"lama sabachthani?" (orchestral version, 2026)

This is an orchestration of the original version for brass quintet, also available to view on my channel. Psalm 22 (21 in some traditions) is a prayer of lament from the foundational religious texts of both Judaism and Christianity, often attributed to David or sometimes Esther. It begins “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (in Aramaic, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”) but ends in one of the most exuberant statements of praise in the entire Bible. The psalm is famous in Christian circles for forming part of the last words of Jesus before his death (Ps. 22:1, Matt. 27:46, Mark 15:34) and being a supposed prophecy of the circumstances of his execution (Ps. 22:16, Ps. 22:18, John 19:24, John 20:25). Throughout this piece, I have endeavored to keep the music simple and have it “speak for itself”. In its twelve or so minutes, there are no meter or tempo changes, and few extended techniques. The music acts almost like a setting of the text; although there is no voice, each passage of music has a corresponding passage of text (and vice versa). During performance, the psalm might be displayed on a screen, indicating which text coincides with a current musical phrase. The development section includes an almost complete quotation of a setting of the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father) by Nikolai Kedrov. Created with Dorico Pro 6 and NotePerformer 4.