At least I *think* this is the third time I've posted on it. There are times that my heart is weighed down and heavy. I know some of you don't believe that because I'm usually "up." But usually is not always. And when my heart is weighed down, heavy and sorrowful, I find that there is no balm for it like the music of our Church. I simply cannot recommend highly enough CPH's latest offering: "Heirs of the Reformation: Treasures of the Singing Church." I have been listening to it for the last 45 minutes. I can't get enough of it. The words are overwhelmingly intelligible (as always, a few rough spots here and there), but the music! The devil hates this music, this triumph of the Gospel. It speaks Christ's peace, joy, love and the blessedness of heaven to the soul. No, CPH is not paying me royalties. I'm just sharing that for me, it has been a potent weapon in the spiritual arsenal - I CAN'T stay sad or down listening to these songs. It's impossible! Cast every idol from its throne
For God is God and He alone!
To God all praise and glory!
And
Joy, oh, joy beyond all gladness!
Christ has done away with sadness.
Hence all sorrow and repining
For the Sun of Grace is shining!
I got it for Christmass and I love it.
ReplyDeleteBut, I did notice something wierd...
90% + of the songs sound spot on, but there are a few that sound irgendwie "not Lutheran".
On New Years eve I was talking to my pastor about this and he had a theory: The one's that sound un-Lutheran are more "performance" and "less liturgical".
A great example of this is when one hears different versions of "A Mighty Fortress".
Compare when The Coral Ridge choir sings it and when the FW Kantorei sings it. The words are the same, but one is performance and the other is liturgy.
A couple of the songs drift into performance, but by and large the songs are sung in a manner worthy of the divine service - therein the comfort.
I am too often very dark, but in the Divine Service my burden is lightened.
Jon, psst...keep this between us, but...you might want to avoid Bach's Cantatas. There is a lot of "un Lutheran" sounding stuff in those too.
ReplyDeleteHere is one of the horribly dreadful legacy of Pietism: it gutted the Lutheran Chorales of their inherent joie de vivre.
How? I S O M E T R I C forms, which tragically was ported into TLH, to some extent, and for the worse example in modern hymnals, just see the ELS' hymnal.
We have generations of Lutherans who grew up thinking that unless a hymn was performed and played and sung as if one is attending a funeral, it is just not "really Lutheran" sounding.
I would say what you are hearing on "Heirs" is the fullest and most authentic rendering of the hymns in all their Lutheran Orthdox fullness, as originally written, in many cases, or in the case of modern settings, a great continuation of the legacy of genuine Lutheran chorale forms!
I heartily, though respectfully and winsomely I hope, must protest and soundly reject your "theory" as to what sounds Lutheran and what does not.
J.S. Bach's irrepressible hymn preludes and other organ works shattered through the Pietistic dreariness that had already come to grip Lutheran musical forms by his day and gives us a glimpse of the true passion and joy of the Lutheran musical style.
Every musical genre has a "sound".
ReplyDeleteThere is Memphis Blues, there is Chicago Blues. In the 60's there was soul from Detroit Soul(Motown)and Memphis Soul (Stax).
There is UK Punk (The Sex Pistols) and New York Punk (The Ramones).
Genre's can be characterized by elements of musical theory: rhythms, meter, modes, keys, speed, lyrical content etc. And while I understand well your point as to rhythm, pietism and gravitas but there is an element that I tried to touch on but failed and it is a more subjective and aesthetic element that I do not have a good term for....
Take a good Lutheran choir and have them sing the same song, at the same tempo, with the same joie de vivre or lebensfreude or joy in two different places: In the Chancel area and in the balcony. For the sake of the experiment, let us assume that the accoustics are equal.
The song will sound different.
A small percentage of the songs sound like the choir is standing on the steps going into the Chancel rather than standing in the balcony.
Third, unnamed element, of Lutheran sacred music is that the sound leaves the musician or singer in a liturgical position that is unseen and is normally at the back of the congregation.
This "feeling" was missing for me in a couple of the songs.
All this goofy nickpicking aside - I love the set.
What I love about the set is that all the instrumentation is live, real, and not added on later, or digitally generated, or artificially constructed. The original instruments are original instruments.
ReplyDeleteIt's way cool.
And for purists who demand that something like this set is not good enough unless it is recorded in a large church, I say...well, that's great if you really don't want people to hear and understand the words. It is my constant beef with choral directors.
You may have the most beautiful sounding choir in the world, but if the words are not understood clearly, it is just pretty music.
That's why I always want to see the words on paper while a group is singing, so I make sure to catch every word.
One little treasure of the set is the masterful booklet that comes with it, written by Henry Gierke. It is truly a gem, and I'm sure Pr. Weedon would agree.