A List of Musical Psalms and Other Sonic Delights

For those who are interested, here's a list of some music that I've been hearing for the past six months. I've tried to hear the psalms in a variety of settings, and discovered some other music that opened my ears.

Recordings of Psalms

• Salm 1, Salm 2, and Salm and Soul - three CDs of acapella psalms as sung by the Back Free Church, Isle of Lewis
• David Chesky, Psalms 4, 5, 6 - Remembrance for the Victims of Modern Holocausts (Chesky)
• Psalms for the Soul (Naxos) - collection of choral psalms in the British high church tradition
• Daniel Richardson and April Napieralski, Jazz Psalms (Calvin College) - as originally conceived by Ron Rienstra and friends from Calvin College, a wonderful collection of contemporary responsorial psalms
• Calvin Seerveld, Voicing God's Psalms (Calvin College) - book and CD of new translations and paraphrases of psalms
• Gershon Kingsley, Voices From the Shadows (Naxos) - collection of laments, "jazz psalms," and sabbath prayers
• Music of the Genevan Psalter (Calvin College) - a fine collection of 16th century church music, only slightly updated
• Anthoni Van Noordt, Works for Organ, volumes 1 and 2 (Naxos)
• Leonard Bernstein, Kaddish and Chichester Psalms (Naxos)
• The Hilliard Ensemble, Carlo Gesualdo: Tenebrae (ECM) -- may be out of print, but worth finding; Psalm 51 is most haunting
• Monastic Chants in the High Desert, as sung by the monks of Christ in the Desert
• Arvo Part, De Profundis (Harmonia Mundi) featuring Psalms 130 and 95, and some of the most incredible choral music ever recorded

Recordings of Demanding, Ear-Stretching Music

• Alban Berg, Violin Concerto, Lyric Suite, Three Orchestral Pieces (Naxos)
• Anton Webern, Symphony; Six Pieces; Concerto for 9 Instruments (Naxos)
• Arvo Part, Alina (ECM)
• Gyorgi Ligeti, Hamburg Concerto, Double Concerto (Teldec)
• Bob Brookmeyer, Spirit Music - a new CD by master and mentor composer
• John Coltrane, A Love Supreme (Impulse) - jazz as a prayer, including a cut called "Psalm"