SKU: HL.2050267

ISBN 9781705153451. UPC: 797242013799. 6.75x10.5x0.318 inches.

Randy Vader, Jay Rouse, and Camp Kirkland present the powerful sequel to THE WONDERS OF HIS LOVE. Christmas is a modern day miracle of ancient origin. Two thousand years of human history have not diminished the importance nor the implications of the Incarnation. The joy of that event will resound for millennia to come. As we celebrate the antiquity of the Christmas story, we must be mindful of the significance the account of the coming of Christ has on our lives today. The Light that shone from Bethlehem, from Galilee to Jerusalem, from a rugged cross to the Father's throne; that Light still shines in the darkest night it will lead us home. The visions of a star, a stable, shepherds, wisemen, a young mother and father, and a tiny baby in a manger of hay, are still wreathed in wonder and awe. The tidings of great joy that reach to us from that time long ago in that place far away, resound with this great promise and truth... “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:16).

SKU: FG.55011-348-0

ISBN 9790550113480.

Shiki began as a request for a short winter-themed piece for the Hamalais-Osakunnan Laulajat choir in Helsinki. It eventually grew into a four seasons-type cycle on haiku by a 20th century Japanese monk Santoka Taneda.
The music of Shiki is a progression through various states of near-stasis. The main impression the composer wished to convey was the one of absolute stillness at the heart of each scene, of communion with the outer world, as if the viewer were drawing the landscape into him, and at the same time dissolving himself into it. The voices are treated texturally, as well as textually, moving on slow masses, with the soft but precisecely colored vowels of Japanese creating the basic sounds, and the sharper consonants giving them shape and definition.

SKU: GI.G-10450

UPC: 785147045014. English. Text by David Bjorlin. Scripture: Isaiah 25:6–9, Isaiah 65:17–25, Matthew 28, Mark 16:1–13, Luke 24, John 20:1–18, Romans 6:3–11, Revelation 21:1–7.

This choral arrangement was written during the height of the COVID pandemic with virtual choirs in mind. The piece is wonderfully adaptable whether sung by a vocal quartet or a full choir, featuring unison lines that may be taken by a soloist and a violin part that could be played by any treble C instrument or even incorporated into the piano accompaniment.

This choral arrangement was written during the height of the COVID pandemic with virtual choirs in mind. The piece is wonderfully adaptable whether sung by a vocal quartet or a full choir, featuring unison lines that may be taken by a soloist and a violin part that could be played by any treble C instrument or even incorporated into the piano accompaniment.

SKU: FG.55011-455-5

ISBN 9790550114555.

This cycle of carols, to the poetry of Christina Rossetti, was assembled piecemeal over a number of years, gradually acquiring a larger dramatic and harmonic arch shape as new settings were added. I was particularly attracted to Rossetti's conflation of the dark, fallow winter landscape with that of the soul waiting for salvation. The cycle traces the long nights of watchfulness before Christmas, with the great event constantly deferred, only glimpsed periodically in different visions before the music turns inward again to contemplation. The opening carol embodies this spirit, with passages of diffuse, roving harmony interspersed with meditative, lyrical pedals, calling out the night watch and dreaming of a far-off summer of the spirit. Earth Grown Old is a kind of double carol, setting two complete poems, their lines at first presented separately as a still, expectant chorale and a jubilant dance, then progressively interwoven toward a fervent climax before once again receding into quiet. In the bleak mid-winter, which sets a highly compressed version of Rossetti's original poem, presents an enfeebled landscape frozen in time, in dire need of deliverance. A gentle melody weaves its way through static drones, broken by an angels' chorus announcing the joy to come. Love Came Down at Christmas ends the waiting, with its gently falling, overlapping lines building to a final revelation, the mystery of Christmas at last made real.