COMPOSER : Charles Stanford
ARRANGER : Neil Lock
To celebrate the planned re-opening of St. Mary's Church, Liss, 2020
In 1909, Charles Villiers Stanford composed the chant to which the last psalm in the book, Psalm 150, is now usually sung. This is a free arrangement of that tune for brass band, which can be used either as a stand-alone piece or as an encore, particularly at the end of a concert in a church. I use some of Stanford’s original harmonies, but most of the chords are my own.
At the beginning and end, imagine the band playing at one end of a cathedral. After the first, very loud phrase, we hear the sound reflected back from the far end. The fast main section is divided into six "verses" as follows:
Praise him in the cornets and trumpets;
Praise him in the horns and baritones;
Praise him in the deepest basses,
And praise him in the trombones;
Praise him in the loud percussion,
And in the euphoniums.
This piece was first played in public as part of the Liss Band's first formal post-COVID concert, in St. Mary's Church, Liss on July 16th, 2022.
Suitable for most bands
