An advertisement for this new Psalter arrived a few weeks ago.

Does anyone know anything about it please?

I have not seen any reviews yet.

Barry Williams

Google™ is your friend:

http://www.wessexpsalter.co.uk/

[quote name='confutatis' post='884679' date='Oct 15 2009, 07:45 PM']
Google™ is your friend:

http://www.wessexpsalter.co.uk/
[/quote]

I see from the sample page that Mr Riding is fond of 7ths which don't resolve.

But at least they don't seem as addicted as some to the constant butchering of chants by omitting chords.
[/quote]

Thank you for these replies.

From the sample the pointing looks distinctly awkward, as does the handling of the chords.

I think I will inspect the psalter very carefully before buying a copy, but the notes on the psalms might make it worthwhile.

Barry Williams

From the examples given, I found the pointing to be clunky, devoid of natural rhythm, careless of emphasis placement and, generally to be offering nothing which could not be accomplished with The Parish Psalter and a pencil.
I think I might buy ONE, just for the notes on the psalms, but even if I still had a choir, I would not trouble them with this psalter.

Chris Baker - Durham UK

Yes, I agree, the notes on the psalms are very useful, particularly when dealing with children.

The issue about pointing is very subjective, as someone (the editor), is taking a decision about which is the important word, and then we go into all sorts of interpretative issues. For example, the Psalm 23 sample. For some, the word 'Lord' is the important word in the sentance (as opposed to someone else being the shepherd), but for others, the word 'is' implies that we know the Lord already, and we're just reminding ourselves about what one of his jobs is. Depends where you are coming from.

Personally I'd rather have a psalter with just the words and pointing so I could choose my own chants.

You can get pointed (Parish Psalter) words here: http://www.big-english-cheese.com/psalm/psalms.html
though you have to convert table to text, then find and replace the * with the |. It's very quick, though and you can tweak it as much as you like.. (Only goes up to Ps 123). Or just copy the words from a BCP site eg. http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/psalter/index.html and point as desired.

Incidentally, you can find a 1902 version of a Plainsong Psalter here:
http://www.lithoi.org.uk/church/mop/mop.html

From the examples given, I found the pointing to be clunky, devoid of natural rhythm, careless of emphasis placement ...

Yes - my thoughts too.

Does anyone remember the Psalters you used to be able to buy where the page was cut under the chant at the tope of the page, so that you could have any psalm open at any chant.

(I have a similar cook book!)

I used to have a Scottish Hymn Book/metrical psalter like that.

How does the cook book work? Do you use the same method whatever ingredients you use? I would have thought you might have ended up with scrambled potatoes or chipped eggs.

O ye mock, but it was rather useful. The top third was all starters, the middle third main courses, bottom third all puds. Meant you could have the cook book open on one page as you preped the three meals.

Ah, I understand now!

That was exactly my first thought. A big thumbs down. There are modern harmonic idioms where you can get away without resolving discords, but traditional harmony (which this essentially is) needs to follow the traditional rules, which have evolved with good reason - and that basically boils down to elegance.


I agree. Without checking, the pointing seems quite Oxford Psalter to me and since that was what I internalised years ago I didn't find the samples objectionable. I don't much care for the suppression of the comma after "Son" in the Gloria - I think the three elements of the Trinity should each be given their due weight rather than passing quickly over the Son as here - but I have seen worse sins. I do get uneasy about pointing such as "As for the ungodly it is not so with them" (Ps.1, v.5) That particular example seems fine to me, but this sort of thing can so easily get out of hand - as it does in Ps 3, v.2., which surely runs counter to how most people would naturally say it. But I have never yet seen a psalter that is perfect.

And I meant to add: "Hear, hear!"