A classic hymn by Henry Hart Milman gives voice to the joy and foreboding of the Passion Week, as Jesus approaches his “last and fiercest strife.” Listen to it sung by the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, during an Easter service.

It seems appropriate to start the year with a selection from the master of sacred music, Johann Sebastian Bach. The Christmas Oratorio (written in 1734) was intended to be performed in six parts, ending with the Feast of Epiphany on January 6.

There’s no better way to enter the Lenten season than with the Miserere, King David’s psalm of repentance and new faith. Listen to this soaring Renaissance setting by Allegri.