Suffering arrived in waves in 2005. The December 26 Tsunami left over 220,000 dead or missing. Whole communities were wiped out in an instant. New Orleans, Biloxi and Gulfport were inundated, reminding Americans that we are as vulnerable to natural disaster as anyone. And tremors in Pakistan killed more than 73,000 people. The numbers remain staggering. And the pain stretches as deep as it does wide. For the young child who lost her mother – and there were thousands of such children – the warmth of a maternal embrace is lost forever, along with home, community, family livelihood and hope of a decent future. We are left speechless in response to the overwhelming need. Do we turn away in despair? Or do we continue to hold out meager offerings, perhaps nothing more than a lullaby to a child who will never again hear her mother’s voice?

“Who despises the day of small things?” asked the Jewish prophet Zechariah. The returning Israelite exiles began the reconstruction of a devastated Jerusalem by rebuilding the altar, not the city wall. As they dedicated the new altar, many wept, because it was so small in comparison to what had been destroyed. But the weeping was drowned out by rejoicing: at last the tide had turned towards life. I think of Smetana’s lullaby for an orphan child, recorded on this album. Grief and love mix to comfort the young boy. Such small beginnings orient people’s hearts in the direction of hope.

A team of volunteers from our Methodist Church spent a week in Biloxi, MI contributing just a drop in the bucket of reconstruction. In a city where most of the remaining residents still lived in FEMA trailers 9 months after Hurricane Katrina, they managed to repair a roof, build a front porch and do a little landscaping. Their work was hardly earth-shattering. But for Miss Ruby, it made all the difference in the world. The energy of outside volunteers helped propel her beyond the persistent trauma of the life-stripping hurricane. She caught a glimpse of the day when she would sit on her own front porch again, in peace and unafraid.

The outpouring of love and gifts to victims of disaster has been great. So far UMCOR, a United Methodist relief organization, has helped to rebuild 113 houses in Sri Lanka in 2006. Every one of those homes now offers shelter and hope to fisher families who saw their villages swept clean off the sand, anchoring them now to a future worth working towards. In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, women like Syarifa receive micro credit loans to start small businesses. Syarifa bakes cakes daily and seeks to provide a life for her family, now that her husband is dead, lost before her eyes in the tidal wave. These are small steps in a rebuilding effort that the UN Developmental Program estimates will take a decade. But the small offerings of aid are a symbol of life itself for those whose suffering goes deep and wide. Thank you for your contribution to the “day of small things”: your purchase of this album is a needed gesture of love, support and comfort.

- Rebecca Mosley

The day after Christmas in 2004 the world looked on in horror and helpless desperation, as the Asian Tsunami took minutes to cause widespread suffering that would last for years. From church yard sales to celebrities’ million-dollar gifts, many of us did what we could. My friend, artist Monica Church, and I decided to create this CD, in hopes that the music could provide some measure of comfort and produce income for tangible help. Months of research and musical readings with my friend and colleague Christopher Fecteau resulted in this program of international lullabies. I am indebted to the illustrious cast of friends who agreed to join me on this recording. Chris considered the wealth of musical riches on hand to create beautiful arrangements of nine of the songs. Seventeen-time Grammy-winning producer Max Wilcox came on board, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters graciously donated the use of their fine hall for the recording. The stage was set for something very special.

While we were in the recording stage of this project, Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Further global natural disasters would follow, and we decided to expand the scope of our giving to include other areas of need. As of December 22, 2006, proceeds raised from the sale of this CD will go to the United Methodist Committee on Relief and the Mission Society for United Methodists (working with Habitat for Humanity in Indonesia).

Monica Church has made available prints of her painting Hush Hush, proceeds to go to disaster relief. The painting takes its name from the sound Monica would use to soothe her young daughter. Art, music, and parenthood deepen our sensitivity to the suffering of others, and to the needs that still exist for the comfort we craved as infants. Barely one month after we finished this recording, my son was born. We named him Asa (Hebrew for “Healer”). Sleep is Behind the Door represents a labor of love, and I hope that the birthing process of this recording will lead to some kind of healing for you and many others.

- Courtenay Budd

The Songs

• 1.  Canteloube* Brezairola (Chants d’Auvergne)
• 2.  Strauss Wiegenliedchen, Op. 49, no. 3
• 3.  Grieg* Solveig’s Cradle Song
• 4.  Sadero Ninna-Nanna Toscana
• 5.  Scheer** Count to 12
• 6.  MacDowell Geistliches Wiegenlied
• 7.  Dvořák Ukolébavka
• 8.  Copland All the Pretty Little Horses (Old American Songs)
• 9.  Traditional Yiddish Schlof sche mein Vögele
• 10. de Falla Nana (Siete Canciones Populares Españolas)
• 11. Cittadini Ninna Nanna
• 12. Kricka Ukolébavka
• 13. Humperdinck Wiegenlied
• 14. Dubois* Berceuse sur un vieil air
• 15. Milano Ninna Nanna
• 16. Smetana* Ukolébavka (Hubicka)
• 17. Traditional Russian* Sleep is Behind the Door
• 18. Montsalvatge Cancion de cuna para dormir un negrito
• 19. Humperdinck* Sandman’s aria and prayer (Hansel and Gretel)
• 20. Pipkov* Lullaby
• 21. Rodrigo Canción de cuna (Doce Canciones Españolas)
• 22. Salta Dormi angiol mio
• 23. Churchill Baby Mine (Dumbo)
• 24. Harline When You Wish Upon a Star (Pinocchio)
• 25. Carpenter* The Sleep that flits on Baby’s Eyes

**premier recording
*Arranged by Christopher Fecteau