SEPTEMBER 2020
Let Me Go. Words and music by Lewis Hartsough (1828-1919), arranged by William Averitt. SATB choir. Walton Music WW1715, $2.60.
Called a shape note tune, this is the third movement from Averitt’s larger work, Over Jordan. Tere are challenging, but doable vocal lines. Te text, appropriate for funerals, speaks of being let go from this world of suffering to “where saints are going, to the mansions of the blest.” Filled with imagery of eternal bliss, “where tears and sighing are forever unknown.”
Hush! My Dear. Bernard Sexton. Text by Isaac Watts. SSATB choir. G-9782, $1.80.
Here’s a lovely Christmas lullaby. Tere are four musically identical verses and a refrain whose only word is “lullaby.” Te verses are alternately sung to Christ in the manger and to us. Te musical consistency makes this quickly learned. While the first sopranos go to a high G, the piece could be sung in a lower key since it’s a cappella.
If Christ Had Not Been Raised from Death. Words by Christopher M. Idle, music by Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), edited and arranged by Scott M. Hyslop. Unison voices and keyboard with two C instruments. G-8212, $2.30.
I’m always on the lookout for a good classical piece or tune that has been adapted to a sacred text. Tat’s what Scott M. Hyslop has done with this modern text and Baroque tune. From a C to an F (an 11th above it), a fairly wide range is required. Tree musically identical verses will be learned quickly. Two optional C instrument parts are included. Flute and oboe will give it that Baroque sound. Just add a few mordents and trills.
Concertato on At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing. SONNE DER GERECHTIGKEIT, setting by John Leavitt. SATB choir, assembly and organ with brass quartet and timpani. G-2980, $2.25.
From 1987, John Leavitt’s stately arrangement of this Easter hymn would fit well on Easter Sunday or any Sunday of the season. While
the texture of each verse varies (voicings and instrumentation), the harmonization stays mostly consistent. D major throughout.
We Shall Walk Trough the Valley. Spiritual, arranged by Horace Clarence Boyer (1935-2009). SATB Choir. G-7323, $2.10.
Tis unaccompanied spiritual arrangement would make an appropriate offering on any occasion that has eternal life as its theme. It could also be used in conjunction with Psalm 23 as the psalm of the day. It opens and closes with soothing, yet interesting, harmonies. Te middle section stands in contrast by the use of syncopated rhythms. It conveys the conviction that Jesus will lead us through death in peace to a time and place where there will be no sorrow, and where we will meet our loved ones.
Gone Forth from Home. J. Michael Tompson, Georg Neumark (1621-1681), arranged by Jennifer Kerr Breedlove. SAB choir and keyboard. G-9141, $2.10.
On organ, this could be played with manuals only. Based on imagery drawn from the Lectionary readings for the Second Sunday of Lent, this gentle arrangement of WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT can be used throughout the Lenten season. In verse one, unison women tell of God’s covenant with Abram. In verse two, tiered, ascending three-part entrances paint the text of Jesus ascending the mountain for the transfiguration. Verse three begins unison, fanning into three parts, addressing us and how we are “called to covenant, following Christ with joyful song.”
Jim Cole is the Director of Liturgical Music at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.
FIND OUT MORE FROM THE PUBLISHER:
GIA Publications
giamusic.com
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