CD REVIEW: LORI TRUE - There Is Room For Us All: Songs of Justice, Prayers for Peace [G.I.A Publications, 2005]

Lori True first appeared on my radar with the release of the 1997 double live CD ‘Glory Day’ by David Haas. Soloing on the Haas penned ‘I Want To Call You’ [and appearing on many other songs on that recording], one didn’t need to be Einstein to realise that we were listening to a truly prayerful spirit in our presence whose star was rapidly rising.

Lo and behold, 4 years later in 2001, Lori True released her debut ‘A Place at the Table’. A superb recording, it demonstrated True was not only a consummate singer and interpreter of other people’s work – but an outstanding composer in her own right with songs such as ‘Turn To the Living God’ and ‘You Are Our Center/ Eres El Eje’ being of particular note. Musical collaborations with liturgical hymn wordsmiths such as Shirley Erena Murray, Ruth Duck and Brian Wren produced awe inspiring hymns such as ‘God of the Ages’, ‘A Place A t The Table’ and ‘Christ is Alive’. Pure gold.

True surfaced again on the excellent 2004 ‘As Morning Breaks and Evening Sets’ along with Tony Alonso and Michael Mahler, cementing in this blogger’s humble opinion that we were being witness to the development and push of GIA’s new ‘holy trinity’ of liturgical music.

Lori True does not disappoint with ‘There Is Room for Us All’. The production is flawless, the composition excellent and thematically, it is a very timely recording given the tensions we see around our world today.

The recording begins with the pulsing ‘One Lord’. Complete with wonderful antiphonal harmonies that beg to be sung, True establishes very quickly an easy formula of simple and memorable refrains with inspiring verses utilizing the vocal prowess of True and other guest cantors. The instrumentation is simple and uncluttered and would be a perfect choice for a Song of Gathering.

The reflective ‘You Are All I Need’ follows as an adaptation of Psalm 23. New settings of Psalm 23 are always welcomed as the stock-standard ‘Crimmond’ and Brian Boniwell’s ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ can very quickly become dreary. It’s application as a responsorial psalm at Eucharist or as psalmody as part of Evening Prayer with the line of, ‘You lead me through the darkness of the night’ make it very relevant indeed. Again, a singable piece, it screams out to be used for meaningful and inspiring liturgical practice.

The tempo is pushed up a few notches with the infectious ‘Build Us a Table’. With a wonderful text supplied by the gifted wordsmith Ruth Duck and a dancing tinwhsitle line played by the amazingly talented David Livingstone – make this an obvious choice for Preparation of the Gifts, although application at the Communion sharing could also be a smart choice.

‘What Have We Done for the Poor Ones?’ is a simple piece with overt justice themes. Without a chorus [as such], but a repetitive series of verses with the same melody – this piece would work best with an ensemble comprising of different voices [as displayed on the recording]. Used as a communion piece, hymn of thanksgiving or reflection within a Eucharist would be a logical choice. Additionally, services of reconciliation would be good opportunities to use this particular song.

David Haas makes a happy appearance in the reflective ‘Peace, Be Not Anxious’. Like on 2001’s ‘A Place at the Table’ True shows her amazing vocal abilities on this track, particularly in the last refrain with a haunting counter melody. Reminiscent of the vocal style done in ‘God Is Our Center’ [A Place at the Table]…this is truly beautiful prayer! I could see this having wonderful application as a dismissal hymn at Evening Prayer as members of the assembly are giving each other a sign of peace. Fine work.

Is it just coincidence – or a clever connection to her debut with the following verse in ‘Who Is the Alien?’:

Who is the alien? Who is the outcast?
Who do we cast aside with foolish pride?
We must decide to walk beside.
Let none divide, let all abide
We must provide a place at the table

Regardless of this little mystery, the song is strong in its justice theme. Accentuated with liturgical movement or a powerful PowerPoint slideshow – all kinds of possibilities begin to manifest themselves. Tom Franzak on vocals and Bobby Fisher on guitar are welcome guest musicians harking one’s memory back to the wonderful moments of prayer found on the 1997 masterpiece ‘Glory Day’ by David Haas.

‘One In Body, Heart and Mind’ is a magnificent Fraction Rite/ Communion piece that seamlessly morphs from one to the other. The music is inviting and lilting with a mantra-like refrain that will be very easy for any congregation to pick up and sing along with. Guest vocalists on this particular recording include Michael Mahler and Joe Comacho which make for happy listening.

Fr. Ray East. I love this guy. I have raved about him previously for his work on Marty Haugen’s ‘That You May Have Life’ and also the epic David Haas’ track ‘You Can Make Me Whole’. East has a wonderful timbre to his vocal tone and it naturally leads itself beautifully to gospel style singing. And while ‘I Lift My Soul’ [an adaptation of Psalm 25] starts off as a quiet little number, by the end of the track it is a thumping and galvanizing gospel epic with East singing superbly. True obviously feels similarly to this as she has dedicated and composed the song for East. Clever. Oh so clever! Please, please Ms True – do more work with the good Padre! Amen!

Set to the music of ‘Dona nobis pacem’ the next song ‘Dream a Dream’ features the vocal appearance of Lori True’s own daughter Katherine. True Jr. has a pure, sweet and clear voice which compliments the Christmas theme of the song. The text appears courtesy of Shirley Erena Murray and is reminiscent of ‘Child of Christmas Story’ [which appeared on 2001’s ‘A Place at the Table’ – also penned by Murray – and also featuring the younger Katherine True!!]. There are lots of connections being made in this recording and certainly – lots of positive developments occurring too.

A couple of months back, I wrote on the ministerial function of Vigils. In this article, I raised the issue that I had not heard of a recording devoted entirely to music to be used as a resource for Vigils and that this could be something to be explored. True certainly offers us a possible inroad to this debate with the Vigil themed song ‘We Await With Wakeful Care’. Clearly the result of caring and spending ‘vigil’ with a sick child, ‘We Await with Wakeful Care’ is a revelation moment on the album as to how we implement music in a Vigil setting. There is much work to be done here, but True has certainly contributed in a positive way. Perhaps this will be an area we see Lori True develop in the future as a nice connection to her work done with the Liturgy of the Hours on ‘As Morning Breaks and Evening Sets’. On this front – ‘we await with wakeful care’. [!]

The setting of the Magnificat, has been taken from ‘As Morning Breaks and Evening Sets’ and sits well with this collection. Connections. Connections!

An original musical setting of ‘Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace’ [St Francis of Assisi] is a positive inclusion here and works very well thematically. Melissa Cuddy and Michael Mahler do well to give voicing to this new setting of an age old [and much loved] prayer. The tone and feel is pulsing [not unlike the opening of ‘One Lord’] but perhaps with a more ethereal vibe aided masterfully by the expert sax playing of Kenni Holman.

The bilingual piece ‘On the Mountain of God’ using the language of the indigenous Hawaii people reminds me of the Haas ‘E Na Lima Hana (The Working Hands). Again we are treated to the dulcet tones of Joe Comacho and the sweet singing of Katherine True to reinforce the message of welcome and transformation.

The vocally driven ‘Let It Go’ with its gospel feel lends itself to a hymn of thanksgiving after communion. Never having been one to subscribe to the idea of pre-destination, I am somewhat grated by the refrain:

Oh, let it go, let it go, let it go, oh, let it go
Don’t you know
God’s got a plan and it’s bigger than this

This aside, the harmony work is outstanding and would provide a happy challenge to any choir or vocal ensemble to attempt in a parish setting.

The final track of the album is the simple and stark ‘Quietly, Peacefully’. Musically based on the Antonín Dvořák symphony No. 9, ‘From The New World’ – it rounds the collection off in a very sublime manner. True excels herself again with counter melody vocal lines in the final moments of the track which lift it all to an other-worldly finalé.

‘There Is Room For Us All’ is an excellent offering by Lori True. It acknowledges her previous recordings and boldly breaks new ground and sets a path open for future liturgical exploration. Clearly a master of her craft, Lori True has cemented her position as a liturgical composer of note and along with the likes of Michael Mahler and Tony Alonso, is paving the way for dynamic and inspiring liturgical musical practice in the twenty first century.

Tenebrae: A Viable Option for Morning Prayer in a Parish Setting?

I raised the question last year as to whether one could offer Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday night. This idea came after the success of Lenten Evening Prayer in my parish in 2005 – with the thought that Evening Prayer could be extended into the Easter Triduum somehow.

Liturgically, the Easter Triduum officially ends with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday – so I was thinking I was onto to something rather good.

I was informed by a number of different people that such an idea was not going to work. I was told that people ‘would be Eastered out’ by Sunday night having been to a number of liturgies over the preceding days and the last thing they would want to do is to go to another liturgy.

However, it was suggested to me as an alternative to Easter Sunday Evening Prayer – the service of Tenebrae could be offered – perhaps on Good Friday morning as a form of Morning Prayer.

I had never heard of Tenebrae and it lead me to do a little study on what it is. I was also heartened as I had previously been at a loss as to how to effectively offer Morning Prayer in a parish setting.

So what is Tenebrae?

The official celebration of Lauds [Morning Prayer] on the days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday are referred to as Tenebrae. The term Tenebrae is another word for darkness – and the liturgies themselves have a strong focus on the extinguishing of lights/ candles to mirror the death of Jesus and the observance of the three days in the tomb.

In the past, Tenebrae has been celebrated at varying points of the day. In the seventeenth century, some monasteries, such as St-Maur and St-Vanne in France, held the service at 2 a.m. Earlier than this in 1200 CE, the Benedictines celebrated Tenebrae in the late afternoon.

Evidence suggests Tenebrae existed as early as the eighth century with commentators such as Amalarius of Metz, a ninth century Gallican liturgist saying the following:

That the lights of the church are extinguished on these [nights] seems to me to be in commemoration of the Sun of Justice Himself, who is buried for three days and three nights…Our church is illuminated with twenty-four candles and at each song – where we might otherwise rejoice – we choose sadness because our true Sun has set; and thus during the individual hours the lack of the sun is increased until complete extinction. This happens three times because it recalls the three-day burial of the Lord.

This shows us that - in the past - Tenebrae was indeed celebrated by some as a nocturnal liturgical activity. However the 1955 Catholic Church Decree Maxima Redemptionis brought about liturgical changes in the way the Easter Triduum was to be celebrated. Instruction was given that saw the celebration of Lauds and Matins to be observed on the actual day [not the evening before as was done in some places]. Therefore the office of Tenebrae was from 1955 onwards, seen best celebrated ‘in the morning [of the day itself] at the appropriate hour’.

This idea of Tenebrae being celebrated as Morning Prayer over the Easter Triduum has remained since this time – although the celebration of Tenebrae itself is uncommon.

The actual rite and structure of Tenebrae involves participants entering the Church and seeing a large 15 candle candelabra with all the candles lit. This candelabra is officially known as a ‘hearse’ or ‘Tenebrae Hearse’ [see picture above].

Following opening rites, a number of psalms are sung and also the chanting from the Book of Lamentations, which creates a very dramatic mood.

Coupled with this, is the extinguishing of candles after each psalm or lament is sung. One tradition associates the extinguishing of lights with the desertion of the Apostles who fled Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Psalms, canticles, readings and other hymns are sung until all candles are extinguished – except one – which is then removed from the ‘hearse’ and – still alight – is momentarily placed behind the altar. Traditionally, Psalm 51 is then sung [also known as the Miserere]. Then the sound of a loud crash is made [made by a cymbal – or in some places the congregation stomping their feet] to symbolise the earthquake at the moment of Jesus’ death. Some congregations also at this point throw 30 silver coins at the foot of the sanctuary for added dramatic effect.

The candle is then brought from behind the altar and shown to the assembly symbolising the inextinguishable light of Christ. People then leave the Church in absolute silence.

One can see there is rich symbolic imagery at play in Tenebrae with some claiming it as their favourite of the Easter services. [!!]

My hope is that I will be able to offer it to my Parish this year on Holy Saturday morning. My thinking here is that I will maximise the chance of people being able to attend as on Holy Thursday people will still be at work. Good Friday will be busy with preparations for the Ecumenical Walk of Witness, which begins in our Church and draws a huge crowd.

Which leaves Saturday morning. We’ll see how things go.

The Congregation for Divine Worship released a document in 1988 focusing on the Easter feasts and attempted to restore the ‘forgotten day’ of Easter by encouraging the celebration of Tenebrae, stating the following:

On Holy Saturday the Church is as it were at the Lord’s tomb, meditating on his passion and death, and on his descent into Hell, and awaiting his resurrection with prayer and fasting. It is highly recommended that on this day the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer be celebrated with the participation of the people. Where this cannot be done, there should be some celebration of the Word of God, or some act of devotion suited to the mystery celebrated on this day.

Watch this space for more developments on the celebration of Tenebrae.

Morning and Evening Prayer: An interview with Tony Alonso

Over the past three weeks I have been interviewing noted liturgical musicians to get their views on Morning and Evening Prayer. I conlude this 3 part series with a interview recently conducted with Tony Alonso.

Lucernarium: Do you, or have you, used music in celebrating Morning and Evening Prayer? What has been your experience of these ‘hinge’ hours of prayer? How has music enhanced these times for you and the gathered assembly?

In my experience, music has always done far more than enhance my experience of celebrating morning and evening prayer. It is impossible to imagine the richness of this profoundly beautiful and simple way of praying without music; music is an integral part of these celebrations. Music puts the words of the psalms and scriptures on our lips and in our hearts. While it is difficult for most Catholics to recite any of the psalms, once they have sung them, it is difficult for them to forget them! The Liturgy of the Hours gives us a wonderful opportunity to learn the psalms and canticles of our tradition, but more importantly it allows them to take root in our whole prayer lives, to shape our relationship and conversation with God and one other.

Lucernarium: What do you see as the challenges facing Morning and Evening Prayer in a parish setting? Are there other settings where it can be celebrated?

Some people make it more difficult than it needs to be. The beauty of morning and evening prayer is its simplicity and in the fact that most of the “work” belongs to the assembly. It need not be complex to be prayerful and engaging. In fact, sometimes the more complex these services become, the more the assembly is robbed of its opportunity to pray and sing as one. In addition to the parish setting, morning and evening prayer have been some of the most wonderful parts of retreats and conferences I have attended.

Lucernarium: Is there a saturation of Eucharistic celebrations throughout the duration of any given week in a parish setting? Is there scope to balance the liturgical diet of the faithful by replacing weekday Masses with Lauds and Vespers? Comment.

Absolutely. We should come to the table hungry Eucharist is wonderful; it is the summit of our liturgical prayer. But the hours offer us another rich way of praying in community. If all we celebrate is Eucharist, we miss out on some wonderful opportunities for richness and also risk neglecting to appreciate the uniqueness of Eucharist.

Lucernarium: The developments in scriptural and liturgical music since Vatican II have been quite remarkable. In your opinion, where will we be in 10-15 years time? What developments do you think will occur, given present liturgical understandings and practice?

It is impossible to say where we’ll be in 10-15 years. This is a multi-faceted question, especially since my experience of the Church in the United States in comparison with the experience of someone in Nigeria, Ireland, Australia or Mexico is vastly different today! Whatever the case, it is fascinating to watch. I watch with sincere hope that the next 10-15 years are a progression to fulfill the vision of Vatican II. It is such a young vision, it needs to be given more time; there’s still so much possibility for growth. Some people say it’s gone far enough, I say we haven’t even scratched the surface!

A sincere thankyou to Tony for taking the time out to do this interview. For more info on Tony Alonso, his ministry, his music and written publications - go to the link at the side of this page entitled 'Tony Alonso'. Additionally, go to GIA Publications to view [and hear snippets!] of songs from his most recent collection 'Songs from Another Room'.