Heinrich Schütz: Thirty-Two Psalms from the Becker Psalter

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Intended for use in churches and classrooms, Alice Parker has gleaned 32 of Schütz’s psalm settings from the seventeenth-century Becker Psalter. The new texts of Gracia Grindal are lyrical English versions based on the Psalms themselves, rather than literal translations of Becker’s German text. The indexes and Parker’s commentary for each setting make this a useful resource for singers, directors, and accompanists. The collection epitomizes hymn singing of the seventeenth century, just as Bach’s chorales would come to exemplify the tradition 100 years later. For today’s audience, steeped in the patterns of tonal music, these pieces—with their Renaissance freshness of mode and meter—come as a welcome tonic.