WHILE I RUN THIS RACE: A Musical Journey

The Helios Trio records While I Run This Race, University of Wyoming

November 7, 2025 is an important date for my work as a composer. On this day, While I Run This Race: Music of Hope, Dedication and Celebration will be released to the public by AMP Recordings (https://www.amp-recordings.com).  CD copies are available for those who prefer traditional technology; digital copies and steaming opportunities will also be available through major services, including Bandcamp, Amazon Music, Spotify and iTunes. No one is getting rich on this one!  But I appreciate this opportunity to share some of my best work with family, friends and listeners many different places.

The works that you will hear on this recording share a common identity; each piece is inspired in some way by aspects of our African-American culture, one that has greatly enriched the American musical scene. Over the years, I was attracted to these materials because they spoke to me as a composer. Truth was presented in a distinctive and expressive manner. Beauty was everywhere; I was inspired to serve these wonderful attributes through my own creative responses.

Here is a brief overview of the works to be found on While I Run This Race…….

Langston Hughes           Roderick, Gail and Jackie

Langston Hughes’ poetry is innately musical. His words beg to be set to music! The warmth and clarity found in his poems are undeniable. I hope that my song cycle, Langston’s Lot, will help introduce his poems to new generations of followers.

Commissioned by Gail Levinsky and Jackie-Edwards Henry, Langston’s Lot (1996), is a seven- movement chamber work for tenor, alto saxophone and piano, celebrating the poetry of Langston Hughes (1902-1967). The selected texts reflect the poet’s sincere love of life, his people and their cultural heritage. Lyric beauty and simplicity dominate the overall style of the poems, a quality which is reflected by the accessible nature of the musical accompaniment. 

As a poet, Hughes was influenced by music, especially jazz, blues and gospel. Jazz and blues styles are reflected in this song cycle, combined with traditional classical musical forms and procedures. I dedicate this work to the memory of a close friend, Kirk Bollinger, whose eclectic tastes in music and other forms of artistic expression would resonate with those of Hughes himself.  My thanks to Roderick George, Gail Levinsky and Jackie Edwards-Henry for the love and affection that you bestowed upon this recording of Langston’s Lot; you have captured the many worlds expressed by these poems so wonderfully!

 Joan and Doug                  Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Cincinnati

Spirituals bring meaningful texts and music together. My challenge was to take these wonderful and profound source materials and create a world around them. The two organ pieces on the recording contrast elements of darkness (Sojourner) with triumph and joy (Ride On, King Jesus).

Sojourner: sometimes referred to as a “sorrow song,” this melody is usually paired with a text called I Want Jesus to Walk With Me. The speaker of the text prays for a peace that  God can best provide, a refuge from the trials and tribulations of life as a slave. A quiet, reflective introduction of the tune leads to a second presentation that uses a steady, walking rhythm. From here, a dramatic interlude leads to a final, more triumphant setting of the tune. The end of the piece is somber and quiet, not unlike the prayer that is offered.

Ride on, King Jesus! is one of the most familiar spirituals in the repertoire. Over the generations, this energetic song has appeared in various American hymnals, in addition to lively arrangements for choirs or solo voice.  Today’s setting for organ attempts to capture the magnificence of Christ the King by presenting the tune in several moods and guises. Confidence and celebration permeate the entire setting; sometimes, the mood is even a bit earthy! At other times, the presentation of the tune is allowed to be gentle and lyric, reflecting another side of the Savior’s presence. Throughout the setting, the importance of Christ the King remains firm and strong. 

My love and gratitude goes to my wife, Joan. She has performed so many of my organ works over the years, helping me to throw out the kinks and get the registrations right! This recording would not be complete without her active participation and the wonderful expressivity that she brings to her performances.

   The Helios Trio: John Fadial, violin; Beth Vanderborgh, cello, Chi-Chen Wu, piano

While I Run This Race: Commissioned by the Helios Trio and the Wyoming Music Teachers Association, While I Run this Race is a programmatic theme and variations composition, based on the spiritual, Guide My Feet While I Run this Race.

Each stanza of the spiritual resembles a blues lyric; several repeating lines are followed by a final statement, as demonstrated by stanza one:

Guide my feet while I run this race,

Guide my feet while I run this race,

Guide my feet while I run this race,

For I don’t want to run this race in vain.

The titles for each movement are borrowed from various stanzas of the spiritual for the most part:

            Theme: Guide My Feet While I Run this Race

Reflection 1: Bring me joy while I run this race

Reflection 2: Stand by me while I run this race

Reflection 3: Guide my thoughts while I run this race

Reflection 4: Ease my doubt while I run this race

Reflection 5: ...for I don’t want to run this race in vain

Reflection 5: I’m your child while I run this race

After a brief statement of the tune itself, the piece presents a series of six reflections or variations. Each movement reflects on its title, using the spiritual’s thematic material in a direct or indirect fashion. Movements four and five run together without a pause, but the other reflections stand as separate movements in the composition.

While I Run This Race is an eclectic work; once again, expect to hear influences from the worlds of spirituals, jazz, and blues, with perhaps a touch of rock in selected places. Overall, I am a thoroughly classical composer in terms of technique and overall harmonic language, but our world features a wide selection of musical styles. This composition attempts to reflect portions of this wonderful diversity.

My thanks to the members of the Helios Trio, John, Beth and Chi-Chen for taking a very challenging work and finding the truth behind the musical gestures. This piece is also a prayer, one that asks for God’s guidance through good times but also challenging circumstances. The trio’s work realizes those pleas so very well.

The “eighth performer” on this recording is my recording engineer, Mark Bunce. Over many months he has used his expertise and his magic on location at the University of Wyoming (While I Run this Race), in the studio at Stone Soup Studios (Langston’s Lot), or at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Cincinnati (Two Spirituals), to bring out the best in our performers. All of us are most grateful to him!  Later months brought many hours of critical listening while engaged in his work as an editor, work that ultimately brought the best of my performer’s work to light. Both of us worked hard to find the best takes for our listeners to hear.

Please enjoy this musical tribute to hope, dedication and celebration.