Brother James' Air, arranged by Mack Wilberg | Choral Music

Not long after my dad, sister, and I started singing in our church choir a few months ago, our director handed handed us some new music that definitely sparked our interest. The text: Psalm 23; the tune: a beautiful air by James Leith Macbeth Bain (1840-1925). It's commonly referred to as The Lord's My Shepherd, or Brother James' Air.

Mack Wilberg arranged it for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, so of course that means it was originally performed by a multiple-hundred-member choir and a huge orchestra! But we discovered that this piece is equally beautiful with a smaller number of voices and a simple piano accompaniment. All of us absolutely loved it and we keep begging our director to let us sing it again! (In fact, our pianist loves it so much that he frequently plays the tune whenever we need any quiet piano music in church.)

Brother James' Air is a beautifully reflective, quiet piece. I hope you are as blessed hearing it as we were singing it!



You can purchase the sheet music here.

For the love of music and the glory of God,
Rebekah

O Nata Lux by Morten Lauridsen | Choral Music

It was late last September as I sat at the piano in the choir loft of a church here on the Coast. I was substitute playing for a friend one Sunday morning, and a piece of paper on the music rack caught my eye. It was information for an upcoming concert featuring a capella choral works from several different composers, ranging from the 1600's to recent years. This music would be performed by a high school madrigal group and a university chorus; the chorus would be directed by a friend of ours. "Wow!" I thought. "This ought to be really good!" So a few days later, my family and I drove over to this church and immensely enjoyed each and every piece of music we heard. The voices in each choral group were phenomenal!

One of my favorites from that evening was "O Nata Lux", a sacred choral motet written by the contemporary composer Morten Lauridsen for the late Paul Salamunovich, conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. It is one of several poems set to music in Lauridsen's magnificent work "Lux Aeterna" ("Eternal Light"). You can read the composer's own thoughts on Lux Aeterna here.

Incidentally, the chorus performing O Nata Lux in this particular video is the same one that performed Pilgrim's Hymn in my last Choral Music post: the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire choir. It's absolutely beautiful.

O nata lux de lumine,		O born light of light,
Jesu redemptor saeculi		Jesu redeemer of the world,
dignare clemens supplicum		mercifully deem worthy and accept
laudes preces que sumere.		praises and prayers from Your supplicants.
Qui carne quondam contegi		Who once was clothed in the flesh
dignatus es pro perditis.		for those who are lost.
Nos membra confer effici,		Allow us to become members of
tui beati corporis.		Your holy body.

For the love of music and the glory of God,
Rebekah

Pilgrim's Hymn by Stephen Paulus | Choral Music

I've decided to start a new series of blog posts about choral music!

Mostly because I've recently discovered that I'm a choral music nerd.

It kinda goes along with the a capella obsession thing.

This first piece of music is one that my church choir performed back in October. After our director told us about it, he played a recording of it on his phone. It was really quiet, and you could hear a pin drop as we listened in awed silence because of how absolutely gorgeous this music is. We were so excited to learn it.

The contemporary composer Stephen Paulus wrote this piece, interestingly enough, for one of his operas called "The Three Hermits". The lyrics were written by Michael Dennis Browne and are as breathtakingly beautiful as the music itself.

Here is a video of the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire choir performing Pilgrim's Hymn in the Milwaukee Art Museum:

Even before we call on Your name

To ask You, O God

When we seek for the words to glorify You

You hear our prayer

Unceasing love, O unceasing love

Surpassing all we know

Glory to the Father

And to the Son

And to the Holy Spirit

Even with darkness sealing us in

We breathe Your name

And through all the days that follow so fast

We trust in You

Endless Your grace, O endless Your grace

Beyond all mortal dream

Both now and forever

And unto ages and ages

Amen

For the love of music and the glory of God,

Rebekah

[You can order the music here.]