A GUARDIAN ANGEL LEARNS OF DIVORCE
An angel witnesses the end of a marriage. In her sadness and angst she prays that the Lord will show the couple the way to a loving relationship. But they refuse the light offered and separate, the man to pursue his selfish goals, the woman to follow her worldly wants. Knowing she cannot make decisions for others, the angel draws away.

THE LEGEND OF OKOTO
In the most ancient times there lived a great warrior, OkOtO. His victories were known throughout the land. OkOtO grew to love his fame so much that all he wanted was the adoration of the ancients. He convinced himself that he alone was responsible for his victories. Upon proclaiming himself the source of all Power, OkOtO cast himself out of the light of Heaven and into the hellish darkness of self-glorification. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)

CALL OF THE PROPHETS
Prophets take a young man deeper into the realization of his own darkness and teach him the Way of Light. At first he is unwilling to reflect upon his internal state, choosing to remain in the dim light of his own rationalization. But, with each successive Call, he turns to look deeper into his motivations. Each time he looks he discovers a darker region of himself. Finally understanding that his self love and love of the world are emptiness, the young man chooses to turn away from self justification, and he is lifted up, out of darkness and into great joy.

MARCH OF THE CUPIDITIES
Hell is opened to our view and we see devils being forced to work. Then the devils are called out of hell by people in the physical world who share the same love of evil. The gates of hell are opened and devils are allowed to mingle with like-minded souls on earth. All sorts of worldly and selfish loves are allowed to increase until mankind's free will is threatened. Then the Lord restores balance and sends the evil back to the place He has prepared for them.

ARCANA COELESTIA XIV-XXIII
In the twelve-volume work Arcana Coelistia, Emanuel Swedenborg explains the internal meaning of Genesis and Exodus. In this music the first day is described, recounting its outer sense. Then an angelic voice offers a deeper understanding.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a void and emptiness, and thick darkness was upon the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the faces of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God distinguished between the light and the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The heavens and the earth! The spiritual and the wordly! The soul and the body! This is our beginning!

SPRING ON PLANET GILEES
As the planet Gilees thaws from its frozen, crystalline winter, a young female creature flees from The Dark One. She flies over the melting terrain, then spins and weaves herself inside out. The metamorphosis destroys her fears and hesitation. As the creature becomes one with The Dark One, they are illuminated and Gilees becomes abundant with life.

THE HEAVENLY HILL
Under the constant warmth of the Eastern Sun stands a hill covered with sweet clover. Clouds never block the light. From the crest wondrous sights may be seen. On this hill children come to hold hands and dance. They absorb the heat and light of their Sun, becoming happier and more full of life every moment.

VILLAGE OF THE INNOCENT
In Heaven, just as on earth, there are communities of souls who do a variety of good works. One day, the angels that live in the Village of the Innocent receive a visitor from a lower world. The visitor tries to persuade the angels that their innocence is nothing more than ignorance of the world. The angels explain that all wisdom is from God and to believe otherwise is ignorance of Heaven. Upon hearing this, the visitor sinks back down and the villagers are given new joy.

THE TEACHER'S GARDEN
Students visit a garden where knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom grow. Each fruit and flower teaches something different. After their visits, some students take with them a stunning scent; other students depart with a flavor, or the touch of a petal. All exit through the garden's gate knowing they have experienced only a small portion of the beauty within.

Review from the October 1998 issue of "The Messenger."

How do you translate an idea of Swedenborg's into music? Thomas Bramel has done it by writing music whose spirit fits various challenges and stages of growth about which Swedenborg had much to say. Bramel's new CD, Call of the Prophets, subtitled "Music inspired by the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg," is dynamic, imaginative, and poetic. It mixes conventional acoustic instruments with electronic music, gets occasionally into some unfamiliar territory, but is generously endowed with lovely tones, melodies, and harmonies.

Each of the nine tracks has its own theme, described in the jacket commentary in the form of a verbal picture or short drama. For example, the first track is centered on this little scene:

"An angel witnesses the end of a marriage. In her sadness and angst, she prays that the Lord will show the couple the way to a loving relationship. But they refuse the light offered and separate; the man to pursue his selfish goals, the woman to follow her worldly wants. Knowing she cannot make decisions for other, the angel pulls away."

The composition is performed by Dieter Wulfhorst on the violoncello. It is a haunting, beautifully elegiac melody.

Thomas studied under Asher Zlotnic and composed incidental music for plays at the Source Theater in Washington, D.C. He was introduced to the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg by the Rev. Richard Baxter, who married him and his wife Jody. They had been looking for a chapel that would marry them without requiring them to join the church first, yet they didn't want a dry civil ceremony. That was a discouraging prospect, but it brought them to the Swedenborgian church where Dick was officiating. The piece, "Call of the Prophets" is dedicated to him.

"Prophets take a young man deeper into the realization of his own darkness and teach him the Way of Light. At first, he is unwilling to reflect on his internal state, choosing to remain in the dim light of his own rationalizations. But with each successive Call, he turns to look deeper into his motivations. Each time he looks he discovers a darker region of himself. Finally, understanding that his self love and love of the world are emptiness, the young man chooses to turn away from self justification, and he is lifted up, out of darkness into great joy."

The suite does have a few pieces that seem unrelated to Swedenborg. "Spring on Planet Gilees" seems a bit gratuitous in this collection:

"As the planet Gilees thaws from its frozen, crystalline winter, a young female creature flees from the Dark One. She flies over the melting terrain, then spins and weaves herself inside out. The metamorphosis destroys her fears and hesitation. As the creature becomes one with The Dark One, they are illuminated, and Gilees becomes abundant with life."

Despite that, Bramel's suite is important because it helps musicians and other artists in the Swedenborgian community put Swedenborg's imprint on parts of our culture that churches find difficult to reach with what are usually specialized books and sermons. We have always needed to give him more general recognition as one of the great contributors to human consciousness, and it will probably be done by interpretations of his vision that touch many different cultural interests and institutions.

This is Lifeline's first review of a CD recording. I am not 100% certain how I'm supposed to go about doing it. Probably I ought to be passing the disc onto some learned musical authority who could pontificate upon its qualities, but for better or for worse I just can't wait to tell you about it myself. It is certainly good. It may or may not be "great" music; I fear Im no judge of that. But I have little doubt that it will interest and entertain any moderately musical Swedenborgian.

"Call of the Prophets -- Music inspired by the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg --Dramatic Tone Poems -- published by June Nineteen Music," it says on the CD box. What New Church person could resist? And I doubt very much if you will be disappointed if and when you get your copy. It isn't in HMV or Virgin Records (yet?), but there are ways of obtaining it, detailed below.

Thomas Bramel must be a youngish composer, living in Washington, who was shopping around in the yellow pages for a "wedding chapel" to get married in and came across the New Church. Thus he became interested in Swedenborg and in due course was inspired by the subject material he found there. Bramel writes what they call "programme" music -- it isn't "abstract." It describes something; it has "content: and in this record most of the content is Swedenborgian in spirit. One piece is called "Arcana Coelestia XIV-XXIII," (Arcana Coelestia paragraphs 16-23 in English vernacular). The story of the first day of Creation. It is glorious warm expanding music. I found it reminiscent of the sunrise in Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony, though by no means a plagiarization of it. Several of the other pieces have short programmes that are reminiscent of Swedenborg's Memorable Relations. Whether they refer to particular experiences of Swedenborg is not clear from the limited information on the box, but the Swedenborgian atmosphere is obvious. (Two of the nine pieces are not "Swedenborgian" in content, but are none the less interesting.)

But what does the music sound like, what is it's style, you will be wondering? It is modern, mostly a soloist playing with an electronic backing. A mixture of electronic and acoustic instrumentation, the box says. Jim Lawrence, who kindly sent me the disc from San Francisco, calls it "ambient," by which I assume him to mean it is creating an atmosphere? Sometimes it reminds me of Strauss or Ravel, sometimes the more way-out bits of Pink Floyd. Sometimes like the better "new age" relaxation tapes, sometimes like the music accompanying the titles of a Hollywood space epic. Bramel has written plenty of film and TV music and got Emmy awards for it so it's not surprising. You won't be able to tap your feet to it or whistle the tune, but it is more definitely musical than much "modern" or electronic music.

I doubt that you could use the music for circle dancing, but it might be useful for meditation -- if you can accept the structure of the pieces. But they are none of them longer than eight minutes. Some could be used to introduce a discussion.

The content and feeling of the music varies from the peaceful to the violent. The Arcana piece, "The Heavenly Hill," and "The Teacher's Garden" are harmonious, but as you would expect, "The March of the Cupidities" is discordant. The title piece, "Call of the Prophets" and "Village of the Innocent" are about conflict between good and bad spirits and are mixed.

Thomas Bramel has made an interesting contribution to the field of New Church art and I hope he will compose further works (why not all six days of Creation) and perhaps inspire others to follow his path.

P.L.J.