a couple nice ones from the last GIA choral packet
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    I just picked these up for my parish and am really looking forward to teaching them:
    Henson “O vos omnes”
    Lowenberg “Pentecost Prayer”

    The first is a cappella with brief soprano divisi. Very straightforward, but very effective as well.

    The second has a pretty interesting organ part and straightforward choral parts. It quotes VCS at least once, but it stands on its own anyway.

    I recommend both of these to anyone looking for pieces to fit these descriptions. I’ll bet GIA would fax you perusal copies, too, if you wanted.
  • Chris
    Posts: 80
    I also just ordered O vos omnes, along with some other nice ones from the same packet:

    I Give To You a New Commandment - Nardone
    I See His Blood Upon the Rose - Bedford
    Man of Sorrows - Parks

    All are resonably easy for SATB choir, and are well constructed pieces.
  • David AndrewDavid Andrew
    Posts: 1,206
    I confess that I stopped receiving the GIA choral subscription packs for three reasons: 1) I was tired of slogging through octavo after octavo of yet another "choral arrangement" of some awful Gather-based song or some anthem chock-full 'o creationist theology or heterodoxy or some such nonsense, 2) my predicessor had been receiving packs from GIA, OCP, WLP, Morningstar, Hope, Concordia, Augusburg Fortress, J.W. Pepper, Beckenhorst and on and on, which he never sorted through. I spent the last summer going through about 5 boxes, listening to the companion CDs and setting up a sample library. In the end, I threw out over 70% of what we received (it all went into the recycling bin. . . I want to be environmentally aware, you know), and 3) budget cuts.

    I almost wish that GIA would offer different types of sample packs based on genre, so that we don't have to pay for and go through 40 samples just to find the odd 2 or 3 every once in a while that would be useful. (I'm thinking they could assemble packs based on series, i.e., RSCM, Ars Antiqua Choralis, etc.

    Since I've heaped so much scorn on them recently, perhaps it would be a work of charity to propose something constructive to them instead.
  • Chris
    Posts: 80
    I most definitely concur, David. Sorting through the poorly composed dribble that most of these guys send out can be a real nuisance and almost doesn't seem worth the expense. So little of it is actually suitable for the liturgy. GIA's Ars Antiqua Choralis has some real gems, however, and the new RSCM line seems promising. I agree with you that they should be available as separate packets. OCP's Trinitas series has an occasional worthy piece, too.
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Chris wrote:
    OCP's Trinitas series has an occasional worthy piece, too.


    I’d say most of what I’ve seen under this label is of very high musical quality. Alas, much of it would take too much of my choir’s rehearsal time to try doing it.

    And, yes, I also wish the publishers would make a separate choral packet for people who have no interest in anything “for choir, congregation, keyboard, guitar, and 2 C instruments”.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,848
    O please don't get me started on the publishers!
  • David AndrewDavid Andrew
    Posts: 1,206
    Deeeeeeeeep breath, francis.

    ;^)

    BTW, yes, I like the Trinitas series as well. It seems to feature a lot of stuff by Colin Mawby. Wasn't he at Westminster Cathedral for a while? Perhaps the "composer in residence"?
Add a Comment