Rodríguez, Crucifixus

Sergio Rodríguez was born in Tenerife in 1982 and studied at the Professional Conservatory of Music in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. While his compositions include works in numerous genres, he clearly has some focus on sacred choral music. His setting of Crucifixus was composed in 2014.

Rodríguez combines many aspects of early sacred music with contemporary elements. This, of course, makes sense to those of us who see past musical styles as something to build on rather than to reject. Good music never wears out, and there is always room for something new.

Choirs have always seemed to me to be one of the best vehicles for contemporary and avant garde music. They seem to retain a coherence even when you venture into unfamiliar territory. I do not find this to be true of instrumental music. This is not to say that contemporary instrumental music lacks coherence (although some of it does). Rather, I think there is something about the human voice, particularly massed human voices, that cannot escape the human condition—something that always communicates.

The text of Crucifixus comes from the Nicene Creed.

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato,
passus, et sepultus est.

He was also crucified for us,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
and was buried.