With Praise and High Thanksgiving

SKU: GI.G-018000

[Category].

Before the implementation of the new translation of The Roman Missal, the Mass of Redemption enjoyed a high level of popularity in parishes across the country and beyond. With the advent of the new translation, this Mass has become even more popular. Steve Janco rewrote the Gloria for the new translation and his through-composed setting is energetic and bright, bringing a sparkle to the new text. The Mass is written in the bright key of D major, bringing a joyful quality to the celebration of Sunday Mass, especially during the Christmas and Easter seasons, as well as the Sundays of Ordinary Time. Set for cantor, choir, assembly, keyboard, and guitar (with optional instrumental parts for brass quartet and timpani, two woodwinds, and handbells), the choral writing is in two parts (SA/TB) with optional third voice, often a soprano descant, at climaxes in various sections. Music directors agree that the simple choral arranging makes this a setting appropriate for parishes that do not have the musical “forces” to sing many of the more vocally complex Mass settings. Mass of Redemption brings the choir, musicians, and assembly together in a symphony of praise and thanksgiving for the great gift of redemption in Christ—a wonderful setting to raise hearts and voices to God at Sunday Mass. Join the hundreds of parishes that have made Mass of Redemption a musical staple and a reliable setting of the Mass. Parishes simply never grow weary of singing this setting!   Highlights: Highly popular among parishes before the implementation of new texts, now even more widely used! Written in the key of D major, bringing jubilance to the celebration of Mass. A variety of options for instrumentation with simple choral arrangements—ideal for smaller choirs. A delightful setting for the Christmas and Easter seasons and ideal for Sundays during Ordinary Time.  .

SKU: WD.080689622175

UPC: 080689622175.

What better way to start your Sunday morning service than with a song! But which song? And what kind of song? With so many amazing titles to choose from, make sure it’s a Gathering Song!

Choosing a song to kick off your next Sunday morning service couldn’t be easier with this special, third edition Choral Collection from Word Music & Church Resources— GATHERING SONGS 3! This resource is just the tool you need when selecting the perfect Gathering Song to bring believers together in Christ, preparing their minds and hearts to “enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”

These are Gathering Songs! Designed to lead your congregation in praise-filled worship, these Service Openers for Worship-Leading Choirs will fill the room with voices lifting high the Name of God...hands raised in surrender to the King of Kings and hearts wide open to the Lord of Lords. Arranged and Orchestrated by Cliff Duren, GATHERING SONGS 3 is complete with songs chosen especially for you and your choir, inviting worshippers to come inside His house, joining together in endless praise of the Lord our God.

SKU: PR.165001000

ISBN 9781491129241. UPC: 680160669776. 9 x 12 inches.

Commissioned for a consortium of high school and college bands in the north Dallas region, FOR THEMYSTIC HARMONY is a 10-minute inspirational work in homage to Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon,patrons of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Van Cliburn Competition. Welcher draws melodic flavorfrom five American hymns, spirituals, and folk tunes of the 19th century. The last of these sources toappear is the hymn tune For the Beauty of the Earth, whose third stanza is the quatrain: “For the joy of earand eye, For the heart and mind’s delight, For the mystic harmony, Linking sense to sound and sight,”giving rise to the work’s title.
This work, commissioned for a consortium of high school bands in the north Dallas area, is my fifteenth maturework for wind ensemble (not counting transcriptions). When I asked Todd Dixon, the band director whospearheaded this project, what kind of a work he most wanted, he first said “something that’s basically slow,” butwanted to leave the details to me. During a long subsequent conversation, he mentioned that his grandparents,Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon, were prime supporters of the Fort Worth Symphony, going so far as to purchase anumber of high quality instruments for that orchestra. This intrigued me, so I asked more about his grandparentsand was provided an 80-page biographical sketch. Reading that article, including a long section about theirdevotion to supporting a young man through the rigors of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition fora number of years, moved me very much. Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon weren’t just supporters of the arts; theywere passionate lovers of music and musicians. I determined to make this work a testament to that love, and tothe religious faith that sustained them both. The idea of using extant hymns was also suggested by Todd Dixon,and this 10-minute work is the result.I have employed existing melodies in several works, delving into certain kinds of religious music more than a fewtimes. In seeking new sounds, new ways of harmonizing old tunes, and the contrapuntal overlaying of one tunewith another, I was able to make works like ZION (using 19th-century Revivalist hymns) and LABORING SONGS(using Shaker melodies) reflect the spirit of the composers who created these melodies, without sounding likepastiches or medleys. I determined to do the same with this new work, with the added problem of employingmelodies that were more familiar. I chose five tunes from the 19th century: hymns, spirituals, and folk-tunes.Some of these are known by differing titles, but they all appear in hymnals of various Christian denominations(with various titles and texts). My idea was to employ the tunes without altering their notes, instead using aconstantly modulating sense of harmony — sometimes leading to polytonal harmonizations of what are normallysimple four-chord hymns.The work begins and ends with a repeated chime on the note C: a reminder of steeples, white clapboard churchesin the country, and small church organs. Beginning with a Mixolydian folk tune of Caribbean origin presentedtwice with layered entrances, the work starts with a feeling of mystery and gentle sorrow. It proceeds, after along transition, into a second hymn that is sometimes connected to the sea (hence the sensation of water andwaves throughout it). This tune, by John B. Dykes (1823-1876), is a bit more chromatic and “shifty” than mosthymn-tunes, so I chose to play with the constant sensation of modulation even more than the original does. Atthe climax, the familiar spiritual “Were you there?” takes over, with a double-time polytonal feeling propelling itforward at “Sometimes it causes me to tremble.”Trumpets in counterpoint raise the temperature, and the tempo as well, leading the music into a third tune (ofunknown provenance, though it appears with different texts in various hymnals) that is presented in a sprightlymanner. Bassoons introduce the melody, but it is quickly taken up by other instruments over three “verses,”constantly growing in orchestration and volume. A mysterious second tune, unrelated to this one, interrupts it inall three verses, sending the melody into unknown regions.The final melody is “For the Beauty of the Earth.” This tune by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872) is commonly sung atThanksgiving — the perfect choice to end this work celebrating two people known for their generosity.Keeping the sense of constant modulation that has been present throughout, I chose to present this hymn in threegrowing verses, but with a twist: every four bars, the “key” of the hymn seems to shift — until the “Lord of all, toThee we praise” melody bursts out in a surprising compound meter. This, as it turns out, was the “mystery tune”heard earlier in the piece. After an Ivesian, almost polytonal climax, the Coda begins over a long B( pedal. At first,it seems to be a restatement of the first two phrases of “For the Beauty” with long spaces between them, but it soonchanges to a series of “Amen” cadences, widely separated by range and color. These, too, do not conform to anykey, but instead overlay each other in ways that are unpredictable but strangely comforting.The third verse of “For the Beauty of the Earth” contains this quatrain:“For the joy of ear and eye, –For the heart and mind’s delightFor the mystic harmonyLinking sense to sound and sight”and it was from this poetry that I drew the title for the present work. It is my hope that audiences and performerswill find within it a sense of grace: more than a little familiar, but also quite new and unexpected.