Hymnancipation: Purchase CD's

This first CD in the Hymnancipation! series contains hymns of Advent, the first season of the Church year, a season of yearning, anticipation and preparation, both for Christ’s First Coming as a child born in Bethlehem, and for his Second Coming in the future as Christ the King who will rule over all of creation with truth and justice and righteousness. Advent is the season in which Christians reflect on what it means to live in “the between times” (the time between Christ’s First and Second Coming) in a world in which evil and injustice are ever-present ~ a world in which we are called to be faithful servants, striving on Christ’s behalf to bring the truth and justice that he will ultimately declare at his Second Coming. I hope this CD of Advent hymns will help you to reflect and celebrate in this season of great promise.

I think that there really is enough Christmas music already on the market to more than satisfy the desires of the general public. However, this DOUBLE CD is part of a series of Christian hymns. Roughly half of the hymn tunes I’ve included here have been commercialized and exploited by the retail industry as music-to-shop-by; but still, they are among the great hymns of the Church, and I found that I had something to say about them musically. The remaining half, mercifully, have escaped the fate of holiday elevator music. Amen!

This third CD contains tunes from hymns of Pentecost and the lesser festivals of Holy Trinity; Christ the King; All Saints’ Day; Mary, Mother of Our Lord and The Presentation of Our Lord. Some of you may be wondering what happened to the seasons of Lent & Holy Week, as they would chronologically follow Christmas & Epiphany (Volume Two) in the Church Year. The answer is that those seasons follow the lunar year and came so early in 2005 that it was not feasible to produce a CD for a timely release. Arrangements of those hymns are completed; and one of these days, I'll get the production work done!