LORD, WHO THROUGHOUT THESE FORTY DAYS

Expertly arranged for brass quintet, this work, based on the well-known hymn, ST. FLAVIAN, captures the somber mood of the forty-day journey through the Lenten season. Following the opening march-like fanfare, the familiar melody enters in the 1st trumpet above the drone of the trombone and tuba. Then the tuba takes the melody, transposing it to G Dorian, then, briefly to A Mixolydian. At the key change, the melody returns to its original form, now taken up by the French horn. The opening fanfare returns in an abbreviated form in the coda as the piece ends quietly on a D6/9 chord.i Particularly appropriate for Lenten services, this short work can be played during the prelude, the offering, or as a meditation during communion.