Carols of Many Nations - 2014
Every year at Princeton Theological Seminary we celebrate the Christmas season with a service of carols and readings from around the world. For the third year I had the privilege of participating in this service as a member of the choir, and this year I had the joy of being asked to sing both a solo and as a member of a mens quartet.
Below you may listen to a sampling of the songs we presented during the service. I've made a few notes following some of the selections to share a bit more with you about the music. If you just have a little bit of time to check things out, here are some of my favorites:
- Pilgrims' Hymn is my favorite selection of the service.
- Um Menino is my solo song.
- Jesus, Oh, What a Wonderful Child is an amazing gospel selection.
- While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks features the quartet.
Beyond that, just listen to whatever strikes your fancy and enjoy! If you would like to see the program from the evening (with full notes on sources of music and such), you can read it here. You can also watch a video of the service here (the video is of our early service and the audio quality is not quite as good as the audio links below, but it does contain the full service including readings). As always, I love getting your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment or two at the bottom of the page.
Peace!
Bogoroditse Devo is a traditional Orthodox carol from Russia. This setting is in Slavonic. There are many other famous settings of this text, including a beautiful setting by Rachmaninoff that we sang my first year, but this is a great, shorter version.
If you think you hear birds part of the way through this joyous song, you aren't crazy; you are hearing two bird-whistles. The whistles are shaped like song-birds, and when filled with water, make the distinctive warbling sound you hear.
This joyful gospel selection features one of the choir members singing a wonderful solo backed on the chorus by the full choir. When we attended the Calvin Worship Symposium (read more here), we did a reprise of this during one of our workshops.
This selection features a new section of the choir on each stanza. It begins with a soprano soloist, then the women's chorus, and then in the third stanza the men's quartet takes the lead. If you listen closely, you can hear me on the bass part.
This was my first solo in a choir concert at PTS - and it was partly in Portuguese! To answer the common question, no I don't speak Portuguese, I was just lucky to have a good mentor to help me prepare.
This soulful song is a beautiful solo; well worth a listen!
This carol is one of the most high-energy selections I have sung in all my years at PTS - just a good time!
A wonderful gospel style presentation of the classic hymn.
This is without a doubt my favorite song we performed in the service. Rich text mixed with beautiful harmony make for a wonderful selection. The lyrics for this amazing anthem are below:
Even before we call on your name to ask you, O God, When we seek for the words to glorify you, you hear our prayer. Unceasing love, O unceasing love, surpassing all we know. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Even with darkness sealing us in, we breathe your name, and through all the days that follow so fast, we trust in you. Endless your grace, O endless your grace, beyond all mortal dream. Both now and forever, and unto ages and ages, Amen.
One of the final hymns of the night, this always brings me hope that one day we too shall see the glory spoken of in the third stanza:
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.
May it be so.