Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord

Mechem’s most popular a cappella motet. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs it often and has recorded it.

Written when the composer was a graduate student studying with Randall Thompson at Harvard. It was one of the pieces selected to represent America at the 20th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations — Convocation of Religions for Peace — in Herbst Hall, San Francisco.

Press

“Kirke Mechem’s ‘Make a Joyful Noise’ was a bright, sensitive score — both reverent and on the go.”
— San Francisco Examiner

“In a medium suffering from a superfluity of academic, pedantic, and commercial products, its artistic professionalism is a welcome exception.”
— Recorded Classical Music, 1981