Hallelujah
"Hallelujah" was written by Vincent Youmans in 1927 for the Broadway Musical, "Hit the Deck". This arrangement was written in February of 1963 for full orchestra and mixed chorus for performance as the opening of the Cherry Blossom Festival concert on the Mall in Washington, DC in April of 1963. This was to be a flag-waver, to get things started. There were several firsts for me: it was the first arrangement I did for the USAF Band; it was the first time I'd ever written for strings; and it was the first time I'd ever written for voices. You will see that the parts are pretty simplistic.
I used the "Hah Chorus" sound for the mixed chorus parts. With the bright tempo, it sounded better than the "Ah Chorus" sound. I'm not thrilled with the score, but it's another in my collection that I wanted to hear what it sounded like after all these years. In places, it sounds like it's scored for calliope. I'm really disapointed with the timpani. My midi (Yamaha Clavinova), while a great instrument, has a terrible sound for timpani. I waffled about leaving the timpani out entirely, but decided to leave it in. You can mute it if your midi sound isn't good for timpani.
At any rate, for what's it's worth, here it is. There are sections that I think came out fairly nice. It certainly provided a good exercise for trying to improve my Notation Composer skills. Hopefully, someone will get some benefit from it.
Ralph Rayner
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