MY NEW SONG CYCLE OF PIANO MUSIC IS NOW RELEASED

I just found today that my new song cycle of piano music, “Musical Reflections On A Pandemic” is digitally being released on Amazon Music, iTunes, and many streaming services. On the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young live album, Four Way Street, Neil Young introduces a song with the words, “Here is a new song that is guaranteed to bring you right down. It is called, ‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down’.”One might think that a collection of music entitled, “Musical Reflections On A Pandemic”, might just hold a similar experience for the listener.

While there are some songs that are somber in nature (let’s face it, living through a pandemic is NOT a cakewalk), the majority of the songs are not cloaked in somber tones. In spite of the 223,000 recorded deaths in the United States at the time that I write this, life does go on. People still get married, infants are born, children play with puppies in the yard, adolescent love continues its clumsy exploration, love deepens in couples sheltering in place, and heroism is displayed by all those first responders and medical personnel in our hospitals and clinics. There is plenty of hope to be had in the midst of all the grim news we see, hear, and read in the news.

I have been present to many people at times of crises in their lives during my forty-two years of ministry. The time I have spent in isolation with my wife, Ruthie, and our family as we have sheltered in place these long months, have given me plenty of time to reflect upon the crises many people are facing during this pandemic.

I began the composing of this music first by meditating on how this pandemic has affected our lives. This led to the writing of ten poems. The music is programmatic in that it reflects the sentiment expressed in each poem. During the composing music process, I found an interactive relationship between the notes in the score with the words of the poetry. There were times in which the music dictated a change to the text of a poem. Of course, the change in wording would then be reflected in the musical score.

While the majority of the music is decidedly in the genre of the Romantic period, the listener will find elements representative of the Baroque period, Medieval Dance, and Impressionistic periods of music.

While one can simply just listen to the music, for a deeper experience of the music I would suggest to the listener to first read and reflect on the poem, and, then, listen to the music.

I hope that the listener will find the music on this album, spiritual, meditative, enjoyable, and an aide in coping with these very trying times in our lives.

TABLE OF POEMS AND SONGS

1. Juxtaposition 1: Prelude for a Dying Loved One and a
2. Fugue for a Newborn Infant.
3. An Estampie for Would Be Lovers
4. Song for the Unknown Dead
5. Frolic for Children and Puppies
6. Juxtaposition 2: A Berceuse for a Deceased Loved One and a Waltz for Newlywed Couples.
7. Sheltering in Love: A Rhapsody for Ruthie
8. Feast of Fools: A Pandemic Danse Macabre
9. March of a Solitary Sentry
10. Nocturne for Our Medical Heroes
11. Hymn for Our God of Many Faces