In Praise of Humanity

SKU: CA.3911900

ISBN 9790007055547. Key: B flat major. Language: German/English.

In his Christmas cantata Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr (To God, on high alone be praise), Telemann celebrates the birth of Jesus as a symbol of the reconciliation with God and as a message of salvation for a sinful humanity. The cantata makes provision for a competent baritone soloist who sings two challenging arias, as well as a four-part choir which provides the framework for the composition with two unadorned chorale verses and, as a climax, intones the Christmas paean from Luke 2:14 Ehre sei Gott in der Hohe (Praise to God in his high heaven). In the first aria, the muted sounds of the optional high trumpet accompany the words O Freudengetone, wie lieblich, wie schone (O music of blessing! How lovely, how pleasing), evoking a gentle Christmas luster.

SKU: CA.3911914

ISBN 9790007055592. Key: B flat major. Language: German/English.

In his Christmas cantata Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr (To God, on high alone be praise), Telemann celebrates the birth of Jesus as a symbol of the reconciliation with God and as a message of salvation for a sinful humanity. The cantata makes provision for a competent baritone soloist who sings two challenging arias, as well as a four-part choir which provides the framework for the composition with two unadorned chorale verses and, as a climax, intones the Christmas paean from Luke 2:14 Ehre sei Gott in der Hohe (Praise to God in his high heaven). In the first aria, the muted sounds of the optional high trumpet accompany the words O Freudengetone, wie lieblich, wie schone (O music of blessing! How lovely, how pleasing), evoking a gentle Christmas luster. Score and part available separately - see item CA.3911900.

SKU: CA.3911913

ISBN 9790007055585. Key: B flat major. Language: German/English.

In his Christmas cantata Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr (To God, on high alone be praise), Telemann celebrates the birth of Jesus as a symbol of the reconciliation with God and as a message of salvation for a sinful humanity. The cantata makes provision for a competent baritone soloist who sings two challenging arias, as well as a four-part choir which provides the framework for the composition with two unadorned chorale verses and, as a climax, intones the Christmas paean from Luke 2:14 Ehre sei Gott in der Hohe (Praise to God in his high heaven). In the first aria, the muted sounds of the optional high trumpet accompany the words O Freudengetone, wie lieblich, wie schone (O music of blessing! How lovely, how pleasing), evoking a gentle Christmas luster. Score and part available separately - see item CA.3911900.

SKU: PR.31241902S

UPC: 680160690589. English.

Commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Terra Nostra is a 70-minute oratorio on the relationship between our planet and humankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. Part I: Creation of the World explores various creation myths from different cultures, culminating in a joyous celebration of the beauty of our planet. Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines human achievements, particularly since the dawn of our Industrial Age, and how these achievements have impacted the planet. Part III: Searching for Balance questions how to create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. In addition to the complete oratorio, stand-alone movements for mixed chorus, and for solo voice with piano, are also available separately.
Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?

SKU: PR.31241902A

UPC: 680160690510. English.

Commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Terra Nostra is a 70-minute oratorio on the relationship between our planet and humankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. Part I: Creation of the World explores various creation myths from different cultures, culminating in a joyous celebration of the beauty of our planet. Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines human achievements, particularly since the dawn of our Industrial Age, and how these achievements have impacted the planet. Part III: Searching for Balance questions how to create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. In addition to the complete oratorio, stand-alone movements for mixed chorus, and for solo voice with piano, are also available separately.
Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?

SKU: GI.G-10101

ISBN 9781622774661. English, Spanish. Text by David Bjorlin.

David Bjorlin is a pastor and seminary professor with a unique ability to put practical theology into poetic forms. He states that The act of true praise is always a protest against all that curses or denigrates the Creator’s world and the people made in the Creator’s image, and an act of true protest is always in praise of a world that the protestor has begun to envision and works to make real. Many of these 50 texts were written in response to particular injustices of church and state, with titles such as: Build a Longer Table, When Pharaoh Came for Children, If We Eat Our Lavish Banquets, and I Met a Stranger on the Road. Others are responses to the signs of hope and beauty that evoke our praise, including such titles as: Light Is Kindled in the Darkness, Dare to Live the Dream God Gave You, We Thank You God for Human Love, and For All Who Craft Their Words with Skill. The texts are paired both with familiar tunes and newly-composed ones by Benjamin Brody, Lim Swee Hong, Sally Ann Morris, and others.

SKU: PR.312419270

ISBN 9781491137918. UPC: 680160692606. English. Charles Mackay.

Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?

SKU: PR.312419290

ISBN 9781491137932. UPC: 680160692620. Texts from The King James Bible, creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt; Edna St. Vincent Millay, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Walt Whitman, Lord Byron, Esther Iverem, William Wordsworth, Wendell Berry, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Charles Mackay, William .

Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?

SKU: BR.PB-5434

ISBN 9790004212813. 10.5 x 14 inches.

My first violin concerto, The Psalms of Taciturnity, describes the inner feelings that cannot be expressed verbally, but that also cannot remain unexpressed. There is the human spirit's pain, sorrow and fortitude in the face of this big quandry. The Psalms stand for the praise of humanity and of life. And so in this concerto, the Psalms are lacking in words, but are full of music. (Ye Shen)

World premiere: Tokyo, August 21, 2018.

SKU: GI.G-9489

UPC: 785147948933. English, Spanish.

This captivating collection of liturgical music in varied styles highlights the scriptural themes of love, discipleship, healing, reconciliation, and praise. The best-selling title track, “To You Who Bow,” shows us an alternative path for humanity. Each song in this collection invites us to follow the way of Jesus, shaping a world of peace and justice. CONTENTS: Acts of God • To You Who Bow • Gathered and Sent • God Is Love • Eyes on the Prize • Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone • Psalm 18: I Love You, Lord • Psalm 29 • Psalm 23: The Lord Is My Shepherd • Turn Around • Psalm 13: How Long, O Lord • O Agape • Psalm 104: Send Out Your Spirit • If You Have Faith • Mary Don’t You Weep.

SKU: LO.30-2439L

UPC: 000308121230.

Acclaimed arranger Craig Curry has transformed this popular praise and worship song into a terrific choral anthem for worship. The thoughtful text invites believers to visit the cross once again to reflect upon Christ’s wondrous love for humanity. Opening with an optional solo verse, the choral texture gradually thickens by verse until the rich and full choral acclamation on the final refrain. A gentle contemporary pop groove in the accompaniment supports the regular syncopation in the vocals and provides a solid foundation for soloist and full choir alike. Instrumentation: Keyboard, Guitar, Bass, and Drums.

SKU: MN.CH-1165

Scripture: Psalms 100.

The text of Psalm 100 - Hariu L'adonai, Shout unto God with Joy. is majestic in language and God-intoxicated in its fervent expression of thanksgiving and faith. The English translation adheres closely to the meaning of the Hebrew words making this anthem accessible to both church and synagogue. Rich organ and choral textures provide exciting rhythmic, melodic and harmonic features of a celebratory character, reaching ecstatic and mystical heights. The chorestration provides solo, duet, and quartet opportunities midst richly fervent tuttis, bringing this exultant expression of humanity's trust in God from generation to generation, to a dramatic close. Duration 4:45.