Love So Amazing: The Hymn Arrangements of Stuart Forster Stuart Forster, Church of the Redeemer Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts Choir, Christ Church Cambridge, Massachusetts Choir & Michael Murray

• Charles Wesley (1707 - 1788):
• 1Jesus Christ Is Risen Today (Arr. S. Forster)04:26
• Jakob Hintze (1622 - 1702):
• 2Songs of Thankfulness and Praise (Arr. S. Forster)03:07
• John Newton (1725 - 1807):
• 3Amazing Grace (Arr. S. Forster)03:14
• Louis Bourgeois (1510 - 1561):
• 4New Songs of Celebration Render (Arr. S. Forster)03:27
• Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958):
• 5Come Down, O Love Divine (Arr. S. Forster)03:24
• 6For All the Saints (Arr. S. Forster)03:26
• Joachim Neander (1650 - 1680):
• 7He Is Risen (Arr. S. Forster)03:02
• Christopher Dearnley (1930 - 2000):
• 8Sing, Ye Faithful, Sing with Gladness (Arr. S. Forster)02:37
• Robert Williams (1781 - 1821):
• 9Hail the Day That Sees Him Rise (Arr. S. Forster)02:59
• St. Francis of Assisi (1182 - 1226):
• 10All Creatures of Our God and King (Arr. S. Forster)04:58
• Ralph Vaughan Williams:
• 11I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say (Arr. S. Forster)02:34
• Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748):
• 12When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (Arr. S. Forster)02:58
• Cyril Vincent Taylor (1907 - 1991):
• 13Lord, You Give the Great Commission (Arr. S. Forster)05:21
• Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 - 1924):
• 14When in Our Music God Is Glorified (Arr. S. Forster)03:07
• Keith Chesterton (1874 - 1936):
• 15O God of Earth and Altar (Arr. S. Forster)02:19
• Robert Robinson (1735 - 1790):
• 16Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Arr. S. Forster)03:34
• Elizabeth Byrne (1880 - 1931):
• 17Be Thou My Vision (Arr. S. Forster)01:57
• Edwin George Monk 1819 - 1900):
• 18Angel-Voices Ever Singing (Arr. S. Forster)02:36
• Hubert Parry ( 1848 - 1918):
• 19Jerusalem (Arr. S. Forster)02:36
• Total Runtime01:01:42

Info for Love So Amazing: The Hymn Arrangements of Stuart Forster

Hymn singing is fundamental in protestant churches, but not normally the subject of an album released worldwide. The musicianship presented here is singular, sung by two volunteer choirs with power and emotion. The inspired arrangements heard on this recording have developed over decades of working with wonderful choirs and congregations, as well as by singing with, and listening to, many inspired colleagues. Some of the descants were conceived for particular services, while other arrangements grew further for special occasions. Several of the brass arrangements were composed for the ordination and consecration of the Rt. Rev. Alan Gates as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 2014.

Australians Michael S. Murray and Stuart Forster have worked together for more than 20 years, including conducting and accompanying in one anothers Episcopal churches, Christ Church in Cambridge and Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, located on opposite sides of the river Charles in Boston, Massachusetts, and during choir tours throughout America and Europe. Waiting and planning for the right moment to share their combined parish traditions of engaged singing from the vast legacy of hymnody bestowed upon the Anglican tradition has been fulfilled in this album. The installation of the exquisite Schoenstein organ at Church of the Redeemer, the restoration of the acoustic in Henry Vaughans exquisite architecture, and the publication of some of Stuart Forsters hymn arrangements made the timing just right. What you will hear on this album is a superlative combined choir of about eighty voices singing some of the best-known hymns accompanied by a newly designed organ as theyve never been heard before.

Stuart Forster, organ, direction
Church of the Redeemer Chestnut Hill
Massachusetts Choir
Christ Church Cambridge
Michael Murray, organ

Stuart Forster
A dedicated church musician, Stuart Forster has been Director of Music and Organist at Christ Church, the Episcopal Church in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, since 1999. He has performed throughout both hemispheres as an organ soloist, accompanist, and conductor. As a composer, he has written congregational music, organ music, and choral anthems. Dr. Forster has also composed more than 100 hymn arrangements and numerous organ transcriptions. This music is published by Paraclete Press, MorningStar Music Publishers, and St. James Music Press; his landmark organ transcription of Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony, “From the New World,” was published by Éditions Chantraine, Belgium. He has been broadcast around the world and has recorded numerous CDs, including solo performances on the JAV and Pro Organo labels. Vesper Light, a CD featuring the Christ Church Cambridge Evensong Choir, was recorded live on tour in some of America’s finest ecclesiastical buildings. Forster’s book, Hymn Playing: A Modern Colloquium, compiles the thoughts and practices of leading church musicians, setting a new standard for teaching organists about engaging congregational song. He regularly teaches workshops on hymn playing.

After considerable study and several appointments in his native Sydney, Australia, Forster traveled to the United States in 1996 to study with Professor Thomas Murray, earning two degrees from Yale University, as well as the Faculty Prize and the Robert S. Baker Scholarship from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and from the Yale School of Music the Julia R. Sherman Prize for excellence in organ playing. In addition to earning qualifications from the University of Sydney, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and Trinity College of Music, London, Forster has won the Sydney International Organ Competition and been awarded numerous other accolades, including the Scarf Foundation Award, the University of Sydney Organ Scholarship (awarded twice), the Alice Bryant Organ Scholarship (for two terms of three years each), and the Ruth and Paul Manz Organ Scholarship. While studying at Yale, Forster served as Fellow in Church Music at Christ Church, New Haven, Connecticut; his work at the University included appointments as Marquand Chapel Organist, accompanist to various choruses and graduate courses, and teacher to numerous undergraduate and second-instrument organ students. He earned a Doctorate in Sacred Music (DSM) at the Graduate Theological Foundation, with a focus on the congregation’s experience of music and flow within liturgy; his dissertation documents and analyzes current practices of hymn leadership and accompaniment with the organ.

Booklet for Love So Amazing: The Hymn Arrangements of Stuart Forster