Musical teleology

There is just no other art so strong as a piece of music that knows where it's going...

 

Every now and then I hear a piece that simply captures me. The piece can be a longer work, even symphonic, or a short song.  The magical part is that it's designed to travel to a specific meaning and it effectively works to arrive where it's designed to go.

 

It's easy to see why Sibelius' Finlandia was the first piece that strongly struck me so. Mahler's #1 was another such. More recently, such choral pieces as Marta Keen's  Homeward Bound  and Nick Glennie-Smith and Randall Wallace's Mansions of the Lord . In particular, I have felt a yen to listen to Mansions a lot today/tonight. 

 

The link above leads to a portion of the performance at Ronald Reagan's funeral. Here are the lyrics.  You tell me: is it as effective a piece as it seems to me?

 

"The Mansions of the Lord"
Music: Nick Glennie-Smith
Lyrics: Randall Wallace

 

To fallen soldiers let us sing
where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
to the mansions of the Lord

 

No more bleeding no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
just divine embrace, eternal light
in the mansions of the Lord

 

Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard to the angels' sleep
All through the ages safely keep
the mansions of the Lord