SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Wittenberg University's Donald Busarow has been recognized as one of 10 contemporary composers featured on a new musical compilation examining the history of Lutheran church music.
Titled "Celebrating the Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church," the five-CD multimedia set, produced by Thrivent Financial and available to Thrivent members only, cites Busarow for his numerous chorale concertatos involving choir, instruments, organ and congregation. Busarow, professor of music, university organist and director of the world-renowned Wittenberg Choir, joins Johann Sebastian Bach and other famous composers in the compilation, who have built the long legacy of musical contributions by Lutherans.
"Busarow," according to the set, is "a prolific composer of choral, vocal and instrumental works for congregational worship."
Every Sunday, Busarow's works are sung by Christian worshippers worldwide. Several of his harmonizations appear in the "Lutheran Book of Worship" and in "Lutheran Worship," and 26 of his hymn preludes and intonations were commissioned for the 42-volume collection "The Concordia Hymn Prelude Series."
His compositions, including commissioned works, number more than 200, and he has won several awards for his original compositions, including first prize in the International Horn Society competition for his composition "Death, Be Not Proud," a work for soprano, horn and piano on a text by John Donne. Busarow also won first prize in the Chautauqua Chamber Singers competition with his setting of "A Hymne to God the Father," based on another John Donne text.
Earlier this year, Busarow's a cappella arrangement of the national anthem, performed by The Wittenberg Choir during its 2002 East Coast tour, was hailed by one New York music critic as a piece that "provided a new understanding of the 'Star-Spangled Banner.'" In Busarow's version, the critic noted, those at the concert "were blessed with the quiet glimpse of a thoughtful nation that is deepening its understanding about the complicated business of human life." The Springfield community also had the opportunity to hear this arrangement, performed again by The Wittenberg Choir, at Wittenberg Stadium during the commemoration of the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy.
A member of the Wittenberg faculty since 1975, Busarow regularly presents hymn festivals and organ recitals, and he serves as clinician for both choral and organ workshops around the country. His compositions are also listed in the catalogs of Concordia Publishing House, Augsburg Publishing House, Theodore Presser and Morning Star Music Publishers.
Busarow's arrangement of the national anthem, which he said he composed in a "spirit of reverence rather than celebration," joins other selections from The Wittenberg Choir's 2002 home concert on a CD titled "Having Light We Pass It On To Others." To hear Busarow's arrangement, click on the link below.
| Click to Hear National Anthem (MP3 Format: 2.29MB) |
