Hymns on Sunday

Today's episode includes hymns with a William Blake connection, psalm settings, a Taize chant and the story behind Sanford Fillmore Bennett's gospel song In the Sweet By and By. Read more Audio

Hear New Zealand choirs The Handel Quire and The Celebration Singers in today's programme. And there's a special massed choir performance of For all the saints from Professor Peter Godfrey's memorial… Read more Audio

Spirituals from the Moses Hogan Chorale, an arrangement for brass band of Aberystwyth (the tune for Jesu, Lover of My Soul) and a rousing rendition of Walter Smith's Immortal, Invisible from the… Read more Audio

What's the connection between Charles Wesley's hymn And can it be and the plant species Sagina? Find out in today's programme. Read more Audio

Hymns from across the centuries today, from Jerusalem the golden written by 12th century Benedictine monk Bernard of Cluny to Michael Perry's 1980s hymn Like a mighty river flowing. Read more Audio

We celebrate Maori Language Week today with a song to the Holy Spirit by Ngapo Wehi - Wairua tapu. And find out which setting of Edward Perronet's All hail the power of Jesu's name was described as… Read more Audio

Today's selection of traditional and modern hymns includes Reginald Heber's great Trinitarian hymn Holy, holy, holy as well as hymns by 19th century newspaper editor and poet James Montgomery. Read more Audio

Celebrate the official start of Spring with hymns on Nature, including Shirley Murray's The Spring has come and For the beauty of the earth by Folliott Pierpoint. Read more Audio

Hymns of hope and hymns on prayer feature in today's programme, including Anonymous 4's a capella version of the gospel hymn Sweet hour of prayer. Read more Audio

Sing along this week to hymns with tunes that once accompanied folk songs. And we mark two church calendar dates - Bernard of Clairvaux's feast day on 20 August, and the Marian feast day Queenship of… Read more Audio

Hymns of thankfulness feature in today's programme, along with several settings of the Psalms. Read more Audio

It's Transfiguration Sunday this week, commemorating the New Testament event when Jesus is transfigured: "His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light" [Matt 17:2].
We're… Read more Audio