Tag Archives: Culli

Light of Christ – Organ Music Review

Light of ChristFor the organists out there, I know the Epiphany season is quickly coming to a close and soon we’ll be pulling out the Lenten music.  Before the Epiphany music goes into the filing cabinet, I thought I would pass along a recommendation for some organ sheet music  that I’ve had the joy of playing this Epiphany season.

Ben Culli has composed a series of preludes on six Epiphany hymns entitled Light of Christ (audio and PDF samples available on the CPH website).  I usually find Culli’s compositions challenging, but accessible — meaning I have to spend some quality practice time to reap the musical rewards.

In typical Culli style, his compositions exhibit a rhythmic drive and variety that draws the listener to the music.  The “fanfare” for Jesus Has Come and Brings Pleasure with its pedal points and relatively simple pedal line is a welcome addition to my other frequently used settings of this tune by Kevin Hildebrand and John Behnke.  The setting of Rise, Shine, You People has several motifs and rhythmic patterns that are repeated/echoed throughout the piece which helped to make preparation easier.

One of my favorite pieces from the collection was From God the Father, Virgin Born.  Culli took the hymn tune and interweaved it with a Sarabande by Jeremiah Clarke.  He has done this before in his other collections — quoting a section from Vivaldi’s Gloria in Excelsis with All Depends on Our Possessing and quoting Marcello’s Psalm XIX with With the Lord Begin Your Task.

I’m still working on How Good, Lord, to Be Here and hoping to have it prepared by Transfiguration Sunday.  The only thing left is that pesky hand, eye, and feet coordination!

Overall, this collection was a good addition to my music library.  It’s never too early to start preparing for Epiphany 2010!

Walter E. Buszin – Wise Counsel for Today

Buszin BookI was unfamiliar with the name Walter Buszin until the summer of 2007 when I discovered that one of the most enduring choral collections of the 20th century – 101 Chorales Harmonized by Johann Sebastian Bach – was edited by Buszin. Prior to this, I had a dear friend from church who had told me on a number of occasions about a treasured book from her younger choral years – a book of Bach chorales. She evidently was talking of the Buszin edition.

Over the last two weeks I have been reading “Music for the Church: The Life and Work of Walter E. Buszin” by Kirby L. Koriath with 10 essays by Walter E. Buszin. As a brief summary, Buszin (1899-1973) was a Lutheran theologian, church musician, music editor, hymnologist, teacher, and liturgical scholar whose scholarly output is quite amazing. In some respects his work was more widely known outside of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) despite being a professor at Concordia Seminary, music editor at Concordia Publishing House, and being on the Synod’s Commission on Worship, Liturgics, and Hymnology for 26 years.

This book presents today’s generation of pastors and church musicians with wise counsel on church music and liturgy. Buszin’s life shows a “mission of restoration and renewal in Lutheran church music and worship” (pg 27). He was deeply concerned that his church, the Lutheran church, had abandoned its fine heritage and replaced it with an unworthy and substandard successor. His life and words are still timely because he dealt with many of the same issues we encounter today – quality of hymnody, liturgy, choral and instrumental music.

As I read the book, I realized how I, as a church musician, have been shaped by Buszin without really knowing it. Buszin promoted the use of the chorale in hymnody, choral music, and organ music and seemed to be instrumental in bringing the sacred works of the “Golden Age of Lutheran Music” (16th – 18th centuries) to light. Besides relying extensively on this era of music for my weekly service playing, I have been shaped by my favorite modern Lutheran composers who write music on the chorales — Benjamin Culli, Kevin Hildebrand, Jeffrey Blersch, Kenneth Kosche, John Behnke, Michael Burkhardt, and Paul Manz. And finally, the Organist Workshops and Good Shepherd Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary introduced me to the thoughts of Buszin and helped me better understand and live my vocation as a church musician.

I hope that I might reflect, if only a glimmer, the passion that Buszin had for Lutheran church music and worship.