Today we have something short and absolutely terrific! Jan Sweelinck was the most famous Dutch organist-composer in the early 1600s. He played at the Oude Kerk - these days it is the oldest building in Amsterdam. He composed a large body of choral works, many of which are in French, including this one. During his lifetime, Amsterdam was very prosperous and was very international. His Huguenot psalms were composed for French-speaking Protestants living there. Even though the text of this motet is one of the 150 psalms of the Bible, the piece sounds more like a secular madrigal, with all the voices rapidly shooting this way and that way. It’s actually quite difficult to perform well, but worth every minute of rehearsal. I love this piece and hope you do, too!

– Dennis Keene

SWEELINCK Psalm 96

Voices of Ascension
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director

from the Delos recording Beyond Chant ℗ 1994 Delos
The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.