Category: Music
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Sacred Music for Christmas
Deal W. Hudson December 5, 2014 At Christmas, music abounds. There is no other sacred day or holiday, so deeply intertwined with music. If you are considering stretching your musical palette this Christmas, here is a list to choose from. You may already know many of these pieces but you may not know the particular…
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Soundtrack Suggestions for Christmas
Deal W. Hudson December 7, 2014 “King of Kings” soundtrack by Miklos Rozsa. It’s not too far-fetched to say that film music has become our “classical music.” Far, far more listeners have heard full orchestras blaring in movie theaters than in concert halls for the past fifty years. This tradition of symphonic music which was…
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From the Birthplace of St. Benedict — Music That Eases the Soul
Deal W. Hudson May 28, 2015 I’m writing this just after finishing a radio interview for “Church and Culture” with Fr. Basil Nixen, choirmaster at the Benedictine Monastery in Norcia, Italy, where St. Benedict himself was born in 480 A.D. A native of Yuma, AZ, Fr. Basil was a seminarian when, on the occasion of…
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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…
Deal W. Hudson 