Crowd-pleasing recital

The well-attended Nov. 11 evening organ concert at Westbrook’s Trinity Lutheran Church was a crowd-pleaser. Ellen Cutting, the church organist, played nine pieces, all by classical composers from the 1600s through the 1900s, including Buxtehude, Brahms, Handel, Bach, Mozart, Brunhns, Vierne and Langlais.

Cutting majored in organ performance at Hope College, Holland, Mich., and recently moved to Maine from Michigan. She later continued study at the University of Michigan. She has performed throughout the Midwest and also in Europe. Trinity is fortunate to have her as their organist.

After the Bach pieces, Cutting played the hymn versions, which the audience sang from the hymnals at each place in the pews.

Roger Knight and his wife, Sally, greeted us as we entered. The Trinity minister, the Rev. Thomas Chittick, spoke before the concert.

The next concert at the church will be Saturday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m., when Heather Connolly, contralto, will sing. There is no charge for admission, and the public is welcome. The church is a fine setting for a concert, and has its own parking area behind the church.

Toe-tapping concert

After the delicious lunch served by the chef at the Woodfords Club, at the Woodfords Congregational Church hall, the Woman’s Literary Union enjoyed a toe-tapping concert by the State Street Traditional Jazz Band, who were seated on the stage in the hall.

The Sweet Adelines were scheduled to entertain, but illness changed those plans. They will now sing at the Jan. 17th membership luncheon.

Members at the table where I sat were Ann Dox, who was WLU president in 1993-1995, Barbara Burbank, Arlene Burns, Alta Watson, Gladys Rikert and Kay Sawyer. Roberta Barker was program hostess and Virginia Wintle was the greeter, as members entered the hall.

The four men in the jazz band, all accomplished musicians who played without any music, are Bill Rayne, trombone; Johnny Bettis, clarinet and saxophone; Edwin Pat Whittaker, tuba (and what big sounds we heard from that huge, shiny instrument); and Mark Finks, banjo. Finks, who sang many of the songs, also narrated the history of jazz from its start in New Orleans, and he gave us background and anecdotes of several of the prominent names of jazz players. He spoke about Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong, who many of us remember. The leading trumpeter in jazz history, he was born in 1900 in New Orleans. A prolifically gifted natural musician, as a child he followed the brass bands around the streets of New Orleans. In 1922, his hero, Joe “King” Oliver, then leading a band in Chicago, sent for him to play second trumpet. From that moment on, the balance of jazz was overturned and its rules amended as Armstrong brought to bear on it the full power of his gifts.

Among the songs the jazz band played were “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In,” “What a Wonderful World,” and “Livery Stable Blues,” the first blues song in New Orleans.

It was just the kind of program that made us leave the hall in a happy and relaxed mood. The weather this month has been upsetting – rain, high winds, gloomy days. The jazz group made me think of the old song, “Happy Days Are Here Again.” They surely made it a happy day for us.

Cringe-inducing adjective

In the Nov. 11 Boston Herald, a columnist was reporting on a performance at Sculler’s , a nightclub, by Audra McDonald. She is a five-time Tony Award-winning actress and Julliard-trained vocalist. I was enjoying the article and the praise the music critic had for this singer. He mentioned “When Lola Sings,” “I Wanna Get Married” and other pop music songs.

But I cringed when he wrote; “McDonald closed by putting down her microphone and singing the corniest of numbers, ‘Edelweiss.'”

That beautiful song from “The Sound of Music” by Rodgers and Hammerstein. How could that critic call it corny?

I talked with Jan Usher, my Westbrook friend who is a well-known musician. She was astounded by that description. I’m sure that “Edelweiss” is a favorite of many musical people, including Jan and me.

In the last paragraph about McDonald, the critic did say that her singing of “Edelweiss” (which he called “this warhorse”) worked beautifully for her. Shame on that critic. I wonder if he feels that way about all the wonderful songs in “The Sound of Music”?

Lucretia’s cookies a hit

I miss reading Lucretia Douglas’s column, “The Cricket,” in the Bridgton News.

One of my pleasures, when in my kitchen, is to look over at the article I keep on a shelf by the window; it was in the April 25, 2002, weekly broadsheet, “Your Neighbors.” which appeared in the Portland Press Herald. In it is a beautiful picture of Lucretia, smiling, and holding one of her molasses cookies. Her smile always cheers me up, and her recipe for “Nana’s Molasses Cookie,” is printed under her picture. That recipe cheers up my family. In fact, I’ve been asked to repeat that recipe. It makes a big batch of cookies, but those I baked disappeared in just a short time.

Thanks Lucretia. I think of you often.

NANA’S MOLASSES COOKIES

Cream together: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup molasses, 1 cup shortening. Sift together: 3-1/2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons ginger, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt.

Dissolve 2 teaspoons baking soda with 3/4 cup boiling water.

Mix everything together and chill the dough. Roll dough onto a floured board until thin, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

I did not roll my dough out, but, after chilling, placed tablespoons of the dough on a cooking sheet. It was easy to do, and made at least 2 tins of delicious cookies.