Yesterday Jeffrey posted a nice video of the Vespers Hymn for the first four weeks of Lent, Audi Benigne Conditor.
I get a lot of mileage out of the Office Hymns at Mass, particularly during the Penitential seasons, when organ improvisation is not an approved method of filling time. Oliver Hayes has written a nice alternatim setting of Audi benigne Conditor which I have used for two years now. As with so much good music these days, it’s available for free online.
It is simple but vigorous, modern but accessible, and connected to tradition without being all style and no idea. Only two verses are polyphonic, and musically they are identical, but that’s just enough to make a musical event.