Music: Sun Sep 10

Our annual Ingathering Water Ceremony has particular resonance for me this year. I return to CUUC following a summer full of travels, all to destinations rich in aquatic associations. In June, I was blessed to attend my first General Assembly, this year in New Orleans, a city which has born witness too many times the destructive force of water. That our national gathering coincided with a major tropical storm emphasized the city’s vulnerability, as well as its resilience.

In July, I performed and taught at a number of music festivals, the first on the shore of Pigeon Lake in Alberta, Canada. 48 sleepless hours later, I was in Burgos, Spain, where the ancient Arlanzon River parses the town into Old and New cities. From there, it was on to Oviedo, with a quick side trip to Gijon, where Joel took a dip in the Cantabrian Sea by the side of 2,000-year-old Roman baths.

Since last month, I’ve been commuting back and forth between NYC and Oneonta, with countless detours to Cooperstown and the restorative waters of Lake Glimmerglass. Most mornings up here, I awaken to views of mists rising from the Susquehanna River, which originates at Lake Glimmerglass and winds its way all the way to Chesapeake Bay.

I’m so happy to express some of my impressions of these sights and sensations in Sunday morning’s musical selections. I’m also delighted to hear my friends in the CUUC Choir once again. This Sunday, the choir brings us two traditional Spirituals, in which images of water signify transition and transformation.

Read on for programming details.

Prelude: Adam Kent, piano

Venetian Boatsong No. 2, No. 30, No. 6

                                 Felix Mendelssohn
Deep River

            Traditional African-American Spiritual, arranged by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Ondine

                                                Claude Debussy

Anthem: CUUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas

Poor Wayfaring Stranger

arr. by Linda Spevecek

Offetory:
Reflets dans l’eau (Reflections in the Water)

                                                Debussy

Anthem:

Down to the River to Pray

 arr. by Roger Emerson

Water Ingathering Ceremony

Still Waters: Au lac de Wallenstadt

                                                Franz Liszt

Shining Waters:  La marchande d’eau fraiche

Jacques Ibert

Stormy Waters: De Profundis

Edward Macdowell

Rushing Waters: Wade in the Water

                                    Traditional African-American, arr. by Coleridge-Taylor