Please turn to number 53 (First Tune) and join with the clarinets in, “Brightest and Best”.
Number: 53
First Line: Brightest and Best
Name: Morning Star.
Meter: 11 10, 11 10.
Tempo: With devotion
Music: James P. Harding, 1860-1911
Text: Reginald Heber, 1783-1826
Well, according to the wikipedia article on this Brightest and Best:
“Brightest and Best” (occasionally rendered by its first line, “Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning“) is a Christian hymn written in 1811 by the Anglican bishop Reginald Heber to be sung at the feast ofEpiphany.[1] It appeared in Heber’s widow’s compilation of hymns entitled Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Service of the Church Year in 1827. It can be sung to a number of tunes, including “Morning Star” by James P. Harding, “Epiphany” by Joseph Thrupp, and “Star in the East” by William Walker. It appears in The Lutheran Hymnal, and appeared in the 1966 Methodist hymnal. It has been recorded by a number of artists, including Glen Campbell, Joanne Hogg and Kathy Mattea (on her album Good News).
Glenn Campbell! Well, there you go.
I initially didn’t like it, despite its apparent familiarity, but after a while it kind of grew on me. Hypnotic, so much so, that I kept getting lost in the phrasing and forgetting how many times through I had already played it.
Transposed for clarinets, it does end up with 5 sharps, which is slightly annoying, and with some very challenging fingering transitions.
Clarinet arrangement: 053-brightest_and_best
Clarinets only, three times through. Doubled each part across the sound field. Applied Audacity “Medium Room” Reverb Effect.
