In this piece, Louis Lewandowski has given us one of the most gorgeous melodies ever composed. The line simply flows like so few melodies seem to do. The rise and fall of the melody is almost achingly beautiful.

Composed originally for the synagogue as a setting for the Hebrew text of Psalm 92:13-16, it suits the human voice well, as well as all manner of instruments. Here we present it for brass quintet.

The trombone handles the melody for the first pass in the key of concert Ab, accompanied by second trumpet, horn, and tuba. This melody will seem low to many trombonists, but the trombone playing low has the potential to develop a quality very much like the human voice.

The above four instruments carry a transition to the key of concert C, where the first trumpet takes over for another playing of the melody, initially without accompaniment, is but soon joined by second trumpet, trombone, and tuba. The horn comes in to play an echo to the waterfall-like descending lines in the second half of each half of the melody.

The piece ends simply, as it is nearly impossible to improve on Lewandowski's melody by trying to tack on some kind of coda.

A euphonium part is included that can be substituted for the F horn.

MP3 sound sample: entire piece (synthesizer/midi).



TZADIK KATAMAR by Louis Lewandowski, arranged by Tom Kirkland for brass quintet consisting of two trumpets, F horn (or euphonium), trombone, and tuba, comes in a pdf file of 233K, with a eight-page score, six two-page parts, and a license page, twenty-one pages in all. Performance time should be about three minutes.