Monday, February 13, 2006

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
(Cathedrals Under Construction Edition)

The Good:

Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral, Houston TX (due to be finished Fall 2007).
Note: As the exterior is not yet complete, the interior is not there for me to make the call. However, the plans do call for a choir loft (YAY!). Beautiful cruciform design. Reminds me greatly of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore.

The Bad:

Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland CA (due to be finished in 2008).
A cathedral? Really??? I was thinking concert hall for a moment. Kinda like Lincoln Center in New York City, or the Sydney Concert Hall in Australia.

The Ugly:
Inaugural concert at the Oakland cathedral by none other than the Minnesota Trinity.

Peace,
BMP

3 comments:

Cathy said...

From everything I've heard about Houston, when completed, that structure will likely be the
prettiest bit of architecture in Houston.

(Kidding, Houstonians! Kidding!)
Hooray for the person who had the common sense to build that Church.

Jack B. said...

Oakland Cath. looks like a sports arena. The Houston one looks really nice. I just don't get if you're going to spend tens of millions of dollars on a building for worship. why wouldn't you want it to inspire awe in those who look at it. You're building it for God, right?

Brian Michael Page said...

Sports arena - I like that one Jack! Maybe there will be a new NHL team in Oakland (btw, I love hockey, but I usually don't track scoring leaders, but penalty minute leaders LOL).

But you got it right on the money. Wouldn't you want to give God your absolute BEST? We're having a big fuss about that on one of my message boards right now, where an writer for a big publisher's music planning rag is pitching a b**** because of a "website that is decrying certain styles of music". But little does this well-known doctorate-decorated writer know that it's not so much STYLE that we're after, but QUALITY. So yeah, the thread is pretty big right now.

If you wanna check it out, it's http://www.rpinet.com/wforum - go to "Liturgy and Music Discussion", then "Problem with Certain Composers". You'll get a kick out of this.

Peace,
BMP