I am frequently asked, “What do you listen to?” when folks find out how conservative I am.1 I do believe that we ought to be very discriminate in what we listen to, for this drives our appetites for what is sung and played in corporate worship. Indeed, I consider it nothing less than scandalous that many “solid” evangelical and fundamentalist institutions, while professing to believe the great doctrines of the Christian faith, do not produce excellent recordings of the great masterpieces of western sacred music.2 And what music we allow ourselves to indulge in can easily render our taste base. When some people ask us about such-and-such a song, or the artist so-and-so, we find ourselves somewhat nonplussed; we have no real desire to sing that song or their music, because, when you’re listening to the Sixteen or John Eliot Gardiner or the Kings College Choir on a regular basis, these fads and hipsters aren’t even on your radar.
More positively, I want to take a few posts to recommend some recordings of sacred music in the English language outside the particularly “classical” world.3 This list is not exhaustive, and I’d be happy to have readers make their own recommendations in comments. The recordings I will recommend feature traditional hymns and psalms of the best quality, both in tune and (in the case of hymns) texts. This is not to say that the recordings will be flawless in their selections (they may include hymns of dubious theology or quality), but for all, the balance of selections is excellent. At this point, I am bracketing off Christmas recordings (the Christian holiday where the whole world sings good hymns). In addition, I have neither the ear or finances to be a true audiophile, so the quality of recording itself is not something I am including in my considerations. Today, I will recommend recordings of great hymns and anthems sung by choirs. In future posts I will suggest some recordings of psalms and instrumental hymns.
Recordings of Choral Hymns and Anthems
12. The Complete New English Hymnal, Vol. 3. The Choir of Ely Cathedral and Paul Trepte. (Priory, 2001.) This is volume three of an impressive project by Priory records to record all the hymns and anthems of the New English Hymnal of the Anglican church. I would imagine that others in this series could be found quite rewarding, but I gravitated toward this one because it contains great hymns like “Creator of the Stars at Night,” “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending,” “Tell out, my soul, the Greatness of the Lord,” “King of Glory, King of Peace,” “Jerusalem the Golden,” and “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.” Solid.
About Ryan Martin
Ryan Martin is pastor of the First Baptist Church of Granite Falls, Minnesota. Prior to that, he served as the associate pastor of Bethany Bible Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He is on the board of directors of Religious Affections Ministries. Ryan received his undergraduate degree at Northland Baptist Bible College, and has received further training from Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Minneapolis, Minn. (M.Div., 2004; Ph.D., 2013). He was ordained in 2009 at Bible Baptist Church of Elk River, Minn. (now Otsego, Minn.). He has a wife and children too. Ryan is the associate editor of Hymns to the Living God (Religious Affections Ministries, 2017). He contributed to the Jonathan Edwards Encyclopedia (Eerdmans, 2017) and is the author of Understanding Affections in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards: "The High Exercises of Divine Love" (T&T Clark, 2018).
- There are many questions embedded in this matter that would make for good discussion. I don’t think it’s particularly helpful merely to assume that listening to sacred music all the time is a good thing. For example, do we take the name of God in vain when sacred music fills the background? I do not think so, but we ought to pause to consider the ways we listen to sacred music that reveres the name of God and the ways that blaspheme him. Just because listening to sacred music is part of our accepted culture does not mean that we ought to accept it uncritically. And while I am thankful for the rich resources we have to listen to recorded music, we should nevertheless seriously consider the limits and meaning of the medium. Are we, by listening to well-produced and digitally edited recordings, becoming immune to the importance of producing great music ourselves? Are we becoming so refined in our taste by listening to well produced music that we have no ability to appreciate the volatility and imperfections of a live performance? [↩]
- To be honest, I fear that sales and revenue, as well as marketing the newly printed octavos, dictate what is recorded more than other more important factors. [↩]
- In other words, it goes without saying that you ought to own classic Renaissance works, the B-minor mass, St. Matthew and St. John passions, Christmas oratorio, Bach’s classic cantatas, the Messiah, the German Requiem, Mozart and Faure‘s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, etc. If you want an excellently priced and great sounding set that gets into Bach’s best great works be sure to check Gardiner’s set out. [↩]