ALLELUIA, (FROM PSALM 150)

Music: Alberto Ginastera

Psalm 150 has long held a particular fascination for composers, as its mention of specific musical instruments and the injunction for “every thing that hath breath” to praise the Lord has inspired numerous grand musical settings. The psalm itself opens and concludes with an “Hallelujah” (translated as “Praise ye the Lord” in the King James Version). In 1938, the young Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera (1916–1983) wrote a bravura setting of Psalm 150 for two choirs and expanded orchestra as his graduation piece from the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires. It was first performed in 1945. The concluding “Alleluia” from Ginastera’s setting begins gently, as if distilling from raindrops, before building into a striking, multi-layered anthem of praise.