Christmas Alliance 1.3, A different solution to worldly woes

As an antidote to my previous post, here’s a better answer to the planet’s woes, here is the first of this season’s music presentations. Note: this is an excerpt. Buy the CD for the whole thing.

Here are a couple of verses of Charles Wesley’s text usually set to the tune, HYFERDOL by Rowland Prichard (played above):

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a Child, and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit,
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all-sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Unfortunately, the CD that this is excerpted from, Winterlude — Instrumentals for a Contemplative Christmas ~ John Darnall (Artist), et al, is OOP, but the link does lead to some copies still available through Amazon.com.

TB-ed to a recent Random Yak Christmas Alliance post, cos I don’t know where else to tb Xmas Alliance posts. *heh*

Read some boring music talk below the fold

The best thing about this arrangement/performance of “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” is Darnell’s treatment of a tempo that is very nearly at odds with the tempo demanded by the tune, Hyferdol. I’ve heard this piece sung/directed at truly funereal tempos, and it’s so painful I’ve actually left the room when it’s happened. But while Darnell plays the piece at a nominal tempo of 110 bpm, which is about 45-50 bpm below the joyous pace the tune itself seems to ‘want,” with the performer’s embellishments, the piece comes off sounding much brighter in tempo than it actually is.

While I’d never sing the song as slowly as Darnell’s fundamental tempo as played, it sounds (or rather feels) as though it’s at the tempo the tune demands. It isn’t, but it does catch the brightness and joyousness of the tune, which makes contemplating the words of Wesley’s text all the better.