American Psalmody of the 20th Century

When Gloriae Dei Cantores (Singers to the Glory of God) was founded, it soon became evident that American music would be a priority for performance and recording.  When the musical staff looked at many familiar and unfamiliar American composers and their sacred choral repertoire, it became clear that there was a sizable amount of literature that was under-performed and never recorded. Works of Copland and Thomson, the American mystic Alan Hovhaness, Howard Hanson, Leo Sowerby, and two prominent Jewish composers, Samuel Adler and Robert Starer, along with numerous others, were under-performed and under-recorded.

Perhaps Gloriae Dei Cantores’ mission is most focused in these three CDs of "American Psalmody" — recorded at the Methuen Memorial Music Hall (a venue steeped in American musical history), and the choir’s home, The Church of the Transfiguration in Orleans, Massachusetts. Each program was selected to give voice to a variety of musical styles and periods and represent both well–known American composers and those that perhaps should be better known.

This rich treasure of sacred choral music was waiting to be discovered and, over the last twenty–five years, Gloriae Dei has created one of the most comprehensive discographies preserving this rich heritage of sacred choral music in America.