Resounding Praises
"Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow" --one of the best-known Christian hymns--inspires this concert, which features two celebrated works that are built upon this powerful melody: Claude T. Smith's "Variations on a Theme by Louis Bourgeois" and David Maslanka's Symphony no. 4. Other works include Morten Lauridsen's inspiring "O Mangum Mysterium."
Thomas Ken penned the words to “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” as a doxology in 1674. It was set to a hymn tune called “Old 100th,” attributed to Louis Bourgeois from the 16th century. It has since become one of the most well-known Christian melodies of all time.
The Wind Symphony will perform two pieces based on the famous melody, “Variations on a Hymn by Louis Bourgeois” by Claude T. Smith and “Symphony No. 4” by David Maslanka. The latter piece has special meaning to conductor Donald Peterson and the Wind Symphony.
“The centerpiece of this concert is ‘Symphony No. 4’ by David Maslanka,” Peterson said, “and due to his death this past fall, the performance is also a memorial to him. He was a friend of our Wind Symphony who came to BYU for a short residency as we prepared to perform his ‘Symphony No. 9.’ The work expresses extreme emotions—with passages ranging from truly sublime pianissimos to the most powerful and technically challenging passages found in wind repertoire.”
“O Magnum Mysterium” by Morten Lauridsen will round out the selections for an inspirational evening.