"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” was written in 1739, by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley founder of the Methodist church. He usually requested slow and solemn music for his lyrics, so it was sung to a different tune initially. Over a hundred years later, in 1840, Felix Mendelssohn composed a cantata to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. English musician William H. Cummings adapted Mendelssohn’s music to fit the lyrics of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, already written by Wesley.
"Then suddenly there appeared with the angel an army of the troops of Heaven - a heavenly knighthood, praising God and saying:
'Glory to God in the highest Heaven, and on earth peace among men of goodwill, that are of His favor - with whom He is well pleased.'
When the angels went away from them into Heaven, the shepherds said one to another, 'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing - this saying that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." ~ Luke 2:13-15
Music, especially gospel music is part of my life blood. Some of my earliest memories involve Sunday afternoons singing and playing gospel music with my family. My grandma, Annie Ruth Krienke was a multi-instrumentalist, and we all sang and played the piano. My Dad, Arvid was the choir director and music leader at our Church in South Bend, Indiana. He sang in many gospel quartets over the years, and even had an album published with The King's Quartet.
Having grown up in the 70's, my biggest musical influence was Elton John, who's piano playing and singing I worked diligently to imitate. Then, during middle school & high school I got involved in a partying lifestyle that pulled me far away from my Christian roots. It was then that I began composing my own songs. Later, in the mid 80's I played the local nightclub circuit as keyboardist/singer with the band Justus.
But God comes in places unlooked for - unexpectedly.
After committing myself to the work of the Gospel, I served for three years as Praise & Worship Leader at a local church. During that time I began writing and recording songs during my rehearsal time in a home office/studio that I had set up. One thing led to another, and then with the expert guidance of an old friend, Paul Ellis, I learned how to mix and master my recordings.
My first album, "Up from the Roots", released independantly in April of 2010, was the outcome of those first recordings, and is a mixture of original variations of classic hymns, interspersed with some of my own compositions.
I continued to improve my recording technique, and released "Songs from 7th Street" later that year, followed by "Christemasse".
The next year I released "The Hymnal", followed by "Climbing Higher".
In 2012 I put together "Out of the Dark", which is a compilation album that contains all of my original compositions.
In 2019 I released a new album, consisting of thirteen of my early practice recordings, remastered as new releases, entitled "In the Sanctuary".
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