Imagine taking your place at the piano bench in the great Philharmonia Hall in Warsaw, in front of 75 seasoned professionals of the Warsaw Philharmonic for the first recording session of music you're still composing. You've been writing constantly, trying to get finished in time. And there's still more to do. The sessions were booked months ago and cannot be changed.

The conductor is ready, baton poised. He's waiting for silence. You look up at the score in front of you—your own music, about to be brought to life by some of the finest musicians in Poland. Suddenly, you realize you haven't had sufficient time to practice!

That was when composer and pianist Peter Allen knew he had to pray. Fortunately, he told me afterwards, the first piece they were to record was "Built on the Rock," with hymn text based on the Danish of Nikolaj F. S. Gruntvig:

"I had to reassure myself," says Allen, "that God was in complete control of every aspect of this project right then and there, that He would not fail me, and that my reliance on God was indeed as firm as a rock. He had never let me down in the past, and He wasn't going to now, with so much at stake.

"Basically, I had a healing right there on the stand," recalls Allen. "I was able to move past my embarrassment in front of this great orchestra, who naturally expected me to know the music better than they did. I overcame my fear that I wouldn't be able to play without mistakes, or that I'd get lost in my own score.

"Before the conductor's baton came down, I felt confident that God had led me to take on this project, and that I was motivated by the desire to bring comfort and inspiration to my fellow man. Over the months I'd worked on the music, I'd grown increasingly confident that God was providing all the ideas I needed to fully express Him. This relieved me of any burden or personal responsibility to create anything, and helped me break through my own limitations. Normally I would allow two to three weeks of practice to get ready. But there simply wasn't time to do that. To my amazement, and with a rush of gratitude for all the lessons I'd learned years ago in a Christian Science Sunday School, I was able play that day without the normal preparation, and to play with confidence."

The recording Allen and the orchestra were working on in Warsaw is one the CD titled Onward, a collection of seven well-loved hymns found in most Christian hymnals. They are not just arrangements, as Allen is quick to point out, but fulllength compositions, using each hymn as a point of departure. They were written for full orchestra and piano soloist—in this instance, Allen himself.

"This CD," says Allen, "is my most sincere effort to translate into music the joy, struggle, victory, and beauty of what it means to live a Christian life. I think every person at some time has internal struggles," he continues, "so this is something everyone can relate to. The hymns I chose, including one of my alltime favorites, Mary Baker Eddy's 'O gentle presence,' have helped me during my own spiritual struggles—they've helped me become stronger and more loving."

Peter has a college degree in piano and composition, and diplomas in arranging and film scoring. As a student, he attended the summer music study programs at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado.

The writing and recording of Onward was the most ambitious and exhilarating project Allen has tackled in the 25 years since he became a full-time professional musician. His five earlier CDs include Pilgrim on Earth, in which he also featured well-loved hymns arranged for piano and orchestra.

This time, says Allen, he felt divinely guided every step of the way. He wrote most of the music in his home in San Francisco, praying daily to hear and follow the ideas flowing from divine Mind. Every morning when he sat down at his desk to write, he took a moment to focus on this passage from Science and Health: "Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear" (p. 506).

One day the idea came to him to complete the writing of the Onward music in Poland, where the recording was to be made. Within a month he had sublet his apartment in San Francisco, moved into an apartment in Warsaw, and was hard at work. "It was a mountain-top experience," he recalls. "Once I got there, I was free from all distractions and could really focus on writing. I ended up rewriting about 80 percent what I'd thought was a near-complete score! The ideas were flowing so freely and abundantly that I wrote one piece in four days. The speed and accuracy with which God's plan unfolded still amazes me."

Allen says he was also grateful for the "preciseness" of God's care. The building in Warsaw in which he lived and wrote had a graphic design shop on the ground floor, with just the right equipment to print his scores. He found a music copyist who was "friendly, fast, and accurate." And a casual conversation with someone in a nearby park led him to people who volunteered to collate, tape, and bind his scores for him as they flew out of his temporary studio.

"The biggest thing I learned during my time in Poland was to trust God to take care of everything," Allen concludes. "I learned that when God creates, He does not use time. And when I'm deeply trusting and really listening spiritually, I can write very quickly. This whole process is perfectly described in Science and Health: 'Spirit diversifies, classifies, and individualizes all thoughts, which are as eternal as the Mind conceiving them; but the intelligence, existence, and continuity of all individuality remain in God, who is the divinely creative Principle thereof' (p. 513)."

Allen says that the whole experience of living, writing, and recording in Poland was "exhilarating, fun, deep, spiritual, and exalting. It included discovery, complete engagement, full exertion, and deep satisfaction.

"I hope what we have produced will prove to be something of value," he adds. "Something people want to listen to, not just once, but more than once, and that it will really speak to them."

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