The musical offerings on this recording represent a year in the life of Old South Church. The selections were drawn from voluntaries performed by Sam Ou and Harry Huff throughout the various seasons. Christmas is represented by This Is the Truth Sent from Above. The Rachmaninoff Vocalise was played during a service glorifying love on Valentine’s Day. Fauré’s Andante provided the background for a Ritual of Remembering on All Saints’ Sunday. Pie Jesu is sung for the Good Friday service; Prelude for Easter Day is included in the annual services celebrating the Resurrection. Procession through a Black Hole has been a perennial favorite at the “Scared for Good” Halloween concerts, but on this recording serves as a prelude to the final track, Into the Light. Erik Gustafson’s This Is the Truth Sent from Above, scored for soprano and violoncello, has its origins from a commission in 2010 from soprano, Adriana Repetto. At Ms. Repetto’s request, this arrangement intertwines two carol texts and melodies: one English and one German. The traditional English carol, “This is the truth sent from above,” with its melody as canonized by Ralph Vaughan Williams, comprises the bulk of this arrangement; and the German carol, “Maria durch ein’ Dornwald ging” has inclusion toward the end of the piece. The German carol shares a main theme of Redemption and opening melodic profile with the English carol; it gets interwoven in this arrangement in an abbreviated and liberally-rendered way to highlight the message and mood conveyed by the more well-known English carol. Calvin Hampton (1938-1984) was a celebrated New York City composer whose life was cut short at the age of 45 by complications due to AIDS. Prelude for Easter Day (1979) is an Impressionistic tone poem that cleverly weaves the hymn-tune Easter Hymn (“Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”) in dialogue between cello and organ. The quiet jubilation of this piece seems a fitting depiction of the wonderment experienced by Mary Magdalene as she discovers the empty tomb. Hampton was equally captivated by concepts of God, science and science fiction. In 1967 astronomer John Archibald Wheeler had coined the term “black hole” to explain the object of an ultimate gravitational collapse. Procession through a Black Hole (1971) offered the composer a window into pondering the implications of this phenomenon. This curious piece, which is enhanced by an electronic tape recording of Hampton playing a Moog synthesizer, presents the unknown as a meander through a dark labyrinth. Gustafson’s Into the Light for violoncello and organ was composed in response to the passing in 2011 of Reverend Peter J. Gomes, formerly of Harvard’s Memorial Church; and it was also written in appreciation for the artistry of Harry Huff and Sam Ou. Through this music, a sincere appreciation was intended to be expressed for the life and ministry of Rev. Gomes; and, as the title of the composition suggests, this music was intended to reflect the journey of a soul back to an Eternal Spirit. Perhaps, this music can also be seen to represent a catharsis for the grieving as well as the repose of a departed soul: in moving from darkness to light, from despair to hope, and from loss to reconciliation and lasting peace.