Well, many people have waited years for this. Kevin Allen is one of the greatest living Catholic composers. His music is as thrilling as it is pious, as passionate as it is peaceful, as ancient as it is modern. Many people heard it for the first time in the Tantum Ergo at the documentary about the Sacred Music Colloquium.
Watershed is the reason for his emergence from unjustified obscurity into the spotlight. They’ve now published a second volume of his work, Cantiones Sacrae II. You can and should get this here. Sometimes people think that the sacred music movement is all about old music; it is really about timeless music that can emerge at any point in time. This is a fantastic example.
This book contains 1. Oculi Omnium • 2. Sepulto Domino 3. Intellige Clamorem • 4. Hodie Scietis 5. Hoc Corpus • 6. Sanctificavit Moyses 7. Jerusalem Quae Aedificatur 8. Qui Meditabitur • 9. Juxta Vestibulum 10. Scapulis Suis • 11. Gustate et Videte 12. Ave Regina Caelorum • 13. Tota Pulchra Es 14. Tristis Est Anima Mea • 15. Tantum Ergo
If you are not a leader of a choir, you might just buy some copies for your parish. Give them to the director and say: here is some new music you might consider. Watch what happens.
SATB Hodie Scietis • Kevin Allen (Cantiones Sacrae II) from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.