Hymn Prelude Library: Lutheran Service Book, Vol. 8 (NO)

The Concordia Hymn Prelude Library promises to be an invaluable resource for providing new, relevant attendant organ music for the service. Organists of our time frequently seek to match the prelude, voluntary, and postlude to the hymns of the service. In some cases, as introductions to the hymns these pieces can reflect the historic practice of the organist playing a prelude before the singing of the hymn. While many collections provide settings of popular tunes, the Hymn Prelude Library will present preludes for all of the tunes in Lutheran Service Book. Drawing upon a variety of composers and styles and levels of difficulty, the Hymn Prelude Library is a must-have collection for every organist or their congregation.

Steven Wente
Professor of Music, organist to the Chapel, Concordia University Chicago 
Cantor, First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church, Chicago, Illinois

In my experience, every organist continually looks for new and interesting ways to present and lead the song of their congregation. We look for pieces which portray hymn tunes in ways which are musically interesting, sensitive to the character of the hymn text, and which are accessible and able to be learned in a relatively short period of time. The new LSB Hymn Prelude Library provides organists with just that. But, not just for selected hymn tunes - for every hymn tune in Lutheran Service Book. For these reasons the Hymn Prelude Library will be a very useful and indispensable tool in leading the worshipping assembly in song.

Jeffrey Blersch
Professor of Music, organist, Concordia University Nebraska

The new Hymn Prelude Library continues a long tradition at CPH of providing organists with well-crafted hymn settings suitable for use in worship. This new series offers substantial settings that are well edited and promises to be a valuable resource for years to come.

Rev. Paul J. Grime, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Dean of the Chapel; Concordia Theological Seminary