Re-remembering

Culture: A new classical release and Baylor artist Jeffrey Powers draws listeners back to "the greatest good that mortals know” | Arsenio Orteza

Among the posters, diplomas, and other decorations on the walls of Jeffrey Powers' office at Baylor University is a sign containing a well-known couplet by the 18th-century English poet and essayist Joseph Addison: "Music, the greatest good that mortals know, / And all of heaven we have below."

The quote is obviously an oversimplification. There are times, however, when anyone with ears to hear or a savage breast to be soothed would agree. And as a widely traveled 53-year-old associate professor of [French] horn, Jeffrey Powers has had many of them.

He has also provided his share: the latest of which can be found on Into the 21st Century: Music for Horn and Piano. Released by MSR Classics, the disc is a program of four compositions—"pieces," says Powers, "that really deserve to be heard." Besides showcasing Powers' talent on the French horn and that of his Baylor colleague Vincent De Vries on the piano, they reflect Powers' belief that abstract music can, and should, be a part of Christian worship.