Psalm 150: Halleluja! Praise ye the Lord in his sanctuary C major WAB 38

Bruckner described his setting of Psalm 150 of 1892 as “my best festive cantata of all”. Psalm 150 has a definite festive character, manifested straight away in the monumental Hallelujah theme for the full forces which opens the cantata, and which punctuates the work and concludes it. Bruckner devotes most of his music to the verse “Alles was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn” – firstly in an exciting section with solo violin and solo soprano, and subsequently in a great fugue on a striking octave theme. All in all, a fascinating combination of filigree motifs, chromatically bold complexities and intensifications, and powerful passages up to triple forte.

The chorus is often divided in the homophonic passages, with wide vocal ranges, but the fugue remains in four parts.

With a duration of just 9 minutes, this is an ideal companion piece for other shorter works by Bruckner (such as the Te Deum) or, indeed, works by other composers.

Scoring: Solo S, Coro SATB (divisi), 2 Fl, 2 Ob, 2 Clt, 2 Fg, 4 Cor, 3 Tr, 3 Trb, Tb, Timp, 2 Vl, Va, Vc, Cb