15 Responses to “Help Needed: Toward A Discography of Conservative Christian Music”

1. # Ryan Martinon 11 Jun 2008 at 5:51 pm

   Non-Christmas, right?

   Many of the recordings you list, Scott, I already own. But here are a few additions:

   All Things Bright and Beautiful - Decca
   Alleluia: An American Hymnal - Nimbus
   Anything by Johann Sebastian Bach
   Beloved Swedish Psalm Melodies - BIS
   Choral Evensong - EMI Classics
   Faire is the Heaven - Naxos
   Hadyn: the Creation - I have Robert Shaw’s recording on Telarc
   Hymns of Heaven and Earth - Dorian Recordings
   Psalms and Hymns - Koch Classics
   The Psalms of David (volumes 1, 2, and 3) - EMI Classics
   Simply Baroque II - Sony Classics
   Wesley, S. S.: Anthems - Naxos

2. # Michael Rileyon 12 Jun 2008 at 4:21 pm

   The Hymns Album (Huddersfield Choral Society) - Signum Classics
   Thou Art My Refuge (Gloriae Dei Cantores) - Paraclete Press

3. # Chrison 12 Jun 2008 at 4:32 pm

   I don’t have any specific suggestions, but I often listen to AbidingRadio.com, which has a fantastic selection. SacredAudio.com would be another resource. Can you tell us which radio station? There are few of this type around, so I am quite curious.

4. # Scott Aniolon 13 Jun 2008 at 8:42 am

   Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

   It’s WCTS out of Minneapolis, a station owned and operated by Central Baptist Seminary.

   Chris, we’re going for a little bit of a different content than Abiding Radio, more hymn-based/classic kinds of things.

5. # Chrison 13 Jun 2008 at 5:27 pm

   Thanks Scott,

   I think you actually mentioned the hymn/classic focus in the article, but somehow I overlooked it.

   WCTS is one of the better Christian radio ministries in the country. It would have been my first guess for existing stations, however I was hoping perhaps a new station with this focus was going on the air. I think we need more like WCTS.

   Chris

6. # Jason Parkeron 14 Jun 2008 at 8:25 am

   This week I have been enjoying Beautiful Savior - St. Olaf Records.

7. # Anthony Haydenon 15 Jun 2008 at 8:50 pm

   How about some of the Hymnmakers series
   Here are some othe specific titles:
   **The World’s Greatest Hymns-Brentwood (this is a compilation of hymns from choirs like St. Olaf, Coral Ridge, and London Philharmonic
   **Amazing Grace-Robert Shaw
   **Make a Joyful Noise-New World records (American Psalmody 1770-1840

8. # C. Caleb Rothon 17 Jun 2008 at 3:05 pm

   I see you have two St. Michael Singers albums on the list - I would recommend more of their recordings especially the series including
   Morning Gladness
   Daily Abundance
   Evening Blessing
   All by Coventry Music.
   While I wouldn’t recommend everything at Coventry they do have some other nice things which might be found worthwhile.

9. # Doug Smithon 17 Jun 2008 at 6:26 pm

   Two favorites at our house are “Hymns Triumphant” (classic hymns with choir and orchestra in medleys; disc 1 is excellent; singing on disc 2 is not as excellent but still good) and SoundForth’s “Bright Canaan” (Southern folk hymns; mix of vocal/instrumental; traditional mountain instruments)

10. # Michael C.on 24 Jun 2008 at 12:20 am

    I know people scoff at Fettke, but I would include Majesty & Glory and Majesty & Glory of the Resurrection (both Sparrow). I think these satisfy your original description well.

    From what I know of WCTS, I would think the albums above would be a pretty dramatic change. I think some simple, more familiar hymn collections might help soften the adjustment.

    These collections aren’t Collegium, but they also aren’t John W. Peterson (I don’t think!):
    A Capella Hymns (vol 1 & 2) - Greentree
    Hymns For The Home (vol. 1 & 2) - SMS

    Also these are good:
    Classic Hymns - Summit
    The Best of Brass & Organ - Summit

    BTW is Religious Affections Radio gone? I could never get it to play in the past. I recently got a new computer, so I thought I would try again. I can’t find any evidence that it still exists.

11. # Scott Aniolon 24 Jun 2008 at 10:26 am

    Thanks, Michael.

    I’m not so thrilled with the choral quality of the Fettke albums, but I agree they’re better than a lot of stuff.

    Yes, unfortunately Religious Affections Radio is gone for now. Evidently the government put more stringent mechanical license restrictions on internet music, and so the broadcasting site I was using had to significantly raise the price for broadcasting. I was receiving some donations for the station, but not enough to keep it afloat.

    We’ll see what happens in the future; I’m looking into some other options as well.

12. # Michael C.on 24 Jun 2008 at 11:02 am

    You’re not going to be blown away by the choral quality of any of the things I just recommended. To me they are listenable because they sound like something I would hear in church, not because they are of concert quality.

    Admittedly I don’t have as sensitive an ear to the choral work; I’m probably more attuned to the quality of the mixing and mastering. I wish there was some middle ground between the “cathedral” recordings (a lot of British sacred recordings) and the warmer, more intimate sound of more popular music, even some of the Soundforth stuff. Soundforth’s recent “King of Love” is probably a reasonable balance in this regard.

    Speaking of radio, I wish there were decent Christian radio options on Sirius/XM. There’s nothing even close right now. I would love to put together a schedule of solid preaching and music for a national Christian radio station.

13. # Scott Aniolon 24 Jun 2008 at 11:09 am

    I’m all for recordings that sound like what you’d hear in Church. The SMS recording you listed is probably more like that. But the Fettke recordings have a pop edge to both the vocal technique and mix that I think renders them a bit cheap.

14. # Denise Shermanon 03 Jul 2008 at 2:26 am

    Westcoast Mennonite Chamber Choir :
    http://communitascare.com/stor.....p;cPath=21

    You can view the albums they’ve produced and buy them as albums, but you can also buy and download individual songs. About half of the songs listed on every album give a listening sample. There’s is a lot of music at this site but we bought enough individual hymns from this site to burn a sizeable hymn CD for ourselves.

15. # Scott Aniolon 03 Jul 2008 at 9:37 am

    Thanks, Denise! There are some really nice things there!

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