The First Snow is a very interesting
music CD. By far, it is a most unusual and satisfying music CD. It
is more of a blend between contemporary and new age than any other CD
project that I have recorded to date. Not coincidentally, it is arguably
the one CD that has challenged my abilities and experience as a composer
and arranger the most. In developing the arrangements and the producing of
the CD, I have most certainly grown significantly in my own
"musician-ship" as it were. (At least that’s my own opinion,
and those of my sound and recording engineer, family, friends and
listeners who have heard it.)
The idea of the music sound, cover art and
text imagery for The First Snow is centered on being alone with one’s
own thoughts, memories , joys and revelations about Christmas. But it’s
about much more than that. It’s ultimately about our individual growth
as human beings as we go (grow) through our lives from birth to death. It’s
about our growth in understanding of our relationship to spirit and to the
Universal Spirit of God that sustains all things. What I tried to do as
the composer is to capture this life’s growth with music and imagery
expressed as our feelings, thoughts and memories of Christmas, as they too
have grown with us and spirit from child, to teenager, to young adult, and
for some of us lucky ones, to older adult, and even wiser and elder adult.
No matter our age. No matter the joys and
disappointments of the previous year or years. No matter the love shared,
returned or even lost. No matter the loss of our childhood innocence and
naivete- there is an excitement of inner spirit as winter comes and with
it, the first snow. Hope blooms anew as the remnants and dead of last
spring, summer and fall (or perhaps many springs, summers and falls) are
blanketed with the crisp, clean white of the first fallen snow of the
season. The fresh, white blanket has nothing yet written, except for the
shapes, images and shadows formed by the landscape and pressed by the
wind.
The first snow represents a new beginning
for each of us- another year and another Christmas- new thoughts,
feelings, understandings, experiences and relation to spirit that have yet
to be finished and written. So too The First Snow CD. You can feel
it in the energy and solitude of The First Noel. You can feel it in
the blend of reverence and driving energy of Panis Angelicus. From
the joy and happy rhythm of Angels We Have Heard on High and the
soft remembrance and magic of Up on the Housetop, on through to the
playfulness and mellow energy of Good King Wenceslas and the
combination of cosmic wondering and driving energy of the Hark the Herald
Angels Sing, we are left each to our own hearts, our own relation to the
coming Christmas. Until finally, we are carried away to that inner place
amid thoughts of our own (The) First Snow(s), only to be brought
back to the power and mystery of O Holy Night and our current
realities of heart.
On the more playful side, the depth of
thought behind this CD not withstanding, you can only imagine what it
feels like to record a Christmas CD during the months of July and August
in the heat and summer sun of Decatur, Alabama. Truthfully, it was a
tremendous blessing- kind of the ultimate "think cool thoughts"
as a way of beating the summer heat. Even though it was the middle of the
summer, with summer thoughts and summer play on my mind- when the music
was played back after each session of recording, it was impossible to
remain the objective professional. My own heart paced and my breath
quickened to the sounds of each of the Christmas pieces. And truthfully,
the result as always was much more than I as an individual can claim to
have I put in. Isn’t divine Grace amazing?
Final Thoughts:
….. The opening and closing words of the CD are basically a poem written
by yours truly, split in half to set the music ambience for what follows
and what comes before. The cover art for this CD was actually a photograph
taken on or near the slopes of Mt. Hood, Oregon. I myself have been there
several times, though not with that kind of snow around (sigh). A word of caution- you, the listener, may find O Holy Night
extremely unusual and breath-taking- so proceed to listen at your own risk
(smile), and don’t forget to listen the entire way through lest you miss
the best surprise.
