Category: Music
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Voting Our Values: How to Vote Catholic
Deal W. Hudson June 25, 2016 How to Vote Catholic Voting Our Values Catholics make up about 30 percent of voters in national elections. Depending on voter turnout, these 36 to 39 million Catholics have the power to make our country a better nation that is more welcoming to life, more supportive of families, and…
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Elgar’s “Dream of Gerontius” — A Video Recording That Takes One’s Breath Away
Deal W. Hudson December 19, 2016 I hardly know what to say, but I will try: This DVD recording of Sir Edward Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius” is one of the most magnificent presentations of any piece of music I know. Taped in color by the BBC inside the Worchester Cathedral in 1968, the performance is…
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A Son’s Love for His Mother Becomes a Musical Masterpiece
Deal W. Hudson May 8, 2017 Some years ago, while visiting Los Angeles, I met a charming young man named Stephen Edwards. He told me he was a composer, and given our common love of music, and golf, we stayed in touch. As the years passed, I watched as Steve became one of Hollywood’s highly prized…
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The Whitman Option: “Bathe me O God in thee”
Deal W. Hudson May 14, 2017 Over thirty years ago, I left the Southern Baptists and was confirmed as a Roman Catholic. There were many reasons for my conversion but among the most important was their suspicion and fear of culture. I was taught God spoke only through the “Bible,” properly interpreted of course, and…
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10 Christmas Albums You May Not Know
Deal W. Hudson December 4, 2017 I chuckle at my use of “albums” given the remarkable comeback of vinyl recordings, though downloading is actually the medium gradually replacing the CD. Thus, I would advise the reader to check both CD and download formats for the recordings listed below (links to both, where available, are provided). I’ve…
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The Exquisite Beauty of the Familiar
Deal W. Hudson February 13, 2018 This morning I burst into song: “Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful day.” My son, Cyprian, now twenty-one, he had not heard me do that in while, and half-smiled, half-frowned. But as I sang the lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II and the melody of Richard Rodgers,…
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The 120 Best Film Soundtracks
Going to the trouble of making a list such as this may seem trivial to some, but, in fact, the tradition of musical scoring for cinema should be considered the ‘classical music’ you’ve liked but didn’t know it was ‘classical.’ Let me explain. I will assume you, like I, enjoy an immediately rapport with great…
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How the Beatles, My Great Aunt, and Debussy Changed My Life
By Deal W. Hudson It was the spring of 1970 when Paul McCartney announced he was leaving the Beatles. I had already grown discontent with pop music, the frenetic discord of Jimmy Hendrix touched no part of a young man brought up on Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra, and Broadway show…
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Carried Away by Christmas Music — A Confession
Deal W. Hudson I’m a Christmas music fanatic. A long row of Christmas music LPs still stands at dusty attention on my bookshelves. Names like Perry Como, Bing Crosby, the Kings College Choir, and Eugene Ormandy peek out from their spines. (My Christmas cassette collection was destroyed by a flooded basement), but CDs began replacing…
Deal W. Hudson 