Despite being numbered as #145, this is a new release from Larry to fill the gap created by the combining of the two releases of “Were You There“
How wonderful when great words and great music are paired together in the praise of God. In this study of “O God, Beyond All Praising,” we have three sources that have been joined together to provide us with a glorious hymn that exalts the greatness of our God. In chronological order, we have music from Gustav Holst, a patriotic song from Sir Cecil Spring Rice, and a marvelous text from Michael Perry.
We start with the music. It was during the turmoil of World War I that English composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934) completed his orchestral suite, “The Planets,” one of the greatest of this genre that has ever been written, and the piece for which he is most remembered. He worked on it from 1914 to 1917. Each of the seven movements in the suite is named for a planet in our solar system.