Sunday 27 September 2009

Absolutely shocking!

The Bishops of England and Wales have commissioned two songs from Mike Stanley of CJM Music fame for the visit of the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux. They have been brought to my attention recently as examples of 'Catholic' music that really takes the biscuit for sheer awfulness and saccharine sentimentality.

The MP3 files can be downloaded here: Child of Grace (Therese) and My Song of Today. Being an amateur composer, organist and singer myself (go to my CPDL site for what I have written), I thought I might listen and give my opinion. They are exactly as I have heard others describe them, and let me tell you, they require considerable stamina and guts to listen to. I must say, I take back all my harsh words against Maria Parkinson's As I kneel Before You. It sounds like Bach and Palestrina in comparison to this! And a word of warning: DO NOT LISTEN to the downloads without having a sick bucket handy.



I feel sorry for the Little Flower that such appalling music should have been written in her honour. Even I could do a better job than this shocking and embarrassing attempt! Why the hell couldn't the Bishops of England and Wales commission Britain's leading Catholic composer James MacMillan for the task? Now that would have indeed been a genuine and real act of devotion, for one of twentieth century's greatest saints.

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