Product Description
There
are 150 psalms in the Bible, each one originally meant to be sung; and so
they were for most of the last 3,000 years, beginning at the Jerusalem
Temple. They were adopted as the primary song text of the early church as
evidenced by Col. 3:16 and maintained in the Western church throughout
medieval times. Psalms were the featured texts of most of the Reformers and
were the sole mode of sacred singing among the first American settlers. Of
late, hymns and choruses and popular songs with human texts have almost
entirely replaced the singing of Gods word in many churches. This scarcity
of Psalms in the Churchs song is a great loss which frequently motivates me
to promote their increase. Thus, THIRTEEN , one member of my first suite of
new Psalm settings, is offered as a to help bring the Psalms back into modern
worship.
The thirteenth Psalm holds a complaint, a petition, and a confession of
faith and the music of THIRTEEN portrays each with text painting appropriate
to the psalmist's words. A staggering timpani ostinato buffets away beneath
the choir's tripartite "how long" complaint, followed by a
dissonant recitative petition which transitions through shimmering tonal clusters into a joyful,
major-key, confession of faith blended with a NT perspective from Eph.
3:20-21.
THIRTEEN is challenging music, both in music and message, but for the
adventurous music department it provides the opportunity to plumb the depths
of scripture with artistry worthy of the rich heritage of Psalmody to use
music to express the full message of Gods revelation. THIRTEEN is fitting to
program liturgically as a musical exposition of the Psalm or in a sacred or
secular concert setting. The very light orchestration complements the vocal
performance with rich instrumental color without overwhelming the voices.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.