Music for April 16, 2017 + Easter

Vocal Music

• Tell the News! – David Ashley White (b. 1944)
• Magdalen, Cease from Sobs and Sighs – Peter Hurford (b. 1930)
• Hallelujah (Messiah) – G. F. Handel (1685-1759)

Instrumental Music

• Carillon de Westminster - Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
• Final (Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 14) – Louis Vierne

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

• Hymn 179 - “Welcome, happy morning!” (FORTUNATUS)
• Hymn 207 - Jesus Christ is risen today (EASTER HYMN)
• Hymn 174 - At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (SALZBURG)
• Hymn - Sing with all the saints in glory (HYMN TO JOY)
• Hymn R199 - This is the feast of victory (FESTIVAL CANTICLE)
• Hymn R237 - Jesus, stand among us (WEM IN LEIDENSTAGEN)
• Hymn R202 - Sing alleluia to the Lord (SING ALLELUIA)
• Hymn 182 - Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (TRURO)
• Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Confitemini Domino - setting by Thom Pavlechko

David Ashley White

The offertory anthem is a new addition to the library of the Good Shepherd Choir. It was written by David Ashley White, a seventh-generation Texan who is on the faculty of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston and is Composer-in-Residence at Houston’s Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church. He wrote this anthem for the Mississippi Conference of Church Music and Liturgy, which I attend every year and where I first heard it. I was immediately drawn to its melody, a rugged tune full of life and celebration which sounds as if it were written during the time of the Revolutionary War. Combined with the sparkling organ accompaniment, it will work well as the 'big' anthem at our Easter eucharist.

Peter Hurford

The communion anthem is also new to our library, but is well known among church musicians. It is the arrangement of an Easter carol by the British organist Peter Hurford. Trained in both music and law, Hurford has enjoyed an enviable reputation for both his organ playing and his musical scholarship. He received an appointment as music master at St. Albans Abbey in 1958 where he began to attract the attention of other English organists unsatisfied with the traditional and often heavy-handed Baroque style customarily heard in English churches.  After two decades at St. Albans, Hurford resigned in 1978 to devote his time to solo performances. By that time, his recordings had made his name a familiar one even to those who had not heard him in live performance. He suffered a minor stroke in 1997, but recovered enough to resume his performing career seven months later. In early 2008, he was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer's Disease, and formally retired from concertizing in 2009.

When it comes to showy organ music, nothing, nobody, can beat the French. One of the greatest organists of the first half of the 20th century was Louis Vierne, who was organist at Notre Dame in Paris. He wrote music for orchestra, choir, voice and piano, but it is his organ music that he is most remembered for today. He wrote 6 organ symphonies, four suites, two organ masses and numerous other pieces for the instrument.

From the third suite of Vierne’s four-suite set 24 pieces de fantaisie we find Vierne's most famous work, The Carillon de Westminster. The ubiquitous clock-tune of Westminster Abbey, heard every hour on-the-hour in cities and towns all over the planet, is here gradually transformed into a magnificent, transcendent celebration of time and eternity itself. It gradually builds in intensity toward its awesome and heaven-storming climax. Though not explicitly "Easter" in title, its celebratory feel is perfect for this day.

Vierne's first symphony, Symphony No. 1 for organ in D minor, Op. 14, was premiered in 1899. It had six movements but it is the last movement, or Final,which I am playing for the closing voluntary today. From the first note to the last, it is non-stop with the melody in the pedals and rapid accompaniment in the manual keyboards. This movement is loud, starting with full organ and getting even louder!

Were his music not dramatic enough, it's only topped by his death - dying at the console during a performance. (You can read about it here). That's the way to go!