Music Review

Our family loves listening to hymns. However, we've found it difficult to find quality music in this particular genre. The words to the hymns themselves are great, of course. The singers have nice voices, but the caliber of the accompanying music is often very amateur in nature. Probably not a very nice thing to say, but we've found it to be true.

This past spring, I spent about three hours listening to music samples on the internet and found a little gem for Matt which I gave to him on his birthday. It's called, "The Church Triumphant," featuring Stuart Neill as the lead tenor vocalist. The album itself is put out through Ligonier Ministries (R.C. Sproul), but I purchased our copy from Christian Book Distributors.

The inside cover of the cd reads, in part, "The music division of Ligonier Ministries exists to exalt the name of Christ and support the teaching of the Word of God with music. To that end, Ligonier Ministries will produce new collections of traditional hymnody and excellent sacred music performed by renowned vocalists and accomplished musicians. It is our hope that our efforts will bring glory to God by restoring the sense of reverence and gravitas found in more classical forms of worship."

Let me tell you, Mr. Neill's voice is phenomenal. The full orchestra and choir accompaniment is outstanding . We've listened and listened and listened to this cd. It completely elevates even a drive in the car to run errands to time of worship and praise of our Almighty God. My favorite hymn on the album is "The Church's One Foundation." Matt's favorite is "God of Our Fathers." The kids even love the album. This cd would make an awesome Christmas gift.

While I'm on the subject of music, I thought I'd briefly mention our family's favorite Christmas albums. They are:
Peter Paul & Mary's "A Holiday Celebration,"
"Christmas with The Vienna Choir Boys and Hermann Prey & Placido Domingo,"
Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song"
Selah's, "The Rose of Bethlehem"
"33 Favorite Christmas Hymns" (various artists)

These are all albums that we enjoy listening to from beginning to end. We also have a couple of favorite Christmas songs that we like, but don't necessarily enjoy the albums from which they come in their entirety. They are: Kathy Mattea's, "Mary, Did You Know?" and Faith Hill's, "A Baby Changes Everything."