The Music of Elizabeth Alexander

So Much Radiance

A radiant tribute to the wisdom and wonder of the world’s religions

Music: Elizabeth Alexander

Words: Elizabeth Alexander

An earnest search for the sacred moves beyond any single truth, revealing a world illuminated by many religious traditions. With shifting harmonies and luminous voicings, So Much Radiance reflects the rich spiritual wisdom available to all who seek.

So Much Radiance is the fourth movement of Kindling: Small Reflections on a Limitless Faith.

Note: This song may be performed with chamber ensemble (flute, horn, violin, cello, piano, string quartet) or with piano alone. In both cases choristers simply use the Choral Score. For chamber ensemble performances of this song, the conductor conducts from the conductor’s score of the complete work (SEA-123-10). Instrumental Parts are available through Seafarer Press.

 

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Composer Notes

Composer Notes

The modest aspiration of this song was to honor all the religions of the world…in under five minutes! What’s a composer to do? As each new faith is revealed, new tonalities emerge. By the end of this song we’ve traveled through all twelve major keys, each illuminating a different facet of truth, with more yet to come.

Text

So Much Radiance

Once we set forth in the dark empty hours of the night,
In search of a presence wondrous and unseen,
Guided only by a voice still and small.

Our outstretched hands soon encountered
The grain and brass of Cross and Menorah,
And our fingers traced their contours with reverence and joy.

Only now, as the rising sun illuminates
Wheel and Lotus, Yin and Yang, Star and Crescent, Eagle and Drum,
We begin to behold the limitless:
So much radiance within our reach – even more beyond.

Elizabeth Alexander
© 2015 by Elizabeth Alexander

Performers

Performers

SATB, flute, horn, string quartet
Premiere: First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston / Jason Oby (Houston, TX)
Choir of Arlington Street Church / Mark Buckles (Boston, MA)
Choir of Mount Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church / Mark Tuning (Walnut Creek, CA)
Choir of Unitarian Universalist Church of Atlanta / Donald Milton III (Atlanta, GA)
St Luke Presbyterian Church / David Lohman (St. Louis Park, MN)

SATB, piano
First Unitarian Univeralist Church of Rochester / Joe Mish (Rochester, MN)