Music, the universal language, is often said to transcend words, enabling people to commune spiritually beyond the bounds of space and time. But is it really possible to experience music as an abstraction? Can we hear instrumental music without conjuring images, inventing lyrics, or imagining narratives? This Sunday’s solo piano selections beg those questions… Read …
This Sunday’s solo piano selections anticipate a future of integration and mutuality with respect to the musical idioms of diverse cultures. Included are works by the French composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy that incorporate the language of such historically African American musical styles as ragtime, blues, and jazz. In the Gathering Music is a …
Francis Poulenc, heir to the Rhone-Poulenc pharmaceutical fortune, would have turned 125 in 2024. His life and music, with their febrile ebullience and solemn introspection, reflect his conflicted identity as a gay man and devout Catholic. His Suite Française is a collection of Renaissance-era courtly dance forms recast in modernist harmonies. Music connected to the …
In this house that is our sanctuary, I have shared the music of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg regularly over the past 34 years. His tuneful, emotionally engaging music embodies the widest possible range of human sentiment, and his faith as a Unitarian makes him the perfect fit for many of our services. The composer himself …
This Sunday’s piano selections feature the music of composers of African descent from various time periods in a variety of styles. Read on for programming details and stay tuned for spoken introductions. Gathering Music: Adam Kent, piano “Take Me Back”from Appalachia ~ John W. Work III “The Angels Changed My Name”~ African-American Spiritual, arr. Samuel …
This Sunday’s musical selections speak to the vision for community and interdependence embodied in the UUA’s proposed revised language for Article II. Music from a variety of cultural and faith traditions is included, all of which centers love as the essential pillar of peace and hope. Read on for programming details and stay tuned for …
Musical selections to put us in the mood for a UU Thanksgiving coming up! Read on for programming details and stay tuned for spoken introductions. Gathering Music: Adam Kent, pianoThanks, Op. 62, No. 2 ~ Edvard GriegThe Young Pioneers ~ Aaron Copland*A.D. 1620 from Sea Pieces, Op. 55, No. 3 ~ Edward MacDowell *The yellow …
Thrilled beyond words to welcome the New Amsterdam Boys and Girls Choir (soon to be renamed New Amsterdam Choral Academy) to CUUC for the first time! Please visit https://www.nabgc.org to learn more about the choir and its mission. Solo piano works performed this Sunday include a setting of the Spiritual “The Angels Changed My Name” …
This Sunday’s musical selections invite us to ponder centered and marginalized artistic legacies, including the work of Unitarian composers Edvard Grieg and Béla Bartók. Dead white European men may dominate the musical canon, but the music of Margaret Bonds and Scott Joplin remind us of the abundant contributions of women composers and composers of African …
Islam and Christianity were strongly dichotomized polarities during the Spanish reconquista of 711-1492 C.E. While there were real territorial struggles and marginalization of religious minorities, it’s important to remember the times of covivencia, or cultural plurality, which characterized much of the period. This Sunday’s musical selections include works evocative of Al-Andalus, the Muslim-ruled territories of …