Justin Appel

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is the Feast of Saint Andrew. Since Psalm 96 is on the lectionary in association with this feast, and since our choirs are preparing to sing anthems by the Scottish composer James MacMillan this Sunday, I wanted to share a short anthem by this composer that utilizes verses from this psalm.

Aptly named, A New Song begins with a simple refrain to verse 1 that displays MacMillan’s special gift for writing a memorable melody. In verse 2, the texture changes entirely. The organ plays a diaphanous series of arpeggios in a free, or ‘aleatoric’ fashion, imbuing the material with a sense of activity and movement — even as the harmony moves quite slowly. Over this, the choir sings a lush, imitative series of fugal melodies bearing Scottish ornamentation.

This pattern repeats again with verses 1 and 3, and finally, the organ bursts into an increasingly brilliant paean that concludes with a thunderous chord.

On Sunday, our choirs will sing a verse of MacMillan’s Advent Antiphon, a work that features texts for each Sunday of Advent, with music from A New Song, though her rendered for congregational singing with a cantor.

I trust this psalm anthem will be a lovely way to start the day with the lectionary.

Yours in Christ,
Justin


A New Song, James MacMillan

O sing unto the Lord a new song,
sing unto the Lord all the whole earth.

Sing unto the Lord and praise His Name,
be telling of His salvation from day to day.

For He cometh to judge the earth,
and with righteousness to judge the world
and the people with His truth.
Psalm 96: 1, 2, 13