A note about the lack of post in this blog: If you have visited this blog and have found that it looked abandoned since the first couple of entries, you are basically correct. I’ve been very busy caring for my son-in-law and keeping up with his blog, so please excuse my absence—things have calmed down a bit, so hopefully I will have more time to dedicate to liturgical music which is one of my passions.

Octavos and more octavos: I have the pleasure of receiving quarterly octavo music packets from three different publishers. Actually the three biggest Catholic music publishers, GIA Publications, Inc., Oregon Catholic Press (OCP), and World Library Publications (WLP). My church is also fortunate in that we have a music license from all three previously mentioned publishers. Each publisher not only sends full octavos, they also send CD’s of the music in the octavos. As I review each packet, I’d like to take a few standouts from each music packet and discuss them in this blog.

I recently received OCP’s quarterly octavo music packet #58 and would like to review a few of the stand outs in upcoming post. Obviously this is a subjective review, but hopefully, over the last 35 or so years as a pastoral musician, I’ve gained some good sense in picking out music that is both interesting, liturgically sound, and musically pleasing. Oh, and most importantly—does the music and words speak to the assembly and make them want to pray and sing? Keep in mind that I tend to lean more toward octavos that are less “cathedral” in style and geared more towards the average Catholic church music group. In my choir, I have about 15-20 singers, a keyboard player/organist, (one) guitar, bass guitar, cello, flute, drum kit, conga and percussionist who plays miscellaneous instruments.

The one octavo from the latest OCP packet (#58) that really caught my attention is “One with the Risen Lord” by Bob Hurd (edition # 20587, Assembly, SATB Choir, Descant, Keyboard, Guitar, Cello, and Trumpet in B-flat (or Trumpet in C), Compact Disc #20354. The song is based on John 14:15-21, 23-29.

The refrain has a very Taize like feel to it. It also has sort of a meditative, hypnotic feel to it. I found myself singing the melody in my head later on in the day after only spending a few minutes singing the refrain and verses. I wouldn’t be surprised if this piece of music didn’t make it into one of OCP’s excellent hymnals within the next few years.

Another plus for choir directors like myself is the inclusion of the instrumental parts! I am blessed with having an excellent cellist and I so appreciate being able to hand her a cello part; especially one that looks to be very well written. To view the complete PDF of this octavo, go to OCP’s web site, or click here. You can either look at the full PDF of the octavo (printing of of the PFD has been disabled) or you can also listen to a snippet of the music.

In the “Composers Notes” section of the octavo (which I also really like about OCP), Bob Hurd mentions that the song “summarizes the entire Easter season”. He also mentions “One with the Risen Lord” can be used as a gathering or communion song throughout the entire Easter season. I for one, will be using this octavo for our communion song this coming Easter season.