat, with 2 pieces by Brahms (which I don’t know – but then one of the joys of attending a concert is to listen to pieces you’ve never heard before) followed by Stravinsky’s splendid Symphony of Psalms which is one of my favourites and will include also the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ National Chorus of Wales. It’s a powerful piece written in 1930 shortly following Stravinsky’s decision to rejoin the Orthodox Church. The work itself is a setting of passages from 3 of the Psalms, Psalms 38, 39 and 150, and incorporates Stravinsky’s characteristic way of bringing together musical influences old and new as well as the influence of the Orthodox tradition, particularly in the modal passages reminiscent of traditional Gregorian Chant. For Stravinsky, the piece is a powerful articulation of his spiritual vision following his rejoining the Orthodox Church. For those of us listening to the concert, it’s an opportunity for a little while to be taken up into the music of heaven. For as Psalm 150 reminds us, there are no instruments which, whatever their normal role, cannot be used to sing the Lord’s praises and give glory to God. So ‘Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord!’

Creator God, the Bible is full of visions of angels and heavenly choirs; we thank you for all those musicians and composers who have heard echoes of that music and found a way to share it with us.

Amen.