Randall Thompson - Alleluia

The choir at my parish Church  (St. Boniface, Siesta Key, Sarasota, FL) sang the amazing "Alleluia" by Randall Thompson at the 9:00a.m. Eucharist today.


It was such a joy to be "bathed" in this gorgeous music.  I wanted to be singing with the choir, but as the Presider at this morning's liturgy it was much better that I was simply able to allow the music to "speak" to me and to refresh my soul and spirit.


I congratulate our musician Seth Wertz and the choir for enabling such beauty.


Thompson's Alleluia was a "party piece" for the choir at St. Stephen's in Pittsfield, MA, where I was Rector from 1984-2000.  It was there that I first heard it and began to appreciate it.


Thus it was a gift from St. Stephen's for me.  So as the St. Boniface Choir sang this morning my mind and heart went back to my years in Pittsfield  ( indeed the best [for me] years of my various parish ministries). 


Thanks be to G-d for music, for Randall Thompson, for Church Choirs, for St. Stephen's Pittsfield, and now for St. Boniface Church here in Sarasota.




Here's a bit about Randall Thompson.


http://harvardmagazine.com/2001/07/randall-thompson.html#

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