Monday, August 4, 2008

UPDATE ON THE PSALMS I'VE WRITTEN

Last week, when I returned online, I mentioned the Psalm settings I have written. In this post, I mentioned setting a price on each of these. Today I did one better - I wrote to Jeff Ostrowski, the pilot of the Chabanel Psalm Project, and sent him a copy of my Psalm 122 with a footer "If you like this, I'll send you the rest of what I have."

In the meantime, I just finished the Psalms for the First Sunday of Lent (all three years):

Be Merciful, O Lord - in unison, completely adapted to Parce, Domine.
Your Ways, O Lord - refrain in SATB, Psalm tone exactly the same as the one I used for To You, O Lord (since they're both Psalm 25).
Be with Me, Lord - refrain in SATB, Verses set to Tonus Peregrinus.

Although an accompaniment (organ, not "piano" or "keyboard" like the "big three" often indicate in their scores) is included for these three, these can be very easily (and effectively) rendered a cappella.

Peace,
BMP

2 comments:

Jason Pennington said...

Do you know anyone who uses the Chabanel Psalter with any regularity? I tried to initiate its use back in late 2007, but received a cold fish enthusiasm -- no surprise, really. I rather liked them, but they do have a more traditional feel about them and are rather well done.

JP

Brian Michael Page said...

I can't say I've used them regularly, but I have used a few at the ghosthouse. The congregation and most Psalms didn't hit it off too good, with the exception of when they were sung entirely to Tone 8G or Tone 2D - and possibly Gelineau's 23rd.

I agree - they are very nicely written. Lately, other composers have been contributing - Fr. Keyes (Rifugio San Gaspare blog), Sam Schmitt (who I think is Fr. Keyes' organist, I'm not sure)...

I particularly like Schmitt's stuff - chant like refrain, verses alternating between chant and choral, almost like you see in the Vatican.

Stay tuned for news, btw, as I may be jumping on their bandwagon! :-)
BMP