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Listen to the entire suite as part of Texas Public Radio's Classical Spotlight.
Low resolution - 30 minutes
I have been interested in that great American hymnal for years now. Shortly after I got a facsimile of the 1860 edition, I started thinking about what it would be like if I did a piano suite based on some Sacred Harp tunes. Edvard Grieg's Slåtter, Opus 72, has always touched me with its playful seriousness, its honoring of the weird Lydian-mode sound of Norwegian folk music, and its honoring of the melodic and thematic genius of the material, as classical music often does with folk, refining and polishing it to bring out its grain. It's a way of, as Browning's Fra Lippo Lippi puts it, "lending our minds out" by calling attention to something that strikes us. So I wrote the Sacred Harp Suite. I found myself in a position to guest-host Texas Public Radio's Classical Spotlight, and premiered the piece. The response was so good that I'm writing another, and shaping them both up for publication.
Meanwhile, since I first composed it, several people have asked when and how they can get a good recording of it, rather than just the radio show feed. But when I shared it in conjunction with things i did in 08, there's been a real demand.
So, I've got it up and running, and you can now purchase a good recording of the Sacred Harp Suite. All nine songs, plus extensive liner notes that build on the information you hear in the radio show, for nine bucks even. Once it's yours, you can listen to it on your computer or iPod, or burn it to CD. You can pay with credit card or through PayPal, and download it immediately.
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