Andrew Mark Sauerwein

[program note, 1994]

Faith and Reason is a musical essay on the interrelation of, well, faith and reason.  These are represented in the music in various abstract and concrete ways.  The piece focuses on quotations from the hymn If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee, along with fragments of O Come, Immanuel, and O God Our Help In Ages Past.  All of the tonal and non-tonal material in the piece is derived from these sources, sometimes plainly but more often in radical transformation.  The piece features several episodes which portray a variety of moods and attitudes.  Neither symbolic allegory or trite moralizing is intended: this is an exploration of attitudes and states of mind, a view of things that fit together despite appearances or (mis)conceptions.

 

Performances:

UO Composition Workshop reading. 5/94.

Master's Recital, University of Oregon. 2/4/95.