I recently discovered Southern Lutheran Kantor who has some thoughtful and extensive commentaries on a number of hymnic treasures – Including “Lord, Thee Will I Love With All My Heart.” This is a wonderful hymn to be sung at a funeral (particularly stanza 3). At most any funeral I will without doubt play an organ chorale prelude on it even if it is not sung.

Another blogger I follow is Vicar Josh Osbun at Holy Holy Hymnody. He has reviewed a number of Stephen Starke hymns. Josh has also tackled the questionable, bad, and ugly of hymnody — past and present. By the looks of it, he has an extensive hymnal collection.

If your church uses Lutheran Service Book or Hymnal Supplement 98, it’s likely you have become acquainted with some of the hymn texts of Stephen Starke. He has his own blog starke Kirchenlieder where he provides occasional brief commentaries, but generally just posts of some great hymn texts by himself and others.

Thanks for reading Diving into Hymnody.

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!

Thanks for reading Light of Christ – Organ Music Review.