21 Dec 2015

Albrecht's 'Gloria!'

In addition to the biblical Psalms, the church has historically sung in its liturgy a number of ancient hymns based on scripture. One of these is the Gloria in Excelsis, which is a trinitarian elaboration of the angelic hymn in Luke 2:14. Also known as the Greater Doxology, it is the initial hymn sung in the historic liturgy of the western church, while it is a psalm of thanksgiving after Communion in the Book of Common Prayer. In the Orthodox churches it is sung in the morning prayer office, or Orthros.

Here is a wonderful setting composed by Sally K. Albrecht and sung by a choral ensemble over Speranţă TV, a Christian television station established in Romania in 2003. Note that the time signature is 7/8, a metre commonly used in Greek and other Balkan folk music.

7 Dec 2015

Psalm 29: The Voice of the LORD

Three years ago I came up a fresh versification of Psalm 29 for which I composed two possible tunes, the first of which I determined was not easily sung by a congregation. Here is a recording I made last summer of this text as set to my second and more singable tune, VOX DOMINI: