Sunday Playlist - 12/6/2020

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzrVlXh4mc1NVVX6ErDOtmSP4FHWdTdt8

At Clinton Avenue, we have a tradition of singing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” during the Sundays of Advent, adding a verse each week until Christmas Eve. Sadly we cannot do that in the year of COVID19. Of the dozens of recordings on YouTube, I kept being pulled back by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and its cast of thousands. We never sounded quite like that, but I dare say we sang with as much spirit.

In contrast, the second piece is a solo flute version of the American folk song, “Wayfaring Stranger.” Even shorn of the lyrics, this lonely melody in a minor key is a meditation on the melancholic aspect of life's journey. At about the one-minute mark, listen for the single grace note in Jesse Lepkoff’s performance. It’s perfect.

I learned of “Slow Traveler” from the Boston Camerata album. In the song, a soul notices that others are passing him by, happy and quick. But the soul neither envies them nor wishes to be faster. Instead he sings: 

God give you strength that you may run,

And keep your footsteps right;

Tho’ fast you go, and I so slow,

You are not out of sight.

By grace, he suggests, all arrive in the same place.

Next is another traditional American song, the spiritual “I Wonder As I Wander,” similar thematically and in mood to “Wayfaring Stranger,” here sung by Jessye Norman. And we round out the list with another quiet, solo instrumental. Winston gives the tune lots of space and allows the piano to ring. I first heard this album as a teenager, and it probably still affects my playing.