Description

This powerful arrangement of this majestic and well known hymn will be a welcome addition to your orchestral library. Jeff arranged this with a more modern cinematic approach to orchestra. This means that although the arrangement may sound big and bombastic, it is not extremely difficult to play and does not require a huge group for a successful performance. A lot of the brass are in unison or octaves so you don’t have to have four french horns to play this piece. Though four horns would be NICE.

The flexibility in this arrangement is that this modern film score approach means you can play this arrangement when you only have a couple trumpets and a horn BUT you can absolutely play this piece with four horns, tons of trumpets and a huge low brass section and it will be gigantic! Most of the giant action films you hear today record with 6-8 (French) horns and they are often playing in unison or octaves. That is part of the massive sound. So, this arrangement can absolutely grow with your group. And if you’ve got extra folks that want to play, this is the PERFECT opportunity to feature a large group.

Click below to listen to the arrangement

 

Instrumentation is:
Flute 1 & 2
Oboe
Clarinet 1 & 2
Bassoon
Horn
Trumpets 1-3 (these parts are in octaves)
Trombone 1-3
Bass Trombone/Tuba
Violin 1 & 2
Viola
Cello
Bass
Timpani
Percussion 1-3
Harp
Piano

Supplemental Parts:
Bass Clarinet for Bassoon
Alto Sax for Horn
Tenor Sax 1 & 2 for Trombone 1 & 2
String Synth 1
String Synth 2
String Synth 3
String Synth 4

 

Here is a live performance of this arrangement by the combined orchestras of First Baptist Dallas and Park Cities Baptist during the 2017 Metro Instrumental Director’s Conference (MIDC).