Michael Saward, now a Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, was one of the group around Michael Baughen which produced
Youth Praise I (1966) and II (1969) and went on to become the very influential group that called themselves
Jubilate Hymns. His words are big in their gestures, but repetitive and formulaic in style. Michael Baughen’s tune for the words emphasized that weakness. John Barnard’s majestic ‘Guiting Power’ sweeps the words up in a wide-ranging, flowing melody that creates from them a fine hymn. John Barnard is head of modern languages at the John Lyon School, Harrow, but is also well known as a fine choir director and composer. The tune is named after a village in Gloucestershire some six miles east of Cheltenham.
from notes by Alan Luff © 1999
