Music

I was going to wait at least until after Thanksgiving to post this, but Dan Phillips asked “What are the best Christmas albums, ever?” Which Messiah, and why? So these are my recommendations.

I haven’t listened to many different Messiah productions, but of those I have, I like this one best. Why? I just do. I’m not aficionado enough to go into all the nuances of nuance — “Well, Dan, it has a robust bouquet and tantalizes the palate with hints of elderberry and currants” — I just like it best.

I’m in need of some new Christmas music myself. These are probably not “the best Christmas albums, ever”, but here are some of my favorites:

Christopher Parkening & Kathleen Battle, Angels’ Glory. I believe the sopranos in Heaven’s choir sound like Kathleen Battle, and Christopher Parkening’s guitar rivals any angel’s harp. Maybe I exaggerate. Or maybe not.

Dallas Brass, Christmas Brass. I’m sure there are other Christmas brass albums equal to or better than this (like this one by the Westminster Brass, for example), but I’ve got this one, and I like it.

Joni Eareckson Tada, John MacArthur, Robert & Bobbie Wolgemuth, O Come, All Ye Faithful. This is one of four hymn albums done with The Master’s College Choral. Each comes with a hardcover book of historical sketches and meditations on the hymns it contains.

Joni Eareckson Tada & Bobbie Wolgemuth, Christmas Carols for a Kid’s Heart. Similar to the previous album, this is one of four, also accompanied by a hardcover book. These are some of the best children’s productions I’ve heard.

Charlotte Church, Dream a Dream. I like this one in spite of the Ave Maria.

California Guitar Trio, Christmas Album. This one is fun for anyone who likes the guitar. It includes a couple of stupid songs, but since it’s all instrumental — nobody sings — they’re still enjoyable.

Nat King Cole, The Christmas Song. He’s Nat King Cole. Need I say More? This man sang. Not like what commonly passes for singing in pop music today. No moaning, groaning, whining, growling, yelling, screaming, . . . Just clear singing with the beautiful voice God gave him. And enunciation! He obviously believed vowels and consonants had fixed phonetic values. So do I; because they do.

However, to prove I’m not completely rigid in my standards, I also like:

Stan Boreson & Doug Setterberg, Yust Go Nuts at Christmas. If you weren’t raised among early twentieth-century second and third-generation Scandinavian-Americans as I was, you probably can’t appreciate this one. You’ll probably just think it’s stupid. Well, actually, it is stupid. Here’s a sample.

Do you have any recommendations for me?

I listened to Christopher Parkening all day yesterday. I thought I would share a little with you.

Fairest Lord Jesus
Miller‘s dance (duet)
Romance
Adiós Granada with Plácido Domingo

These are a few of my favorite Christmas hymns. They are lesser known than many others, which may be part of their appeal to me. I am pretty sure I have never sung them in a worship service. Links open videos in popup windows.

In the Bleak Midwinter

Text: Christina G. Rossetti, 1830-1894

Music: Gustav Holst, 1874-1934

Tune: Cranham

Meter: Irregular

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;

heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.

In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;

but his mother only, in her maiden bliss,

worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

yet what I can give him: give my heart.

Of the Father’s Love Begotten

Text: Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348-405)

Music: Plainsong, 13th century

Tune: Divinum Mysterium

Meter: 8.7.8.7.8.7.7.

Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,

He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He,

Of the things that are, that have been,

And that future years shall see, evermore and evermore!

At His Word the worlds were framèd; He commanded; it was done:

Heaven and earth and depths of ocean in their threefold order one;

All that grows beneath the shining

Of the moon and burning sun, evermore and evermore!

He is found in human fashion, death and sorrow here to know,

That the race of Adam’s children doomed by law to endless woe,

May not henceforth die and perish

In the dreadful gulf below, evermore and evermore!

O that birth forever blessèd, when the virgin, full of grace,

By the Holy Ghost conceiving, bare the Savior of our race;

And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,

First revealed His sacred face, evermore and evermore!

This is He Whom seers in old time chanted of with one accord;

Whom the voices of the prophets promised in their faithful word;

Now He shines, the long expected,

Let creation praise its Lord, evermore and evermore!

O ye heights of heaven adore Him; angel hosts, His praises sing;

Powers, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King!

Let no tongue on earth be silent,

Every voice in concert sing, evermore and evermore!

Righteous judge of souls departed, righteous King of them that live,

On the Father’s throne exalted none in might with Thee may strive;

Who at last in vengeance coming

Sinners from Thy face shalt drive, evermore and evermore!

Thee let old men, thee let young men, thee let boys in chorus sing;

Matrons, virgins, little maidens, with glad voices answering:

Let their guileless songs re-echo,

And the heart its music bring, evermore and evermore!

Christ, to Thee with God the Father, and, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,

Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving, and unwearied praises be:

Honor, glory, and dominion,

And eternal victory, evermore and evermore!

I Wonder as I Wander

Text: Appalachian carol

Music: John Jacob Niles

Tune: I Wonder as I Wander

Meter: Irregular

I wonder as I wander out under the sky,

How Jesus the Savior did come for to die.

For poor orn’ry people like you and like I;

I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

When Mary birthed Jesus ’twas in a cow’s stall,

With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all.

But high from God’s heaven a star’s light did fall,

And the promise of ages it then did recall.

If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,

A star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,

Or all of God's angels in heav’n for to sing,

He surely could have it, for he was the King.

Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming

Text: German carol, 16th century

Music: Geistliche Kirkengesäng, Cologne, 1599; harmonized by Michael Prætorius

Tune: Es Ist Ein’ Ros’

Meter: 7.6.7.6.6.7.6.

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung,

Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.

It came, a flow’ret bright, amid the cold of winter,

When half-spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;

With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.

To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior,

When half-spent was the night.

The shepherds heard the story, proclaimed by angels bright,

How Christ, the Lord of glory, was born on earth this night.

To Bethlehem they sped and in the manger found him,

As angel heralds said.

This flow’r, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,

Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness ev’rywhere.

True man, yet very God; from sin and death he saves us

And lightens ev’ry load.

O Savior, child of Mary, who felt our human woe;

O Savior, King of glory, who dost our weakness know,

Bring us at length, we pray, to the bright courts of heaven

And to the endless day.

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

on the cor anglais (English horn) and organ,

the guitar,

and a rather unusual chorale arrangement

Tune: Picardy

Meter: 8.7.8.7.8.7.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,

And with fear and trembling stand;

Ponder nothing earthly minded,

For with blessing in His hand,

Christ our God to earth descendeth,

Our full homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,

As of old on earth He stood,

Lord of lords, in human vesture,

In the body and the blood;

He will give to all the faithful

His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven

Spreads its vanguard on the way,

As the Light of light descendeth

From the realms of endless day,

That the powers of hell may vanish

As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six wingèd seraph,

Cherubim with sleepless eye,

Veil their faces to the presence,

As with ceaseless voice they cry:

Alleluia, Alleluia

Alleluia, Lord Most High!

I had a conversation with a legalist on music last week. It didn’t go very well. I’m really not very good at verbal communication. I do much better in writing (which should give you some idea of just how bad I am in person), so I thought I would put my thoughts on subject in writing. I rattled off a post on the subject last night for posting this morning, but it seems to have disappeared during the night. I’ll try to reconstruct it sometime this week. In the mean time, since my practice of listening to secular music is what sparked the controversy, I’ll leave you with some food for thought from Paul Simon.

Leaves That Are Green

I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song
I’m twenty-two now but I won’t be for long
Time hurries on

And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they wither with the wind
And they crumble in your hand

Once my heart was filled with the love of a girl
I held her close, but she faded in the night
Like a poem I meant to write

And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they wither with the wind
And they crumble in your hand

I threw a pebble in a brook
And watched the ripples run away
And they never made a sound

And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they wither with the wind
And they crumble in your hand

Hello hello hello hello
Good-bye good-bye good-bye good-bye
That’s all there is

And the leaves that are green turn to brown

This Monday, I promised a post on music and legalism. This is it.

I listen to quite an eclectic variety of music. This caused offense to a certain legalist I know, and so, since I’m better in writing than in person, and since I can write without being rudely interrupted, you are now the recipients of this post.

My favorite music, which I’m convinced is nearest thing on earth to what will be played in heaven, is from the late baroque period. Handel and Bach will no doubt head up celestial music department. If you disagree, well, you’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re going to feel awfully silly when (or should I say if?) you get there and learn the truth. But that’s only a narrow slice of my listening range. A quick glance at my mp3 library yields the following names:

Pérotin Claudio Monteverdi Heinrich Schütz J. S. Bach G. F. Handel Antonio Vivaldi Ludwig van Beethoven Johannes Brahms Edvard Grieg Jean Sibelius P. I. Tchaikovsky Giuseppi Verdi Belá Bartók Aaron Copland Ennio Morricone Maurice Ravel Joaquín Rodrigo John Williams Christopher Parkening Yo-Yo Ma Andrea Bocelli Charlotte Church Enrico Caruso

José Carreras Josh Groban Mario Lanza Milva Plácido Domingo Sissel Dean Martin Harry Connick, Jr. Mills Brothers Nat King Cole Perry Como Tony Bennett B. B. King Count Basie Louis Armstrong Ray Charles Wynton Marsalis Lyle Lovett Marty Robbins Dwight Yoakam Tennessee Ernie Ford Gene Autry George Jones

Gordon Lightfoot Hank Snow Hank Williams Jimmie Dale Gilmore Johnny Cash Randy Travis Roy Clark Slim Whitman Dillards Chet Atkins Don McLean Elvis Presley Jimmy Buffet Neil Young Simon & Garfunkel Stray Cats Beatles Huey Lewis Beach Boys Fabulous Thunderbirds Steve Miller Band Three Dog Night ZZ Top

That’s just a partial listing of the classical and pop sections, without going into the religious end.

You’ll notice I don’t say Christian music, but religious (or sacred). That is because I object to the separation of the sacred and secular. All things are under the lordship of Jesus Christ, and no exceptions; but only redeemed souls are Christian. Things and activities are not Christian. Under the umbrella of the lordship of Christ exist both the secular and religious. Both exist for the glory of God.

Here is where the legalist said, “There is no way secular music glorifies God,” to which I am inclined to answer that everything and everyone glorifies God, but not necessarily in a positive way. But I know what he means. He is thinking that only specifically religious expressions can glorify God in a positive way. For the person who is determined that this is true, it’s nearly impossible to convince them otherwise; so I’m not going to try. I’m just going to proceed as though, as any reasonable person knows, it is not. After all, if we are going to forbid secular music, are we also going to forbid all other forms of secular media? What about movies? I don’t know how many times I could stand watching Fireproof! Should our wall hangings be limited to Thomas Kinkade and the like? God help us! But that is where this thinking leads us.

What I am going to do is answer this question: Are there any limitations on what we should listen to? Yes, absolutely, and before I’m finished, you might think I’m a legalist; but I think I can avoid that charge.

My legalist friend was annoyed at my secular listening habits, but what really caused his apoplexy was my “double standard”: I hold religious music to a different standard than secular music. I hold this double standard for both lyrics and music. What follows will be an attempt to explain my basis for judging these things. It is not my intention to lay out any rules, but only to offer for your consideration my attempts at being a discerning listener. I am going to deal first with lyrical content, and then with musical composition.

On Monday . . .

. . . a few scenes from next week’s program:

The Cathedrals
Marty Robbins

In other news, after a week’s absence, I’ve returned to posting On the Web links.

This is the conclusion to a post began last Friday. I suggest you read that first, if you haven’t already, as this will make even less sense if you don’t than it will if you do.

As I concluded, or rather, didn’t conclude, last week, I have a double standard when judging music. I have one standard for secular music, and one for religious, or sacred, music. This double standard is applied to both music and lyrics. As you read, I ask you to remember my penultimate sentence last time: “It is not my intention to lay out any rules, but only to offer for your consideration my attempts at being a discerning listener.”

Lyrics

It goes without saying that blasphemous or obscene lyrics have no place in a Christian’s music library. It goes without

Tangent 1:
Until someone can make good sense of Days of Elijah, I won’t sing it. Until I actually “hear the brush of angel’s wings,” I’ll not say I do. And if the words “yes lord yes lord yes yes lord yes lord yes lord yes yes lord yes lord yes lord yes yes lord amen” ever cross my lips, I hope someone has the good sense to put me away where I can’t hurt myself.

saying because such things are repulsive to those who love God. Christians don’t need to be told that, because it just comes naturally. But that’s as much law as I’m willing to state on lyrics in general. But here comes my double standard. Religious lyrics must be true and reverent. Theology must be accurate. If you’re going to sing about God, get it right. Secular music can be less precise. It can even be silly. In fact, a lot of the secular music I listen to is silly. But I will not tolerate silliness in singing about or to God.

Music

I don’t believe music is neutral. I think those who insist it is are being obtuse, and I’d like to come to their house and lullaby their children to sleep with a few numbers by John Phillip Sousa. Music arouses an emotional response. A lullaby produces a different reaction than a military march. Do we really need this explained to us? If we acknowledge that different types of music arouse different emotions, we must also acknowledge that some music will arouse bad emotions. Can we really believe that heavy metal, punk, and emo (or who-knows-what is the newest fad of the angst-filled) have no connection to the messed up minds of those who listen to them? Of course they do. But as you saw in the partial play list previously presented , I don’t come from the Bill Gothard school of Piano Onlyism. And I don’t want to make a list of good vs. bad music, not even if I could do so infallibly. Some of these things are obvious, some less obvious, but each of us have to discern them for ourselves, and humbly remember our own fallibility.

Music should fit the lyrics. Some music is happy, some is sad. Some is sober, some frivolous. The accompaniment for a joyful song like “Wonderful Grace of Jesus” would not be appropriate for a somber hymn such as “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” That would be absurd in the extreme, and irreverent. An inappropriate tune can be as bad as silly lyrics. It can destroy the message of the song. Now we come again to my double standard. With secular music, sometimes the inappropriateness of the tune adds to the entertainment value. This is, of course, entirely subjective, and reflects my weird sense of humor. I think it’s hilarious to hear Marty Robbins singing “Knee-deep in the Blues.” The happy tune and smiling face (on video) juxtaposed onto the lyrics, “My life just don’t seem worth livin’, and it’s been this way for years,” just cracks me up. In general, melody should match lyrics. Even in secular music, it makes no sense otherwise. But an occasional departure from the rule can be harmless and fun.

Now my double standard gets serious. Some musical forms which may be good for secular music are inappropriate

Tangent 2:
I don’t believe all music that is acceptable in general is appropriate for a worship service. I wouldn’t invite the late Satchmo to play “Shadrach” on Sunday morning. But that’s whole ’nother subject.

for sacred music. Some forms are just too entertainment-oriented. They cannot be taken seriously. I’m not going to name what they might be. That would take us down a side-road that I don’t care to travel just now. I would rather just suggest the principle to you and let you think it through on your own. If I did make a list, it would include some genres of which I’m unsure. For example, I tend to think Jazz is generally not fitted for sacred music. I’m convinced that some sub-genres of Jazz are definitely wrong for it. On the other hand, Louis Armstrong singing “Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego” seems just perfect. So I’m not claiming to have developed an exact science, nor do I even want to.

The “Rules”

I’ve made two rules for myself: First, enjoy the music. God has given talent to believers and unbelievers alike. The display of those talents brings glory to him, and so should bring joy to me. Second, don’t listen promiscuously. I rarely just turn on the radio and listen to whatever plays. That includes “Christian” radio. Maybe especially “Christian” radio. In the age of the mp3, it’s easier than ever to exercise control over our listening. When I buy a CD, I load only the tracks I want onto my hard drive, and forget the rest. When I download music, I seldom buy complete albums. There are many artists in my library who are only represented by one, two, or a handful of tracks.

I think we can all agree on those two rules. How we each apply them to our own practice will vary, and we ought to be humble and charitable toward one another. And that is that. I don’t think I dare say much more without risking becoming the legalist who inspired me to write on this topic in the first place.