Prelude: The Servant Song - The beginning starts slow with "The Calling" theme and builds to a commitment, a realization of needing to listen to God to be called, and ends with the "Servant's Song": "I Am Your Servant." Wonderfully powerful movement. Streaming mp3 |
1.Trust and Obey - I had a lot of people (including my father) tell me that the pizzicato strings in the intro sections was their favorite part of this cantata. There are a lot of great melodies in this fast movement. The choir will love it.
Streaming mp3 |
2. Teach and Proclaim
("Christ Has Arisen. Let All the World Rejoice") - This is one of my most favorite works. Fast, rhythmic, and addictive, this is a phenomenal anthem for Easter (especially with brass). And the relaxed middle section reminds me of William Mathias. Streaming mp3 |
3. Give and Serve ("Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace") - Also a great anthem, it is slow, gentle, and beautiful. I love the arch it creates. Textually, it combines Jesus' forgiveness and calling of Peter in John ("Do you love me?") with James' realization of this love: "I by my works will show you my faith." Can be performed by small or large groups. Note: the recording is too slow at the beginning (took me until after the concert to figure this out). The oboe after "...of your peace" should sound a bit frantic (around 55 bpm). Streaming mp3 |
4. Worship and Praise ("O Praise the Lord for His Power and Majesty") - God woke me up at 3 a.m. to give me the opening theme of this movement. This is a mini-cantata by itself, being almost 14 minutes long. It incorporating the "Magnificat" and "Te Deum", as well as a verse of "Holy, Holy, Holy" (with congregation). When I finished it I was so overwhelmed and grateful that, in the spirit of J.S.Bach, I wrote "Laudate Dominum!" (Praise the Lord) at the end. I've performed this as a stand-alone Easter cantata with brass and it worked great! Streaming mp3 |
5. Love - This beautifully slow and gentle movement explores different aspects of God's love and our response to it. "If I speak with tongues of men...", "God so loved the world...", and "Love the Lord with all your heart and soul..." are the three sections. Each ends with a longer and more elaborate contrapuntal response of "Love". At the end a voice narrates "Hope, Faith, and Love abound..." (God wanted me to put in the speak, though I protested bitterly.) This would be a beautiful and power anthem. Because of the slow tempo and some exposed divisi, it can be a challenge, though. Streaming mp3 |
