Haig Mardirosian
American concert organist, Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Tampa

“The Psalms hold a central and over-spanning place in sung ritual from the ancient rites of the synagogue, to the earliest corporate expressions of Christianity, to the evolved and revered styles of Western choral art…

James Testa has dedicated a musicians’ lifetime to the psalms, bringing to bear his own role as a cantor and his sensibilities as a trained and cultivated composer and keyboardist – in brief, he has learned and replicated the idiom from the inside out. The clear advantage of this formidable body of work, deserving of great respect for its entirety and scope, owes to the intimate and innate vocality in Testa’s approach to the texts. Whereas many alternatives are available, these settings advance fluidity of line, accessibility of idiom, and unmitigated compositional craft. "

Diane Meredith Belcher
American Concert Organist, Music Director, Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, New York City

“I will never forget my first hearing of James Testa’s psalmody, almost two decades ago, on the feast of Pentecost.  Here I entered a new world of liturgical music, whereby the texts were elevated to heights I hadn’t dreamed possible.  

The value of this corpus is not just that the verses for the entire three-year liturgical cycle are through-composed (itself an astonishing achievement), nor simply that the accompaniments are carefully crafted — full of profound imagination and rich harmonies.  It is Testa’s utter devotion to the prayerful nature of these texts, which he illuminates through his gorgeous melodic style of composition, reminiscent of the beautiful voice-leading of Howells or Duruflé.  Every note is perfectly and carefully chosen, in a way that draws attention not to itself, but to the meaning of the words.

I have lived with and performed much of this psalmody over the years, and they continue to enrich both my own spiritual life as well as my professional work in sacred music.  I commend these highly to churches of any denomination — for liturgical use, for supplementary pieces such as offertory anthems, or for prayer services both private and public. They will surely bless all who hear them, and all those who sing them.”