Thea Musgrave: The Voices Of Our Ancestors

Description

Following the international acclaim surrounding Thea Musgrave’s 90th birthday and the success of our 2018 premier recordings of Phoenix Rising, Poets in Love and Loch Ness, Lyrita is delighted to bring this new release dedicated to premier recordings of her choral works. Commissioned by the John Armitage Memorial Trust and the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, The Voices of our Ancestors is scored for brass quintet (horn, two trumpets, trombone and tuba), organ and SATB choir. The Voices of our Ancestors draws upon ancient texts from a number of linguistic sources, including Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Egyptian and Chinese, all translated into English. The text reflects on some of the existential questions which are still considered today – whether God exists, what death is, what is above or below. It was the last line that especially grabbed Musgrave’s attention: ‘only he who is above understands all this… or perhaps he does not’! She was struck by the open-mindedness of this message, which resonated with her so much that she knew she had to set it to music.