Spirituals, a chamber symphony for ten players

Opus Number
68
Date
May 2004
Commissioned
Max Lifchitz
Dedication
Max Lifchitz in celebration of 25 years of North/South Consonance
Instrumentation
String quintet, (2 vlns., Vla., cello, Db.) Woodwind quintet (fl., cl., ob., bassoon, and French horn)
Duration
20 minutes
Purchase Score
Premiere

March 13, 2005 Christ and St. Stephen’s Church, New York, NY; The North/South Chamber Orchestra, Max Lifchitz, conductor.

Program notes

Spirituals –a chamber smphony for ten players – was completd in the spring of 2004 and was commissioned by Max Lifchitz in celebration of the 25h anniversary of North/South Consonance. The form of the work is much like that of a chorale prelude. Its character remsembles my other music in its attempt to speak to a universal truth through the evocation of a specific time and place.

The first movement is based on I love to tell the Story; the second on Fairest Lord Jesus; and the third is based on There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy.

Each of these hymns is referred to in Romulus Linney’s play Holy Ghosts. The play, which takes place in rural North Carolina among a group of Pentecostals was as much an inspiration when I reread it last year as it was when I saw its premiere at East Carolina University in 1971.

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