On Sale Now! New Album Tree of Life: Sacred Music of Mack Wilberg
Mack Wilberg and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir have done it again! Tree of Life: Sacred Music of Mack Wilberg is the brand new release from the Choir and is an essential album for Wilberg fans.
Tree of Life includes a beautiful mix of new Mack Wilberg compositions, large choral works and hymn arrangements. Fans of Wilberg’s arranging will love his original works, which were previously unrecorded. Stephen Holcomb, professor of music and director of choral activities at Dallas Baptist University recently said, “I love conducting Mack Wilberg’s pieces. He has such creative harmonic ideas for familiar hymn melodies that bring new excitement and freshness for the singers, instrumentalists and the listeners.. . . I always look forward to any of his new releases. It’s like discovering a new gemstone.”
Original Choral Works
The Prodigal, commissioned by the University of Southern Mississippi, retells the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son as found in Chapter 15 of the Gospel of St. Luke.
A Cloud of Witnesses, written for an Easter concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, weaves multiple witnessing stories of Christ’s resurrection into a single tapestry, drawing on accounts from all four of the Gospel writers and the opening of the Acts of the Apostles.
For these original works, Wilberg collaborated with long-time associate David Warner to write the texts. lyrics blend this scriptural narrative and dialog with poetic commentary.
Original Compositions
Five new song compositions (not including the two large choral works) are included on the album including, “Child of Light,” “As a Shepherd,” “Tree of Life,” “ When Clarions Sound,” and concludes with a preface to A Cloud of Witnesses titled “And Wept Bitterly.”
Hymn Arrangements
As if the original works weren’t enough, three new hymn arrangements bookend the already brilliant Tree of Life. Those hymns are “All People That on Earth Do Dwell,” “How Can I Keep From Singing?”, and “It Is Well with My Soul.” Wilberg’s arrangement of “It Is Well with My Soul” was the focal point of the 2017 Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concerts.
Here are a couple of videos with songs from Tree of Life: