Music: Sun Jan 5

This morning’s Centering Music includes two early compositions by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, as a nod to the nation’s Singing Revolution explored in our worship service. The Offertory is one of Tchaikovsky’s charming seasonal evocations, written on a monthly for the St. Petersburg musical journal Nouveliste. His musical depiction of January is prefaced by these verses by Pushkin:

A little corner of peaceful bliss,

the night dressed in twilight;

the little fire is dying in the fireplace,

and the candle has burned out.

Elsewhere, several of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 34 commemorate the work of a composer working under the constraints of Soviet censorship. Shostakovich’s resistance can be discerned in his unique artistic voice, which he never lost in the face of official reproval. Read on for programming details.

Centering Music:
Zwei Sonatinen, Op. 1

            Sonatina No. 1

I.               Allegro

II.              Larghetto

Sonatina No. 2

I.               Allegro energico

II.              Largo

III.            Allegro

Arvo Pärt

Opening Music:
Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 34, No. 10

                                    Dmitry Shostakovich

Offertory:
By the Fireside, Op. 37, No. 1
                                    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Interlude:
Prelude in E-flat Major, Op. 34, No. 19

                                    Shostakovich