Samuel Crossman
Samuel Crossman's hymn texts from the 1660s still sound in churches and on record. My Song is Love Unknown is the best known: a spare Passion meditation whose plain diction has drawn composers from John Ireland to later arrangers.
Nine of his hymns appeared in The Young Man's Meditation in 1664. Recognition came slowly, yet several entered lasting use, including settings kept alive in the Sacred Harp tradition. On record his words sit among favourite Anglican hymns and in newer church music that pairs old texts with folk and jazz-tinged tunes.
Compositions by Samuel Crossman appear on
Sing Out With Joy
Cantus Choro, directed by Peter Chapman, sings seventeen favourite hymns from the Australian Hymn Book. Norman Kaye’s imaginative organ accompaniments give the well-known settings fresh dramatic shape and room for the choir to breathe.
Move Two Mix: Music for the Contemporary Church
Move Two Mix gathers religious songs and hymns with music by Jim Minchin, marrying familiar sacred texts to jazz- and folk-inflected settings. First issued in 1968, this pioneering Melbourne recording brought contemporary idioms into church worship.