Psalms of the Duchy - The St Wilfrid, Harrogate Responsorial Psalter
Out of the devastation and sadness of the past months, new, positive and enduring comes to offer us all hope and joy in the shape of the St Wilfrid Psalter. Anthony Gray (2015, Music), former Organ Scholar, currently Director of Music of St Wilfrid's Church in Harrogate, conceived the original idea for Psalms of the Duchy - The St Wilfrid Psalter, which would offer all the Psalmody as set out in the Revised Common Lectionary provision for each week and feast day throughout the year.
His solution was to commission a large-scale project to create a completely original psalter to include all the morning psalms for years A, B and C, as well as major feast days and the sundry additional texts needed, such as the canticles for the Easter Vigil. The resulting publication is a complete psalter where much of the material has been specifically written with St Wilfrid and his church in mind, encompassing a brilliant range of musical styles and ideas across the collection.
A panoply of 40 talented composers have graciously given their time and expertise to this project. Amongst those composers who have written for the project are people with undeniable strong links to Robinson College: Simon Brown (Director of Music), Jeremy Thurlow (Fellow, Director of Studies in Music), Sarah MacDonald, former Robinson Organ Scholar (1992, Music) and David Warren, former Robinson Organ Scholar (2014, Music).
You can read more about that noteful project and view the samples of the psalms here on Anthony's web page.
You can follow the progress of the Psalms of the Duchy project on Facebook: Music at St Wilfrid Harrogate and Instagram: #stwilfridpsalter
Every good wish to Anthony and all the contributing composers.