St. Lawrence Psalter

The St. Lawrence Psalter consists of 85 psalm settings for the Catholic liturgy and was written between 2001 and 2003 when I served as Director of Music at the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Soon after I started working with the Standard English language psalm repertoire, I began to realize that the simple models used for the verses of the responsorial psalm (including often uninspired refrains) did not do justice to the great depth of the psalms with their various content and lengths. To adjust the music to the specific verses in a flexible way, I chose to compose en- tirely new music, based on partially repeating models. Also, I added a newly composed refrain – first sung by the cantor, then repeated by the congregation – that better suited the text (the essence of each specific psalm). Also, every refrain needed to be easy to repeat and well suited for the abilities and needs of our vibrant congregation.Thus, cantors and assembly were presented with new psalms every single Sunday throughout the church year. I was encouraged by the often enthusiastic reactions and comments I received. The congregation and the cantors began to look forward to each new psalm. These reactions contributed to my own exci- tement and encouraged me to complete the whole Psalter for the church years A, B, and C, of which this set of eighteen psalms was selected to be presented in this recording. The accompaniment can generally be played on either organ or piano. Preferably, if two players are available, the refrains should be ac- companied on the organ, whereas the jazzier psalm verses (e.g., in Psalms 34/2, 50/2, or 104) tend to work better with piano accompaniment in order to make the rhythms more distinct. In the more traditional verses, the organ (if present) should serve as the preferred instrument. In the last verse of Psalm 23, the use of the second cantor is desirable, though not necessary. The style of singing and accompanying may and should be adjusted to the style of each psalm.The main reason for composing this new Psalter was to create a new source of inspiration for the vast treasure we have in the psalms. In my opinion, the beauty of the words demands a greater beauty in music than simple models can provide. When performed with inspiration, the psalms should ideally create an image for the listener that enhances the meditative character of the words. It was my primary goal to write a kind of music that can facilitate this process.I would also like to thank Dr. Paul Crabb at the University of Missouri for putting together this wonderful group of soloists: Kaitlin Foley, Christine Jarquio Nichols, Ian Meyer, and Darrell Jordan. I would also like to extend my gratitude to our recording engineer Robert D. Boullion for his great work with this recording – and, last, but not least, my wife Ksenia for putting together this entire project and for her musical contribution to this CD. 

Wolfgang Reisinger