The Story of Jesus Gábor Benda

• Gábor Benda:
• 1 Waiting for the Messiah 02:45
• 2 The Birth of Jesus 03:55
• 3 In the Water of Jordan (The Baptism of Jesus) 04:39
• 4 Solitude (The Temptation of Jesus) 04:21
• 5 The Sermon on the Mount 03:37
• 6 The Transfiguration 03:05
• 7 The Entry into Jerusalem 03:46
• 8 The Last Supper 03:54
• 9 In the Garden of Gethsemane 03:32
• 10 The Death of Jesus 03:58
• 11 The Resurrection of Jesus 02:41
• 12 The Ascension of Jesus 02:20
• Total Runtime 42:33

Info for The Story of Jesus

In the summer of 2020 I had a solo piano concert tour in several mid-century temples. The atmosphere of these sacral spaces was unique. I felt inspired by the environment: by the acoustic sounding, the magnificent architecture, the congregations. A lot of new melodies came into my mind and I decided that like so many composers in the past I’m going to tell the story of Jesus with my own musical expressions, highlighting the segments that mean the most to me. I chose 12 parts of Jesus’s life and melodised them for solo piano. The duodenary number refers to the Twelve Tribes of Israel and Jesus’s 12 disciples who symbolise the importance of spreading his philosophy and teachings.

Gábor Benda, Steinway & Sons Model D Grand Piano

Gábor Benda
is a Hungarian pianist and composer.

"Once, during a school event I played J.S Bach’s Prelude in C minor (BWV 999). I had a terrible stage fright, after all the whole school was watching, and it was my first public performance. My teacher was really touched by my humble piano playing and said that I played the keys like Jesus walked on water. She told me that Bach is the most important composer in music history and the closest person to God, the closest person to Jesus. At that moment somehow, I understood at this very young age that our whole cultural existence is based upon the existence of Jesus Christ: music, literature, fine arts; everything is connected to him.

From that moment J.S Bach became my favourite composer. The way his melodies, his polyphonous leads develop in his compositions is like a never-ending energy that moves nature; as the leaves grow on trees and die and grow again in an infinitive circle in a time-lapse video recording. His music imitates the whole eternal cycle of life that is being triggered by an irresistible outside force. This is the essential moving force I wanted to represent in my music. Not to imitate Bach but to follow the substantive nature of things that Bach followed and tell stories to modern humankind in a traditional way through an up-to-date language." Gábor Benda

Booklet for The Story of Jesus