Holy Is The Lord! (With Holy, Holy, Holy): Choral Octavo

Larson's setting weaves the beloved hymn tune into a fresh harmonic landscape while maintaining the text's spiritual weight. The eleven pages contain genuine musical development without padding, giving your singers a piece that feels substantial enough to anchor a service or concert without requiring soloists or extensive rehearsal time.

Confident and grounded. The piece settles into its harmonic world with the quiet assurance of a hymn sung in candlelight, yet Larson's orchestration of voices keeps the texture alive and contemporary. There's dignity without pretension, and plenty of warmth.

Any choir looking for accessible sacred repertoire that respects both the hymn tradition and contemporary harmonic sensibility. Directors of adult volunteer choirs and upper-level student ensembles will find this particularly useful for services, concerts, or occasions calling for grounded, reverent music without excessive technical complexity.

• Balance the hymn tune melody across your soprano and alto sections so the familiar text doesn't get lost in the surrounding harmonies. This tune carries the listener's expectation, so honor it.
• Shape each phrase with intention rather than singing straight through. The text "Holy is the Lord" deserves space and dynamic clarity that reflects its proclamatory nature.
• Work the inner voices independently before combining sections. Larson's harmonies reward attention to line movement, especially where the lower voices support rather than double the main melodic content.

Use this during an Ordinary Time or Advent service when the congregation needs vocal music that echoes their own hymn singing. It also works beautifully in choral concerts paired with other sacred pieces of different styles, where it can anchor a devotional moment before moving into more elaborate settings.

• Sustaining harmonic context while singing a melody line
• Blending with adjacent voices across SATB ranges
• Maintaining textual clarity while honoring musical phrase shape
• Reading and executing four-part choral writing with independent line movement