Save the date: Linking Legacies concert on March 12th
Be sure to join us in the UUCC Sanctuary at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 12th for Linking Legacies, a free concert celebrating the music of Black composers and performers with a connection to Northeast Ohio. Click here for more information about this very special musical event.
Music Notes – Sunday, February 12th:
This week’s musicians are The Chancel Choir and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Opening Hymn: #1037 We Begin Again in Love – Kleen & Eller-Isaacs
#1037 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook, “We Begin Again in Love” is a responsorial hymn with both spoken and musical elements. The words are by Rev. Robert L. Eller-Isaacs (b. 1951), who is currently serving as co-minister of Unity Church–Unitarian in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the music is by Les Kleen (b. 1942), who served for more than 20 years as choir director at the First Unitarian Universalist church of Columbus, Ohio.
Centering Music: My Funny Valentine – Rodgers & Hart
“My Funny Valentine” was written by Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and Lorenz Hart (1895-1943) for their 1937 musical Babes in Arms. The song has since become a standard and has been performed and recorded by over 600 artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and many, many others. Citing the song’s “cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy”, The Library of Congress inducted the famous recording of “My Funny Valentine” done by The Gerry Mulligan quartet featuring Chet Baker into their National Recording Registry in 2015.
Offertory: Love Psalm – Meador
Written in 2008, “Love Psalm” is a ballad composed by American jazz performer, educator and performer Darmon Meader (b. 1945). Meader is well respected as a saxophonist, but is better known in the world of vocal jazz as a performer, clinician and founding member of the critically acclaimed vocal jazz group New York Voices.
Closing Hymn: #323 Break Not the Circle – Benjamin/Kaan
One of the best-known living UU composers, Thomas Benjamin (b. 1940) remains an active performer, educator, and composer. Many of his works can be found in our Singing the Living Tradition and Singing the Journey hymnals. Published both as a composer and an author and the recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Benjamin taught for many years at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music and also taught music theory and composition at the esteemed Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. Benjamin wrote the music for “Break Not the Circle (#323 in Singing the Living Tradition), setting words by Dutch minister and prolific hymnwriter Frederik Kaan (1929-2009).
Postlude: Oh, Be Swift to Love – Grundahl
Minnesota native Nancy Grundahl (b. 1946) is a performer, conductor, and composer who currently directs three ensembles in the Minneapolis area and has a number of published choral compositions written for treble and mixed voices. “Oh, Be Swift to Love” is a setting of words by Swiss philosopher and poet Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881). Grundahl composed her musical setting of Amiel’s words in response to the killing of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old African American man who was shot and killed in July 2016 by a police officer from St. Anthony (MN) during a traffic stop. The Chancel Choir will sing a version of Grundahl’s song that is published in The Justice Choir Songbook. In the composer’s words: “This simple, but profound text spoke to me when it appeared in a Facebook post in summer 2016, during the antagonistic political conventions and following the killing of Philando Castile in our community.”
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director
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