Praise To The Lord, The Almighty

In the early 90's, I was commissioned by First Church of the Nazarene in Wichita, Kansas. They wanted a special piece written for their orchestra. I have always loved the hymn "Praise To The Lord, The Almighty". The melody and harmony have great power and the lyrics are words of praise to God. 

I was trying to give the hymn a new 'face' with more energy. The original hymn is in 3/4, so I changed the meter to cut time, which made the melody feel brighter and faster. I started with a driving 8th note feel through the arrangement that made the arrangement move forward at a dynamic pace.

As I was writing it, it was one of those very, very unique arrangements where it began to unfold itself, almost like it was already written. Everything seemed to be coming together. The whole time I was writing it, I kept thinking, "I think this is going to be really good!" The last verse goes into the original 3/4 meter in a majestic style and then goes back to cut time for the coda.

People ask me all the time which of my orchestra arrangements is my favorite... this is it! I still enjoy conducting it and hearing it any time that I can. Even though the arrangement is 30+ years old, I still hear from orchestra directors who find this arrangement fulfilling and fun for their orchestra.