A Difficult Miracle (2010), Mountain Songs of the Spirit, for soprano, baritone, chorus, and
instruments, was commissioned by the First Unitarian Society in Newton, Massachusetts and is
dedicated to director of music Anne Watson Born and the FUSN choir.
The poems, written by American poet Elizabeth Kirschner, are filled with mountain imagery, and
the woodwind instrumental scoring for the work was chosen for its evocation of traditional folk
music.
The music is essentially contemplative and personal in its exploration of the surrender of the spirit
to the mountain landscape.