We welcome the Advent season with variations on "Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele" (Rejoice greatly, O my soul) by Baroque composer Georg Bõhm. This tune from the 1551 Genevan Psalter is most associated with the Advent text by 18th century hymn writer Johannes Olearius, "Comfort, Comfort Ye My People."
A gentle reprieve is offered at service midpoint by violinist Harmony Tucker in the "Adagio" from G.F. Handel's "Violin Sonata in F Major, HWV 370."

For Vespers this December 2, a service of Advent hymn and carols in the folk tradition with guitarist Bill Demarco.

Songs of gratitude and thanksgiving. Overflowing praise.

Invited into worship by J.S. Bach's setting of the hymn tune "Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier" ("Dearest Jesus, We Are Here"), we soon hear the virtual efforts of members of our Chancel Choir in the Shaker tune "Simple Gifts," interwoven with the infamous "Pachelbel's Canon" in an arrangement by Donald Moore. 

Lastly, familiar to anyone who has owned an E. Power Biggs organ album, the rousing and triumphant strains of Sigfrid Karg-Elert's play on the ultimate hymn of thanksgiving: "Now Thank We All Our God."

The Thanksgiving Eve Vespers service offers an international expression of praise from Scotland, Taiwan, and Africa. Ukuleleist Stuart Yoshida joins us.  

Join us for a hymn sing this Sunday! The age-old tradition of coming together in song may be very different these days, but we can still be together in the Spirit: same time, different location.

Consider these words by hymn writer Rev. Fred Pratt Green, who so thoughtfully captures the spiritual dimensions to music-making in worship.

When in our music God is glorified,
and adoration leaves no room for pride,
it is as though the whole creation cried,
Hallelujah!

How often, making music, we have found
a new dimension in the world of sound,
as worship moved us to a more profound
Hallelujah!

So has the church, in liturgy and song,
in faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
borne witness to the truth in every tongue:
Hallelujah!

And did not Jesus sing a Psalm that night
when utmost evil strove against the Light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight:
Hallelujah!

Let every instrument be tuned for praise!
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
And may God give us faith to sing always:
Hallelujah! Amen.

Sleeper, awake!

Two brief versets on the Gaelic tune "Bunessan" by Richard Proulx accompanies your morning coffee this Sunday morning. The melody, most associated with the lyrics "Morning Has Broken" (thank you, Cat), is initially presented in a slightly jazzy chorale setting. Following, the tune transforms into a dream-like state: a meditative repose.

A tintinnabulation ensues courtesy of the Plymouth Ringers! Sure to keep your attention, my musical setting of this term coined by poet Edgar Allen Poe in his work "The Bells" relates joy and alertness, if somewhat ambiguously...

The ecstatically triumphant "Chant de Joie" (Song of Joy) by Jean Langlais closes the service in no uncertain terms however: in hope, in faith, and, oh yes, joy.

Music and words are intrinsically linked: one describes the other. Creatives and lovers of music and poetry have known this for centuries. I would say that we all experience this powerful relationship, consciously or not. So for this week, there will be no musicological descriptors of the music you'll hear this All Saints' Sunday but rather these— words.

Harpist Alaina Bongers and flutist Rebecca Quillen bring the evocative titles "Willow Weeping in the Wind" and "Autumn Shadows" to life this Totenfest Sunday morning: a day when we remember loved ones who have passed on to the communion of saints, walking roads we can only imagine.

The Stephen Paulus choral work, "The Road Home," comes to mind after writing the preceding paragraph. The poet Michael Dennis Browne collaborated with Paulus on this cherished anthem and described the genesis of the beautiful prose: "I thought of the speaker as a persona rather than myself...I was also trying to suggest the consolation that can come to someone of faith, in times of great stress, as a result of prayer and an abiding belief in divine mercy."

Allow these words to bring you solace, and hope, during these anxious days. The music will follow...

It is unofficially "Baroque Week" at Plymouth beginning this Reformation Sunday and extending into the October 28 Wednesday evening Vespers.  Aided by the generous gift of a harpsichord for our chancel (thank you!) and cellist Heidi Mausbach, we'll experience the timeless music of Johann Sebastian Bach: the musical architect of the German Reformation. 

Bach composed three sonatas for the Viola de Gamba and harpsichord between 1730 and 1740 during his tenure at Thomaskirche, Leipzig. For the Prelude, the lively "Allegro moderato", the fourth and final movement from BWV 1027 in G major, will be offered. Cellist Heidi Mausbach steps in for the hoary Viola de Gamba in this delightfully joyful excerpt.

One does not need to be a Bach connoisseur to recognize the Musical Offering this Sunday....just to have attended enough weddings! "Jesus bleibet meine Freude" (Jesus shall remain my joy), famously known as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," is originally a chorale movement from Cantata 147 "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben" (Heart and mouth and deed and life). Based on a 1661 hymn tune, this chorale has been heard the world over in arrangements for a variety of instruments, choral settings, and even inclusion in hymnals. On Sunday, soprano Blair Carpenter presents a rendition in German with myself and Heidi accompanying.

The works of Bach are revered, studied, and performed by musicians of all kinds. He wrote for everyone including for strings, wind instruments, brass, vocalists, and choirs. Think on the masterworks such as the Brandenburg Concertos, Mass in B Minor, and his numerous cantatas. But it was a special moment for Bach when he could compose for his primary instrument, the organ. The "Fantasia in G Minor, BWV 542" is technically a stand alone work but is often paired with the magnificent Fugue in G Minor.

We'll hear the high Baroque drama of the Fantasia a la carte this Sunday....with no small allusion to Halloween as well. If I'm being honest.  

The sweet discordant sounds of jazz greet you this Consecration Sunday morning with certainly a blue note or two. Guaranteed.

Bassist Ori Britton, Plymouth's Staff Singer Blair Carpenter, guitarist Alan Skowron and myself join you "from the past" in a prerecorded service this weekend.

Forest Green is an English folk song collected by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1903. Originally entitled "The Ploughboy's Dream," the tune was renamed Forest Green after the town in Surrey where the melody was collected from a certain Mr. Garman. Often paired in England with the beloved Christmas text "O Little Town of Bethlehem", we will hear it through the ears of stewardship and jazz-inflected harmonies as "As Those of Old Their Firstfruits Brought." 

After we each sing to the Spirit to "Take My Gifts" for God's holy mission in our world....we "Take Five," and deservedly so! Saxophonist Paul Desmond wrote this jazz standard in 1959 for inclusion on the Dave Brubeck Quartet's seminal album "Time Out." Brubeck requested a tune from Desmond to showcase drummer Joe Morello's adeptness at playing in the irregular 5/4 time signature. The result was the most successful jazz single in history! Although you couldn't dance to it...

Signs of Autumn abound. A season of change and of stewardship: a time to assess our support of God's work in the world and our willingness to receive God's providence.

The 15th century German hymn tune "Gott der Vater wohn uns bei" (inclusively translated as "Mother God, Be Our Stay") is an ode to the protective promise of God. Paul Manz's setting is hopeful and joyful with a lively manual ritornello dancing above the cantus firmus in the pedal.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons has been excerpted plentifully at Plymouth over the years. We do so again with the opening Allegro of Movement III: Autumn. The movement signifies a country dance in the crisp autumn air. Vivaldi offers these unambiguous words to the music's intent:

Celebrates the peasant, with songs and dances,
The pleasure of a bountiful harvest.
And fired up by Bacchus' liquor,
many end their revelry in sleep.

An Italian Baroque Oktoberfest!

The service ends with a "Postlude" by William Mathias. Quirky, cheery, and very British in its regal character, we jauntily walk out into the Autumn air.

It is a Sunday of "musical reunions" as we enter this stewardship season. 

The organ returns! As the result of patience and due diligence, we have the privilege to hear this instrument roar and purr in the sanctuary once again.

A lively and eccentric "Scherzo" by British composer Alan Ridout gets us  started. The playful yet austere "Praeludium" by German composer Hermann Schroeder closes the service with a Neo-Baroque flair. 

Members of the Plymouth Ringers once again grace the sanctuary with my minimalist arrangement of the "Prayer of St. Francis", also known as "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace." While some of our beasts will be blessed following the service, let us be blessed by the presence of these folks and their musical offering.

Improvisation for some musicians is fear incarnate. It is a language to learn but also a leap to take. Jazz musicians live for the opportunity to "compose in the moment" while classical players can sometimes cease to be without a music score. In these times, improvisation in a general sense is essential for all of us. For some days, you don't know what is next! 

This Sunday, we will hear a sketch, perhaps an impromptu or two. But as with any improvisation, there is always that central idea to refer back to. An oasis in the midst of uncertainty. The trusty Gaelic tune "St. Columba" will be that glue
including a setting by Matt Riley with violinist Harmony Tucker. 

Amid all the ambiguity, we hope to see you this Sunday at 10:00 a.m.