So Much Beauty

Richard Hundley (b. 1931)
1. Straightway, Beauty on Me Waits - 2:53
2. Softly the Summer - 2:27
3. Come Ready and See Me - 3:33

Lori Laitman (b. 1955)
4. Wider Than the Sky - 1:57
5. Good Morning Midnight - 1:27
6. If I - 2:16

Robert Jorgensen (b. 1954)
7. You Are - 2:33

    Dan Locklair (b. 1949) (with Craig Rine, Clarinet)
8. In the Almost Evening - 14:29
   I. In the Almost Evening
   II. Snake Dance
   III. Breezes

Hilary Tann (b. 1947)
(with Shannon Spicciati, Oboe)
9. A Girl’s Song to Her Mother - 5:47
10. Wings of the Grasses - 3:31

Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)
11. Rhapsody - 6:22

Carol Sams (b. 1945)
12. Before Winter - 3:50
13. The Uneasy Story - 3:00
14. Aware - 2:26

Edwin Penhorwood (b. 1939)
15. The Night - 2:04
16. When Heaven Cries - 2:00
17. Come Walk in the Garden With Me - 3:39

David Burge (b. 1930)
18. First Love - 5:25
19. Song (in Memoriam Jan DeGaetani 9-15-89) - 4:15

Renewal

So Much Beauty is a collection of skillfully crafted contemporary songs, in styles as varied as the personalities of the composers, poets, and their inspirations. Many of the songs have not been previously recorded, and some were composed especially for this recording. The texts examine and celebrate our finely woven and inescapable connection to the natural world. They tell timeless stories of love, loss, listening, creating, and letting go. The cover painting depicts in exquisite detail the motion of seeds dispersing. Once an artist has completed a work, it is then tossed into the wind to land and prosper wherever it falls. Under lock and key, poems will go unread, paintings will be unseen, and songs will be unsung. But, when cast into the wind, the cycle of inspiration, imagination, birth, flowering, and death, will take root, regenerate, and inspire again and again and again. So many stories, so many songs, and so much beauty.

Janeanne Houston, 2003

So Much Beauty was recorded on location in Pacific Lutheran University’s Lagerquist Concert Hall, August 11, 13, and 15, 2003.

Recording, editing, mastering
Al Swanson,
Location Recordings

Producer
Richard Sparks

Artwork
Darwin Nordin
Front cover: Silk to the Wind
Insert: Ember of the Late Winter
http://www.sempervivus.com/

Design
Martin McClellan,
Rosacordis Design, Seattle
http://rosacordis.com/

Replication
Pip McCaslin, Realtime, Inc., Seattle
http://www.realtimepip.com/

Deepest gratitude for contributions, efforts and support above and beyond to: Mark Ahlness, Robert Jorgensen, Bryant and Sara Jean Currier, Karen Brichoux, Pacific Lutheran University Music Department and chair David Robbins, Carol Sams, Hilary Tann, David Burge, Lori Laitman, Dan Locklair, Ed Penhorwood, Richard Sparks, Arthur Mampel, and Vicky Edmunds.