And Then There Is God

Religious music - I guess I'm more of a traditionalist, but there is some really great stuff out there.  I have spent most of my life involved in church music, starting from choir as a child, singing in various choirs, directing choirs, performing music in church, even stumbling through the organ (my preference is to default to the piano as I'm not much of an organist).  But I love it and will keep doing it in hopes that someone will feel some of what I feel when I hear/perform it.

I love the music of John Rutter.  One of the first pieces of his that I ever heard was his "Star Carol" which was a real breath, no, gust of fresh air in the religious music scene.  What I'm putting in here is "The Lord Is My Shepherd" from his Requiem.  Over the years, I have "collected" different versions of the 23rd Psalm, and this one really sticks out as deeply moving.

Another contemporary composer of note is Eric Whitacre.  He writes glorious music for choirs.  This piece, "When David Heard", is about David's mourning after hearing of the death of his son, Absalom, and was written for a friend who had lost a son.  I find it impossible to forget the haunting words, "My son, my son" pouring out of the heart, in a cascade, tumbling down, falling over each other in deepest grief.  Anyone who is a parent fears this kind of grief more than any other.

I also like the choral music of Craig Courtney who has been the heir of the late John Ness Beck, who wrote beautiful music when I was growing up.  I couldn't find any decent recordings of the music of either one of them on YouTube, so I'm going to try to put in one of Craig's songs from a CD.  The choir on this CD is from the church that I grew up in in Columbus Ohio.  Craig Courtney has worked closely with the director there, Ronald Jenkins, and they have done some great work together.

Well, rats.  I couldn't get that to download, so I looked some more on YouTube and found Craig Courtney guest directing the BJU choir in several of his songs.  (BJU right up against BYU - I hope they can get along.)

And last, but certainly not least, I have to put some bells in here.  The group performing here is Vivace, an extremely talented group from Puerto Rico.  I have seen them a number of times and every time is wonderful.  They do their best when they are playing their native music, although everything they play is good.  The show they put on this night was all Latin or Latin-inspired music. This piece is one of the "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires" pieces by Astor Piazzolla.

Enjoy!