Songs For All Seasons

Today's Song of the Day is seasonally out of sync, but I wanted to share the latest recording I have received from one of my partner Beta choirs.  Maundy Thursday, set to a poem by Christina Rossetti, was recorded by the Cathures Chamber Choir on Tuesday 17th June 2025 as part of WestFest , Glasgow's biggest cultural and community festival. When Cathures first approached me to be part of the Beta testing they explained that their summer concert, called "Windows of Wonder", was to be held at Kelvinside Hillhead Parish Church, Glasgow, and that the songs were to be relevant to the beautiful stained glass windows in the church. Together, we chose the song Maundy Thursday with its reference to Jesus as "The Great Vine" because of the window described on the church's website as: "Jesus turning water into wine at the marriage in Cana (by Cottier, 1893). Appropriately, the background is of vines and grapes." The windows appear as the first image in t...

Today is Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, the day when Christians commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples. The three Synoptic Gospels and the First Epistle to the Corinthians include the account of the institution of the Eucharist in which Jesus takes bread, breaks it and gives it to those present, saying "This is my body given to you". The Gospel of John tells of Jesus washing the feet of the apostles, giving the new commandment "to love one another as I have loved you". The word Maundy is the name of the Christian rite of foot-washing, memorialising the act of Jesus.      "It's beautiful."         ~ Cathures Chamber Choir Today's song is a setting of a poem called Maundy Thursday by Christina Rossetti. In this poem, Christ is described metaphorically as a Great Vine leaving the glory of Heaven to reign as Forest King, to be met with resistance ...