Choral


Two options SPOTLIGHT: CHORAL


T


he following pairings of anthems offer different approaches to two very familiar texts.


Blessed Jesu, arr. Benjamin Harlan, Jubilate Music 47218, 2018, SATB and piano. Tis is a delightful arrangement by Harlan of


Fanny Crosby’s text and Phoebe Palmer Knapp’s As- surance tune found in Te United Methodist Hymnal (UMH 369). It also incorporates the familiar Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by Johann Sebastian Bach. Tose familiar with Harlan’s work know that your choir will easily learn (and “love”) this anthem.


Blessed Assurance, arr. Doug Andrews, Augsburg


Fortress 978-1-5064-7973-6, 2021, SATB and piano. Tis anthem is also based on Crosby’s familiar


text and set to Knapp’s tune Assurance. It does require all four SATB voices throughout most of the anthem. Tere is a section in the middle where the tenors divide. If you do not have sufficient tenors to have them split parts, however, your lower altos can


sing the upper tenor part. **** When, in Our Music, God is Glorified, Bob


Moore, GIA Publications G-5320, 2001, unison and two-part voices with piano and two C instruments (G-5320INST). In Moore’s arrangement, utilizing the familiar F.


Pratt Green hymn text, the C instruments are not optional.


When in Our Music God Is Glorified, David W.


Music, Augsburg Fortress 978-1-5064-4758-2, 2018, SATB and keyboard. In Music’s arrangement, which offers the same


text but incorporates Sine Nomine and Engelberg, much of this anthem is for unison voices or two-part mixed voices with only the final section requiring all four SATB parts.


– Robert Anderson


Christ the Center, music by


Andrew Bruhn, text by Herbert F. Brokering, Augsburg Fortress 978-1- 5064-7976-7, 2021, two-part mixed and organ. Much of this anthem is in unison. It


has an excellent message about our faith: “Christ the center, Christ the circle, faith will save us from all harm … Christ the center, Christ the circle,


faith the giſt and faith the call.” O Worship the Lord, George Frideric Handel, arr.


James Chepponis, GIA Publications G-9751, 2019, two- part mixed and keyboard with optional C instrument (G-9751INST). Te text is based on Psalm 96 which was one of the


readings for this past Christmas Eve. However, the anthem is appropriate for any Sunday. Handel frequently wrote his vocal music with long phrases, and this anthem is no excep- tion. While the actual notes are easily learned, you either need to have singers who can sing through a long phrase or you will need to practice with singers staggering breaths.


Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies, Bob Moore, GIA


Publications G-9868, 2019, SAB and piano, 2019. Tis uses the familiar Charles Wesley hymn text with a


new tune. Te Spring of the Water of Life,


Howard Goodall, MorningStar Music Publishers MSM-56-0111, 2019, SATB and organ with optional trumpet (MSM-56-0111A). Tis anthem is not hymn-based. It


has easily learned choral parts but does require an organist who can easily read a three-staff score and has techni- cal skills capable of having separate


rhythms in each hand and the pedals. For the Beauty of the Earth, arr. John Ferguson, ed.


Anton Armstrong, Augsburg Fortress 978-1-5064-8156-2, 2021, SATB and organ. Tis offering from the St. Olaf Choral Series uses the text and tune found in Te United Methodist Hymnal.


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January-February-March 2022 • WorshipArts • UMFellowship.org


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