Psalms, Stars and Light – Review by RSCM (Church Music Quarterly)
“All in all, this is an attractive recital of an intriguing selection of psalm settings.” ★★
30th August 2024
Psalms, Stars and Light – Review by RSCM (Church Music Quarterly)
“All in all, this is an attractive recital of an intriguing selection of psalm settings.” ★★
30th August 2024

Listen or buy this album:
This is a wide-ranging disc of psalm settings. It opens with Eric Coates’s Dam Busters March and the text of Psalm 46, ‘God is our strength and refuge’: stirring stuff! From there we move to more familiar settings, including Sumsion’s They that go down to the sea in ships, J.S. Bach’s organ chorale prelude An Wasserflüssen Babylon and Parry’s Laudate Dominum and ‘O praise ye the Lord’. New discoveries include Bobby McFerrin’s The 23rd Psalm and Douglas Coombes’s Psalm 148. While the quality of performance is generally high, Purcell’s O God, thou art my God feels a little rough around the edges. The choir is sensitively and expertly accompanied by Shanna Hart and Lorenzo Bennett, including the former’s harmonization of a plainsong chant for Psalm 8. All in all, this is an attractive recital of an intriguing selection of psalm settings.
Review written by:
Review published in:
Other reviews by this author:
Featured artists:
Featured composers:
This is a wide-ranging disc of psalm settings. It opens with Eric Coates’s Dam Busters March and the text of Psalm 46, ‘God is our strength and refuge’: stirring stuff! From there we move to more familiar settings, including Sumsion’s They that go down to the sea in ships, J.S. Bach’s organ chorale prelude An Wasserflüssen Babylon and Parry’s Laudate Dominum and ‘O praise ye the Lord’. New discoveries include Bobby McFerrin’s The 23rd Psalm and Douglas Coombes’s Psalm 148. While the quality of performance is generally high, Purcell’s O God, thou art my God feels a little rough around the edges. The choir is sensitively and expertly accompanied by Shanna Hart and Lorenzo Bennett, including the former’s harmonization of a plainsong chant for Psalm 8. All in all, this is an attractive recital of an intriguing selection of psalm settings.