Thursday, December 02, 2004 AD
Have yourself a very Lutheran Christmas
I may have been too busy to blog much recently (see below), but mercifully I haven't been too busy to listen incessantly to my latest CD purchase: the Gabrieli Consort's recording of Michael Praetorius' Lutheran Mass for Christmas Morning. It's a recording of a complete Mass as it might have taken place on Christmas Day in 1620, complete with chorales, canticles, liturgy and even the (chanted) epistle and Gospel readings. The only thing missing is the sermon. Oh, and the notices. ;-)
Amazon's editorial review is spot-on when it describes this "exhilarating disc" as an "essential recording". This is thrilling, joyous music that makes you realise what it sounds like when people are truly celebrating Christmas, with the emphasis on both words. It is music for people who know what it means for God to come among us in the flesh as a baby in a feeding trough, people who can say "I know of no other God except the one called Jesus Christ" not as a slogan or even as a mere proposition, but as a confession from a heart overflowing with love for their Saviour. If only Lutheran worship sounded like this today!
Do listen to the sample tracks on Amazon. Particular highlights include the Introit, Puer Natus in Bethelehem (track 2); the Gradual Hymn, Vom Himmel Hoch da Komm Ich Her (track 5); the haunting mediaeval melody for the Creed, Wir Glauben All' an Einen Gott (track 10); Luther's setting of the Sanctus, Jesaja Dem Propheten das Geschah (track 15); and the seriously loud setting of In Dulci Jubilo that concludes the disc (not, alas, included as one of the samples). In Dulci Jubilo comes complete with trumpets positioned, as Praetorius pragmatically recommended, outside the church...
It's appropriate that, when I looked at the page on Amazon which features this disc, there was a banner ad for this product. Particularly handy for when the full chorus comes in with the chorale melody half way through Puer Natus in Bethlehem - a truly heart-stopping moment.
UK readers may now have difficulty sourcing a copy before Christmas, but you can try here, here or here (that last one is where I bought it, for the laughable price of £5.99 plus £1 P&P - but I had to wait a few weeks for it). But even if you can't get it in time for Christmas, this is music for celebrating the Incarnation all year round.
Why are you still here?
