Music for October 2, 2016 + The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• For Everyone Born – Brian Mann, arr. Tom Trenney
• Locus Iste – Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

Instrumental Music

• Benediction, Op. 33, No. 4B – Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)
• Sarabande from Suite No 7 in G minor - HWV 432– George Friderick Handel (1685-1759)
• Allegro in G Major – Christian Heinrich Rinck (1770-1846)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn R49 - Let the whole creation cry (Llanfair)
• Hymn 704 - O thou who camest from above (Hereford)
• Hymn 424 - For the fruit of all creation (East Acklam)
• Hymn R173 - O Lord, hear my prayer (Jean Berthier)
• Hymn 551 - Rise up, ye saints of God! (Festal Song)
• Psalm 37 - Noli aemulari

I was asked to lead a reading session of new choral music for a meeting of Chorister's Guild last May, and one of the pieces was an anthem based on a new hymn in the recent Presbyterian hymnal, Glory to God. I immediately fell in love with it, because the beautiful, lilting melody was paired with a strong text about justice. The hymn, by noted New Zealand hymnwriter Shirley Erena Murray, affirms that God’s hospitality transcends the barriers erected by human society and that we who have been created in God’s image are called to live in ways that reflect our Creator’s values: justice and joy, compassion and peace.

For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread,
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star overhead,

Refrain: and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy!

For woman and man, a place at the table,
revising the roles, deciding the share,
with wisdom and grace, dividing the power,
for woman and man, a system that’s fair, Refrain

For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong, Refrain

For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out, to witness and worship
for everyone born, the right to be free, Refrain

text: Shirley Erena Murray, © 1998 Hope Publishing Company

 I include the whole text because I think we, as Christians, need to be reminded of our duty to create peace. Martin Luther King said “True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” Too often justice is seen as a liberal concept. It is not; it is a Christian concept.

The music is by a Mann named Brian (see what I did there?), of whom I know nothing about. Hard to believe in this day and age of instantaneous electronic information I couldn't find anything. But the arrangement, which is stunning, is by Tom Trenney, Minister of Music at First-Plymouth Church (United Church of Christ) in Lincoln, Nebraska.  There he directs four adult choirs, plays the organ,

Tom Trenney

preaches sermons, (the congregation is not ready for one of MY sermons) and directs a Concert Series. In 2006, Trenney became the first organist to be awarded First Prize and Audience Prize in the American Guild of Organists’ National Competition in Organ Improvisation. Since that time he has performed all across the continent. This coming year he will serve as choral clinician at Montreat Worship and Music, Lutheridge Worship and Music, the National Convocation of The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, and Atlanta’s midwinter Choristers Guild Festival.


His creative touch is heard in the second stanza about gender equality when he gets to the line "dividing the power."  The choir has been singing in unison, but when he gets to "dividing," he separates the men (tenors and basses) and the women (sopranos and altos) before dividing the two parts into four. Finally, the four parts come together again on a strong, fortissimo "system that's fair!"

J.C.H.Rinck

The postlude is by a composer who is new to me, but certainly not "new." Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck was a noted composer for organ in his day, but the sad fact is he came along after the time of Bach, and the glory of the instrument had begun to wane. He was a part of the Classical Period (roughly 1750-1825), which began to eschew the organ and harpsichord in favor of the piano. Think of it - none of the Big Names of the Classical period (Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, Beethoven or Schubert) wrote anything of merit for the organ, if at all. But churches still needed organist, and for the organ student of the time, Rinck was a big contributor with his 'Practical Organ School,' a standard work in six volumes  and numerous Chorale Preludes.

Music for September 25 + Pentecost XIX and St. Michael and All Angels

10:15 Eucharist

Vocal Music

• Fight the Good Fight – John Gardner (1917-2011)

Instrumental Music

• Voluntary in D – John Stanley (1712-1786)
• Symphonie No. 4: III. Andante cantabile - Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
• Trumpet Voluntary in D – John Stanley

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 429 - I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath (Old 113^th)
• Hymn 561 - Stand up, stand up for Jesus (Morning Light)
• Hymn 705 - As those of old their first fruits brought (Forest Green)
• Hymn 605 - What does the Lord require (Sharpthorne)
• Hymn 370 - God is love, let heaven adore him (Abbott’s Leigh)
• Psalm 146:2-9 - Lauda, anima mea (simplified Anglican Chant by Jerome Meachem)

St. Michael and All Angels

Choral Eucharist at 5 PM

Vocal Music

• Locus Iste – Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
• Hide Me Under the Shadow of thy Wings – John Ebenezer West (1863-1929)

Instrumental Music

• Archangel Suite – Craig Phillips (b. 1961)

1. Michael – “…there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.” – Rev. 12:7
2. Gabriel – Messenger of God – messenger of the Annunciation
3. Raphael – It is God who heals – Archangel of healing
4. Uriel – God is my light – Archangel of Light

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 282 - Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels (CAELITES PLAUDANT)
• Hymn R75 - Praise the Lord, let heavens adore hymn (Austrian Hymn)
• Hymn R114 - Psalm 103: Bless the Lord (Taizé)
• Hymn 618 - Ye watchers and ye holy ones (Lasst uns erfreuen)
• Hymn 625 - Ye holy angels bright (Darwall’s 148th)

This is a full Sunday for the Good Shepherd Choir, as we sing at the morning service at 10:15 as well as the Service dedicating the new Acolytes at 5 PM. Here are some thoughts about the music for both services.

John Gardner in rehearsal

I chose the anthem Fight the Good Fight to echo the themes of the Epistle reading for the day. ("Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. - 1st Timothy 6:12) That's also why we are singing that good old hymn, Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.

The anthem was composed by John Gardner, an English organist and composer who once tried to teach Paul McCartney the rudiments of music! He was decidedly of the "old" school - much more romantic and traditional than other up and coming composers on the European continent after World War II. This anthem comes from a set of Five Hymns in Popular Style composed in 1966

At the Evening Service the choir sings the beautiful unaccompanied motet by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner, Locus Iste. The text, which is sung in Latin, translates to

This place was made by God,
a priceless sacrament;
it is without reproach. . 

I have chosen it because (A.) I like it. (B.) The choir likes it, and (C.) It reminds me of what Jacob said after he woke from his dream of angels climbing a ladder to heaven. ("“Surely the Lord is in this place...This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” - Genesis 28:16-17)

Bruckner was a composer of a number of highly original and monumental symphonies. He was also an organist and teacher who composed much sacred and secular choral music. He was a devout Catholic, but he was not without his quirks. Read the article that I have linked to above. (But not during the sermon. DEFINITELY not in church.)

I'm excited to be playing a (relatively) new work at the evening service specifically for St. Michael and All Angels. It is a suite written in 2011 by Craig Phillips, Archangel Suite is a collection of four movements which explore the contrasting characters of the four traditional archangels.

Craig Phillips

I'm using the first movement, "Michael" as the opening voluntary; It is martial trumpet-tune which portrays St. Michael, the chief angelic adversary of Satan. The second and third movement will come during communion. "Gabriel" is a quietly but steadily flowing 9/8 movement with a lyric melody in the pedals, sounding above a flowing accompaniment in the manuals; "Raphael" is a shimmering meditation for celestes and solo stops, depicting the archangel of healing. I will play the finale, dedicated to Uriel,the archangel of light, as a closing voluntary. "Uriel" is a dramatic and vivid toccata in the French style.

Craig Phillips has served as Director of Music at All Saints’ Church, Beverly Hills since 2009. He previously served for 20 years as the churches’ Associate Director of Music and Composer-in-Residence. His choral and organ music is heard Sunday by Sunday in churches and cathedrals across the United States, and many of his works have been performed in concert throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He was named the American Guild of Organists Distinguished Composer for 2012 — the seventeenth recipient of this special award.

Music for September 18, 2016 + The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• With a Voice of Singing – Martin Shaw (1874-1958)

Instrumental Music

• What Does the Lord Require? – arr. Michael Burkhardt (b. 1957)
• Be Thou My Vision – arr. Jason Tonioli (contemporary)
• Now Thank We All Our God, BWV 657 – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 390 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Lobe den Herren)
• Hymn 605 What does the Lord require (Sharpthorne)
• Hymn 408 Sing praise to God who reigns above (Mit Freuden Zart)
• Hymn 488 Be thou my vision (Slane)
• Hymn 475 God himself is with us (Tysk)
• Psalm 113:1-2, 4-8 Laudate, pueri – Tone IVe

Martin Shaw

The anthem was composed by Martin Shaw, eminent English church musician, in 1923 for the Annual Festival of Church Choirs held in London. It has become a universal favorite of church choirs in the 90 years hence.  The bold opening unison declaration gives way to imitative entrances by the individual choral sections. This pattern continues throughout the short work. Mr. Shaw adds a final flourish for the organ as the choir sustains the final “Alleluia.”

Martin Shaw was a composer, educator, arranger and campaigner for renewal and revival of English church music during the early part of the 20th Century. In a career which spanned both World Wars, he felt: very strongly that

the great purpose of music should be to aid the cause of Humanity, and that we should regard it, therefore, as being in its nature at least as much social as artistic.

Michael Burkhardt

Last week the choir sang the hymn What does the Lord require using the tune SHARPTHORNE by Erik Routley. I will be playing a prelude based on that tune before the service today written by one of my SMU classmates, Michael Burkhardt. Michael has gone on to even greater things, becoming a world-class composer, arranger, and performer of organ and choral works. He is currently Director of Worship and the Arts at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Livonia, Michigan, Director of Worship and the Arts for the Southeast Michigan Synod of the ELCA, and Artistic Director of the Detroit Handbell Ensemble.  He has served on the faculty of Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, and Christ College Irvine, Irvine, CA, as well as Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN, and Trinity Seminary, Columbus, OH, as Guest Lecturer in their Master of Sacred Music programs.

I'm playing this setting of the hymn to help familiarize the congregation with the tune so we may sing it with confidence later in the service. This hymn is one of the great hymns of the last part of the 20th century. “What Does the Lord Require?” was written in January 1949 by Albert Bayly, considered by many as a father of the Twentieth-Century Hymn Explosion. The hymn was based on the text from Micah 6:6-8 and was published along with 16 other hymns representing prophets from the Old Testament. The tune mostly associated with Bayly’s hymn is this one, SHARPTHORNE.

The text’s shortness and simplicity are by design. In an article “Writing Hymns for Our Times,” Bayly once wrote that “hymns may deal with the most profound ideas, but unless these are expressed in the simplest and clearest possible way they can be nothing but words to many of those who sing them.”

Jason Tonioli

Almost everybody loves the hymn tune Slane, which The Hymnal 1982 uses for the hymns Be Thou My Vision and Lord of All Hopefulness. I am playing a New Age piano arrangement at communion by the contemporary Mormon pianist Jason Tonioli. You can look him up on the internet if you would like to hear more New Age style arrangements of favorite, well-known hymn tunes.

The closing voluntary is Bach's setting Lobe den Herren, better known as Now Thank We All Our God. It is written in an imitative style, with the lower voices (alto line of the treble clef and the entire bass clef played by the left hand, with pedal part) forming sort of a fugal 'cloud' that the melody, played by the right hand on the trumpet stop, soars above. This is one of several treatments of this famous hymn that Bach composed during his church musician years. (He wasn't always a church musician. For a period of 6 years he was music director for the court at Köthen, where the prince was Calvinist and did not use elaborate music in his worship; accordingly, most of Bach's work from this period was secular.)

Music for September 11, 2016 + The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Lord, for Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake – Richard Farrant (c.1530-1580) or John Hilton (1565-1708?)
• What Does the Lord Require? – Erik Routley (1917-1982)

Instrumental Music

• Elegy – George Thalben-Ball (1896-1987)
• Shalom (Peace) – Dan Locklair (b. 1949)
• Postlude in B-flat Major – John E. West (1863-1929)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982.)

• Hymn 423 - Immortal, invisible, God only wise (St. Denio)
• Hymn 470 - There’s a wideness in God’s mercy (Beecher)
• Hymn 377 - All people that on earth do dwell (Old 100^th)
• Hymn 645 - The King of love my shepherd is (St. Columba)
• Hymn 708 - Savior, like a shepherd lead us (Sicilian Mariners)
• Psalm 51:1-4, 7-8, 11 - Miserere mei, Deus (Tone VIIIb)

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I dare say that very few things in the past 50 years have shaken the country like that horrible day. But out of pain come acts of hope and beauty. Such is the piece that I play today for the communion voluntary.

Dan Locklair

Dan Locklair wrote his Æolian Sonata between late January and March for a recital celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Duke University Chapel’s Æolian pipe organ in June 2002. This was the last organ the Æolian Organ Company built before they merged with the E.M. Skinner Organ Co., forming the great American classic organ company,  Æolian-Skinner.

In three movements, The Æolian Sonata musically celebrates the heritage and continued use of the historic Æolian organ in Duke Chapel, but it also pays tribute to the spirit of the American people in the aftermath of the 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks. The title for each movement is in a different language, symbolically paying tribute to the outpouring of support that Americans have felt from peace-loving people throughout the world. In a spiritual way, the music of each movement is a reflection on its title, with these words being indicative of a healing nation.

The second movement,  Shalom (Peace),  is marked “Serene and unhurried.” It is a quiet and simple movement that lyrically dialogues flute and clarinet sounds as it gently reflects on the Hebrew word for peace. Locklair prefaced this movement with the dedication:

In remembrance of the darkness of September 11 from which emerged hope for Peace and joy in Thanksgiving.

Locklair is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina (USA). He holds a Master of Sacred Music degree from the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Presently, Dr. Locklair is Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The choir's anthem is a choral setting of a sixteenth century prayer by Henry Bull, set to music by either Richard Farrant or John Hilton, both English composers of sacred music. Farrant was organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, in the middle of the sixteenth century, while Hilton was known as a counter-tenor and organist, most notably at Trinity College, Cambridge. In the beginning, the music is in a simple, a capella, hymn-like style which befits the reflective and restful mood of the text, but at the words "that we may walk in a perfect heart" the choir has a chance to play around with the rhythms of the words and sing much more independently of each other, finally ending with a contrapuntal "amen."

The communion anthem is a hymn from our hymnal. Early in 1949 Albert F. Bayly wrote this text based on Micah 6:6-8 as one of a series of seventeen hymns he was writing on the Old Testament prophets. His objective was to present the prophets "in the light of the climax and fulfillment of the Old Testament revelation in the coming of Christ." "What Does the Lord Require" asks questions and states commands as if Micah were a modern-day prophet. The refrain line "Do justly. . ." subtly shifts from the imperative voice in stanzas 1 through 3 to a corporate confession in stanza 4. Erik Routley composed SHARPTHORNE in 1968 to be published as a setting for Bayly's text in a British hymnal. Sharpthorne is a village in Routley's native county of Sussex, England.

Don't forget the Concert of Remembrance and Peace tonight at Strawbridge United Methodist Church. Members from our choir will be a part of this event.

Music for September 4, 2016 + The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• When Jesus Wept – William Billings (1746-1800), arr. by A. F. Schultz (b. 1942)

Instrumental Music

• Fantasy in C Major: Poco Lento - César Franck (1822-1890)
• Fantasy in C Major: Adagio - César Franck
• God of Grace and God of Glory - Paul Manz (1919-2009)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of the communion hymn which is from Lift Every Voice and Sing II.)

• Hymn 400 - All creatures of our God and King (Laast uns erfreuen)
• Hymn 675 - Take up your cross, the Savior said (Bourbon)
• Hymn 707 - Take my life and let it be (Hollingside)
• Hymn - I have decided to follow Jesus (Indian Folk melody)
• Hymn 594 - God of grace and God of glory (Cwm Rhondda)
• Psalm 1 - Beatus vir qui non abiit (Tone V)

The musical term of today is Canon (as in Pachelbel's Canon in D Major.) The Oxford Dictionary defines canon as

 A piece in which the same melody is begun in different parts successively, so that the imitations overlap.

A piece of music in canon is written with different parts successively beginning the same melody. 

Today we have two musical selections which use this form. One is a true canon, the other includes a section in canon. First the canon.

William Billings -
an incredibly flattering portrait
of the early American composer.

Those keen on Bible Trivia know that "Jesus Wept" is the shortest verse in the King James Version of the Bible. (Can you cite chapter and verse? Answer below.) Something so short and simple requires a short, simple and elegant musical setting. William Billings - the first American Master Musician from Revolutionary War days - presents us with this short canon based on this scripture. Now, even the music of Taizé would require more words than just the two syllables of Jesus Wept, so Billings added his own text to give us 16 bars of what John Lienhardt of the University of Houston called "one of the most exquisite short canons we've ever heard." (Read his highly entertaining and informative piece about Billings here.)

The setting we are singing today presents the original text along with two verses from the hymn which we sing this Sunday as the Gospel hymn, Take Up Your Cross. We sing the second verse as a two-part canon, trebles followed by the tenors and basses. This is an arrangement by Alan Schultz, American organist, composer and conductor who is also past conductor and music director of The Southern Arizona Symphony and the Tucson Masterworks Chorale

Both the opening voluntary and the communion voluntary are excerpts from a large-scale organ work by the Belgian/French composer César Franck. The work, the Fantasy in C Major, is in three large parts separated by short transitional passages. I'm playing the first section, Poco Lento, for the opening and the last section, Adagio, for communion. It is in the opening voluntary that we find the other canon in today's music.

This selection is itself in three parts. The opening theme (or melody) is presented on the swell manual alone using all the 8' stops (save the trumpet stop). Then the pedal introduces a secondary theme which is echoed two measures later by the left hand (the canon). After the full exposition of the secondary theme, this theme is again presented but with the addition of a counter-melody in the right hand over the canon between the pedal and the left hand. At the end of this section, the original theme reappears with a fuller sound including the trumpet and the pedals.

The service ends with a congregational favorite, Paul Manz's improvisation on the equally loved Welsh hymn-tune, Cwm Rhondda. I think people like it because the opening bars of the piece sound like the opening phrase of the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah. Whatever the reason, it's a great way to leave the service!

* John 11:35 - Jesus Wept.