John Rutter in his prolific career has given the English church a wide variety of new settings of old texts, from the venerable Anglican translations of the Catholic liturgy to the positively ancient praise texts of the Psalms to the comparatively more recent efforts of English hymnodists to poetically praise the Lord of heaven, sometimes bridging musical languages among them. Rutter's setting of the 150th Psalm (Praise ye the Lord) gives an appropriately exultant cast to the final poem in the book of Psalms, for choir and organ or full orchestra. Rutter admits a certain compositional hubris in adopting this text ("What composer, after all, could resist … Psalm 150?"), but presents it for choirs of moderate ability in a mantle of splendor, musical brilliance, and forthright expressions of the verses of text.

Rutter begins the piece, whether with organ accompaniment or full orchestra, with an "antiphon" of broad and bright harmonic textures coupled with a powerful vocal melody to the text "Praise ye the Lord." the first time it is heard, the men sing the "antiphon," though it continues through the coming verses. The Psalm text cries out for praise to God in various musical ensembles (thus its enduring attraction to generations of composers), and Rutter faithfully reflects each in turn with contrasting music. Praising God in the "firmament of His power" is set to melodic heights pointed by rhythmic syncopation, while God's "noble acts" call forth a broader melody and His "excellent greatness" a new melodic height. The following verses call for God's people to praise Him with various instrumental forces, though Rutter avoids the most blatant reflections of the text. He evokes the "sound of the trumpet" not with blaring brass, but rather with harmonies featuring both parallel fifths and plagal motion; he sets the "lute and harp" merely to softer, more lyrical phrases. He does call for more percussion and syncopation to bring out the "cymbals and dances," as well as a clarinet obbligato for the "strings and pipe," but avoids any emphasis on the more powerful modern cymbals, as the text evokes the more moderate biblical instrument. The final verse calls for praise from "every thing that hath breath," and here the composer breaks free into a more inclusive climax involving every vocal and instrumental sound at hand. He closes with a liturgically appropriate return of the antiphon "Praise ye the Lord," an orchestral climax, and a completely 20th century vocal "stinger" on the word "Praise!"

© Timothy Dickey, Rovi