High on a Hill [Alf:00-BSC9848]

In this highly picturesque text, the composer takes us to Calvary to contemplate what might have happened and what actually took place on the hill outside Jerusalem. 'High on a hill where flowers might have grown, where gently scented breezes might have blown, there stands a cross and there dies a Man, high on a hill He formed with His very own hands . . . I see what that hill might have been, a place where children laugh and dance and sing. Instead it's a place of agony -- yet somehow, in its emptiness, that hill is beautiful to me.' The minor mode of this work underscores the poignant beauty of Schram's text. This highly effective anthem is suitable anytime during Lent or Holy Week.