Secular hymn

It is secular hymn to social justice, Scottish self-respect and common humanity.

The original chamber version of Appalachian Spring was a signature part of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra's repertoire, and I can remember how moving it was to hear this music there in the American heartland, surrounded by an audience for whom this was like a secular hymn of quiet but also joyful patriotism, emblematic, as conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has said, "of the best we Americans can be."

In the past 75 years, "Adagio for Strings" has become America's secular hymn of grief, played at countless funerals and memorials.

On Learning to Bend Sollee also lays claim to soul tradition by rewriting Sam Cooke's secular hymn "A Change is Gonna Come" with lyrics adapted to his own life and the country's situation (such as topical references to the Iraq War).

Twelve years later that boy, John Lennon, would "Imagine no possessions", in what became his most famous song, his secular hymn expressing a very different sentiment.

Antoniou's secular hymn is felicitous as it unites meaningfully key ingredients from the living past and the everlasting present.

By this time Horace was virtually in the position of poet laureate, and in 17 he composed the Secular Hymn (Carmen saeculare) for ancient ceremonies called the Secular Games.

This is fine for those who like Lennon's secular hymn and enjoy the warmth of the sentiments, which suggest that the ills of the world could beeasedforever if we placed our faith in the here-and-now, dismissing the religious notion of an afterlife tobelived in heaven or hell.

029 2064 6900 MUSIC Madeleine Peyroux Iconic American singer-songwriter Madeleine Peyroux continues her musical journey of exploring beyond the ordinary with Secular Hymns Tonight, 7.30pm, St David's Hall.

Secular hymns from the church of rock 'n' roll are Bruce's forte and they come no more full-blooded or roadhardened than Born To Run - and this roaring version doesn't disappoint.

10 beautiful songs, secular hymns, piano and voice - nothing to detract or distract from the melody and the words," he says of the album.