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Something Wonderful: God Beyond All Praising

We hiked a symphony orchestra, timpani and all, down into a meadow on the backside of Mount Timpanogos during the peak of Fall colors. The camera crew recorded sunrise to sunset shooting in 4K. Bruce Wilson flew his state of the art drone over half of the mountain range looking for imagery to match the musical depth of Holst’s Thaxted theme. The Philharmonic performed the entire Planets by Holst not too long ago. Few musical moments can compete with the satisfying experience of performing that section of Jupiter.

The Philharmonic was putting together an album of sacred music at the time so Director Kayson Brown arranged this setting of the tune for that purpose. It combines the two worlds where the Philharmonic is most active – classical and inspirational music. This tune has been set to numerous texts for dozens of religious hymns as well as sports and patriotic anthems. It seems to nurture the humanity in each of us.

For those less familiar with the text to “O God Beyond All Praising” by Michael Perry they are: “O God beyond all praising, we worship you today and sing the love amazing that songs cannot repay; for we can only wonder at every gift you send, at blessings without number and mercies without end: we lift our hearts before you and wait upon your word, we honor and adore you, our great and mighty Lord. Then hear, O gracious Savior, accept the love we bring, that we who know your favor may serve you as our king; and whether our tomorrows be filled with good or ill, we’II triumph through our sorrows and rise to bless you still: to marvel at your beauty and glory in your ways, and make a joyful duty our sacrifice of praise.”

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Cecilia March 1, 2019, 10:41 AM

    Thank you. That was really was wonderful, the music, the young ones and the scenery. 👍

  • Jack March 1, 2019, 11:04 AM

    Loved it and shared it with my daughters. Wonderful, beautiful and very uplifting.

  • Fletcher Christian March 1, 2019, 12:10 PM

    Personal taste, but I prefer the hammering rhythm of Mars and the eerieness of Neptune.

  • Rob De Witt March 1, 2019, 1:27 PM

    One of the great privileges of a life singing church music is the discovery and performance of these perfect expressions of text and harmony. I get to lead a congregation in expressing my deepest feelings of gratitude and hope, in the company of great musicians.

    And they pay me.

  • SLM March 1, 2019, 4:22 PM

    The music, the scenes of nature – beautiful. But now, at 70, I am increasingly awestruck by youth.

  • Jewel Atkins March 1, 2019, 7:39 PM

    I remember auditioning for the HS band playing this piece. It was powerful to me then as it is now.

  • Jaynie March 2, 2019, 4:54 AM

    Most lovely. Many thanks for posting that video. Surely must have been outstanding to have been part of creating that piece.

    Are the forest fire places beginning to grow somewhat?

  • Terry March 2, 2019, 12:27 PM

    That reminds me of a time and place I will not see again. Watching gave me a vision of my past that seems surreal now. Almost as though it never was.

    Thank you for posting Gerard.

  • Bill Chunko March 2, 2019, 8:32 PM

    Thank you! It truly was Something Wonderful.

  • tired dog March 3, 2019, 10:42 AM

    thank you…

  • ApoloDoc March 12, 2019, 11:31 AM

    Beautiful scenery and music. Sadly (and it took a bit of digging through the school’s website) it turns out that this music is being made by people whose doctrine is that Jesus and Lucifer are “spirit brothers” and that Jesus got to become God of THIS planet because he kept all the rules. Given the setting it seemed likely, but the website for the school talks repeatedly about “Christian” and “Jesus” but ultimately does identify as LDS.

    Lest anyone be put off by my comment, as an evangelical Christian I have strong reasons for the beliefs that I hold. I might be wrong, although I don’t think so. But the beliefs held by the LDS and ‘traditional’ (or as Lewis called it “Mere”) Christianity are mutually exclusive. Maybe BOTH are wrong, but they cannot both be right. Over the past 20-30 yrs, the Mormon church has made great efforts to try to pass itself off as mainstream Christianity. It is not. Not remotely.