At the announcement time last Sunday, Pastor Jeff Lilley asked parishioners to support the new Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra by buying tickets to their concerts and said there would be a group of LCHers going to one of the concerts together. A brochure has been printed and is titled “Lutheran Church of Honolulu celebrates the return… Read More The new Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra and LCH
Today was the first Sunday in Lent, and for the last twenty-five years, we have begun the service with “The Great Litany” by Peter Hallock. Carl Crosier and I first heard this setting at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, and what I was struck by was the music’s power to “put you in another place.” The… Read More The Great Litany and new Gospel Acclamations
I didn’t get a chance last weekend to write about some of the other music we did for Transfiguration, because we have been so busy with a kitchen renovation. But I did want to say something about last Sunday’s opening hymn which was a concertato by Carl Crosier on “Oh wondrous type! o vision fair.”… Read More It’s Lent, but . . .
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Today is Ash Wednesday and all over the world, these words will be spoken as ashes are imposed upon the foreheads of the faithful. They are a reminder that all are mortal, and everyone will face death one day. These words were also spoken… Read More Ash Wednesday 2012
Tomorrow the offertory anthem will be the spiritual, “Elijah Rock,” a piece in a new genre for the LCH Choir. It was written by Moses Hogan (1957-2003), an African-American composer who published over seventy choral anthems and who tragically died at the age of 45 of a brain tumor. A website devoted to his music… Read More Elijah Rock
Yesterday, our long-time friend from the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Randy Knutson, sent me this cartoon and it reminded me about what I wanted to write about for a long time — the organ prelude. Now, if we were in the Mormon church, we would read this from the Church Handbook of Instructions: “Quiet… Read More The organ prelude
You won’t believe this, but two nights ago we just looked at the Christmas cards we received in December! Our Christmas was soooo busy and even though we were away in California, the cards have just been sitting in a pile, and we didn’t get a chance to read them until now. We had a… Read More Christmas in February
Today after church, one of our ushers, Chuck Pearson, handed me the obituary of Gustav Leonhardt (1928-2012), as he thought I might be interested in it. Little did he know that Leonhardt had an indirect influence on the LCH music program through his many recordings. In 1971 Leonhardt and Nikolaus Harnoncourt undertook a massive project… Read More Gustav Leonhardt, early music pioneer
From the ridiculous to the sublime . . . as I transition from my last post on cell phones in church to something more cerebral . . . As I may have mentioned before, I subscribe to an electronic mailing list devoted to the pipe organ, and there were numerous tributes to Gerre Hancock, long-time organist… Read More “Unforgettably beautiful”
A former chorister, Annette Rossi, shared this YouTube video via FaceBook, and I thought blog readers would get a kick out of it. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2_c81Nnsc0] As it started to play, I thought, my goodness, that church looks so familiar, and then when the credits started rolling, I was thrilled to find out that the video… Read More Cell phones in church