Great Canadian Hymns
Pax Christi Chorale
Independent (www.paxchristichorale.org)
In August 2009, Pax Christi Chorale invited both professional and amateur Canadian composers to enter their inaugural Great Canadian Hymn Competition. Chosen from sixty-eight entries, this recording, lovingly performed by the choir, features eleven hymns composed by the winners and finalists from all across Canada. Included is a nod to tradition with Healey Willan’s Eternal, Unchanging, We Sing to Your Praise thrown in for good measure. Most provinces are represented and there is a good mix of new settings of traditional texts and texts written for these new pieces. The First Prize winner, Henry Boon of Windsor, Ontario composed I Heard that God Was Power, the text for which was written by his wife Susan Boon. Second Prize was awarded to Judith Snowdon of Saint Joseph de Kent, New Brunswick for Do You Not Know, Have You Not Heard? Third Prize was awarded to Scott Bastien, also of Windsor, for his composition God of All Nations.
Thoughtfully included in this package is an easy-to-read book of scores; an excellent resource for organists and choirs who wish to introduce more contemporary Canadian compositions to their services. Although a few of the works might pose quite a challenge for congregational singing, they would, nonetheless, make fine choral anthems.
