Notes from the Composer Most of the material on this CD was recorded at the University of Richmond on the eve of the 2013 conference of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. The focus of all the works is worship, and it was our aim to maintain a worshipful spirit as we recorded. In the process, it occurred to me that my compositional career has been most significantly shaped by years spent in Richmond, and through my involvement with the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (BTSR), in particular. One morning in the winter of 2000, my wife Kathy made her way to BTSR to explore the possibility of pursuing her calling there. As she walked into the chapel, the community was singing “Be Thou My Vision.” Kathy had also sung the hymn that morning in her quiet time. That moment was the first of many meaningful affirmations that the next steps of our journey should be in Richmond. Kathy and Dr. Deb Loftis (music professor at BTSR and executive director of the Hymn Society as of 2012) shared their stories, and within a few months, Kathy started classes. It was through events at the seminary in the years that followed that we became friends and musical partners with Jeremy McEntire and Jeff Prillaman. The works performed with these gentlemen on the CD were inspired by their gifts and are a testimony to our fellowship. In the summer of 2015, Mr. Prillaman and I traveled to historic Dumbarton United Methodist Church in Georgetown to continue work on the CD. The church has a link to a Christian witness dating to before the American Revolution, and confessing our faith through this music during late-night sessions in its sacred space brought us to a deeper understanding of performance as a spiritual act. The vast majority of the performances heard on the CD have been preserved with minimal editing so as to maintain some of passion and sweep of such music-making. The earliest work on the CD, “Garden Encounter” (1994), dates from the end of my undergraduate years. Dr. Tom Benjamin, with whom I studied composition, had encouraged me to seek an influence for my own work in the music of Bartok. In “Garden Encounter,” I tried to view the gospel song “In the Garden” through a bit of a Bartok filter to suggest both the sounds of nature and the supernatural quality of Mary Magdalene’s meeting with Jesus in the garden. Be Thou My Vision (2008) is a suite of hymn impressions inspired by the hymn of the same name, which has been traditionally associated with the blind monk, St. Dallán Forgaill. In each movement, motives from the tune SLANE are employed to explore the mood of one of these keywords from the different verses of the hymn: vision, wisdom, inheritance, and victory. “Columban Legend” (2011) was composed in celebration of the bicentennial of the birth of Franz Liszt. Written for left hand alone and cast in the mold of Liszt's Franciscan Legends, it is a musical retelling of a legend of St. Columba. First, Columba and his monks witness the funeral of a man who lost his life to a beast in the River Ness. This is represented by a modal melody, reminiscent of chant, derived from the tune COLUMBA. Next, Columba sends one of the brothers across the water to retrieve a boat. The hungry beast charges the swimmer but is powerfully rebuked when Columba makes the sign of the cross. The textures of this section reflect medieval methods, such as organum. A final section, suggestive of later polyphony, signifies the monks and the mourners joining in the worship of God because of the act of the saint. Similar to Be Thou My Vision, Sign Song (2008) is an experiment in conveying the ideas of a hymn text through instrumental means. Sign Song was inspired by some heart-warming experiences with sign language that led me to wonder if the signs of sign language might have a stronger connection to the ideas they represent than the sounds of words do. In the four movements of Sign Song, fingerings, figurations, and textures have been derived from the signs for selected words in the text of the folk hymn “What Wondrous Love Is This.” Come Thou Fount (2010) is an expression of the heritage Jeff Prillaman and I share as Baptists who were raised in the American South. The overarching theme is grace and is symbolized by the fountain. Throughout the series, various techniques have been applied to suggest the qualities of flowing water. The six well-known hymns that form the basis of this work have been assigned new names to communicate their significance to the whole. These titles represent elements of a worship service and have been chosen to invite listeners to engage with the performance as an experience of worship through art. “Invocation” was shaped by the energy of a performance Mr. Prillaman and I improvised during the 2008 Lasker Summer Music Festival. The composition of “Testimony” was an attempt to create a concert version of “Amazing Grace” that would be more in line with its origins in Southern Harmony of 1835, in which the tune NEW BRITAIN first appeared with the “Amazing Grace” text. The idea of a concert setting in which aspects of the hymn’s original form would be reinstated was rooted in a presentation on William Walker given by Dr. Harry Eskew during the 2009 conference of the Hymn Society. The singer’s music is derived from all four voice parts found in Southern Harmony and the piano music features some open harmonies typical of the sounds of that source. The words, “how sweet the sound!” are inflected as a parenthetical reflection as they are printed in parentheses in the original. Finally, the last verse from Southern Harmony replaces the familiar “When we’ve been there ten-thousand years . . .” which was a later addition. The title “Offertory” refers to the offering of Jesus. “Sermon” is a transcription of another Lasker Festival improvisation. “Invitation” is improvisatory in nature and owes a debt to experiences with Alice Parker. Its mood is that of dancing toward Jesus. “Postlude” is a musical riverscape designed to produce the sensations of a day on the river. It progresses from the gentle movement of water in the marshes to the full rushing of the river, passes on through calmer waters, and ends with the view of a majestic waterfall. Biographies Dr. Charles Hulin coordinates the study of piano and music theory at Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL. A prize-winner in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition and a recipient of special recognition for collaborative work in the Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition, he studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky at Juilliard and Ellen Mack at Peabody while participating in the master classes of Leon Fleisher. Before moving to Florida in 2010, he performed extensively in the Mid-Atlantic states frequently appearing with members of the United States Naval Academy Band and as a soloist for performances of the Richmond Ballet. He has participated in a wide range of festivals including the Third Practice Festival of electro-acoustic music, the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium and the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. In addition to Be Thou My Vision, he can be heard on the recordings Silvery Night and Voix Suprême: Mélodies of Jules Massenet with soprano Shudong Braamse. At Peabody, Dr. Hulin studied composition with Thomas Benjamin and has since music in a variety of genres including a series of works for student orchestra, hymn-inspired concert works, and collaborations with visual artists. His recent endeavors include Pilgrimage of Practice, a piano curriculum based on the life of St. Columba and conceived as a means for students to engage learning an instrument as a spiritual discipline. Dr. Hulin’s academic appointments have included Lecturer in Piano at the College of William and Mary, visiting assistant professor at the University of Richmond, and Assistant Professor of Music at Chowan University. At Richmond, he taught new courses in the music of the United States, and he introduced world music to the curriculum at Chowan in addition to developing an interdisciplinary course titled “Music and Revolution.” He has presented research regarding the music of Franz Liszt for the College Music Society and numerous lecture-recitals on the practice of parlor music in the Antebellum South for museums and historical societies, particularly in his home state of North Carolina. Since 1998, he has coordinated the Lasker Summer Music Festival, which is an organization that supports Christian musicians in the integration of their artistic work and faith. A graduate of Virgina Commowealth University and New England Conservatory, flutist Jeremy McEntire has held orchestral positions in the Richmond Symphony and the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in Monterrey, Mexico. He currently teaches at the University of Richmond and Randolph-Macon College, as well as The Talent Developing Studio in Hanover County, VA. Mr. McEntire regularly performs with the Roanoke Symphony, and he is a perennial participant in the Lasker Summer Music Festival. Virginia tenor, Jeff Prillaman is the co-founder and President of the Board of Directors of Da Capo Virginia, an experienced businessman, a technology leader, and a passionate advocate for community music ministry, music education, elite performance experiences, and inclusionary excellence. He has enjoyed a variety of solo engagements in both national and international venues and holds a Master of Music from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music from Westminster Choir College in addition to a certificate in management from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. His long time love for Bel Canto, oratorio, and traditional tenor concert repertoire from Donizetti to Verdi and Puccini has most recently evolved into an intensive study of the songs of Franz Liszt and an exploration of American songs by his colleagues and contemporaries. Mr. Prillaman has shared the stage with many of the 20th century’s greatest artists but he is most proud of his decisions to stand in the gap between business and arts advocacy and his dedication to family, community, and ministry. This collaboration with Dr. Hulin provided an artistic outlet that combines his worlds in a powerful and profound statement. He enjoyed a decade-long career as an Information Technology Director at Capital One and is currently employed as a solutions architect with Cisco Systems. Available for projects, performances, and lectures, he resides in the Martinsville and Henry County area of Southwestern, VA with his wife and four children.