bookshelf

Notable Recordings

Inspired performances

by Christopher L. Walton

Heinrich Christensen Plays the C.B. Fisk Organ, King’s Chapel, Boston. Works by Bach, Bruhns, Laukvik, Madsen, Mozart, and Pinkham. Super Audio CD. Arsis Audio, 2004; $15.95. www.arsisaudio.com.

King’s Chapel, the first church in New England to install a pipe organ or employ a professional musician back in 1713, became Unitarian in 1783. Its sixth organ, made by Charles Fisk in 1964, reintroduced traditional mechanical-action organs to the United States. This exciting, nimble recording by the congregation’s music director and award-winning organist highlights baroque and modern works and honors the church’s role as a center for great music in Boston.

The Fire of Commitment: Music of Jason Shelton. With Jason Shelton, Jeannie Gagné, Connye Florance, and the Choir of Commitment. 2004; $15. www.jasonsheltonmusic.com.

What would UU gospel music sound like? Wait no longer to find out. The Rev. Jason Shelton’s first album offers jazzy, up-tempo liberal religious pop music, including settings of his already popular new hymns “The Fire of Commitment” and “Standing on the Side of Love.” Shelton, who is music director at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, was the worship leader at the Sunday morning “seeker service” at last year’s General Assembly, where several thousand UUs got a first taste of his music.

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