This is the live recording of the premiere of Stephanie Martin's "Babel: a choral symphony" on a text by Cori Martin. Lee Willingham conducts the Wilfrid Laurier University symphony and combined choirs on April 3rd, 2016 in the WLU Theatre Auditorium, Waterloo, Ontario, with soloists Sarah Amelard, Midori Marsh, Jamie Groote, River Guard and Dylan Langan, preparation by Paul Pulford and Gerard Yun. The full text of the poem is found on my blog:
http://www.stephaniemartinmusic.com/babel-the-poem-by-cori-martin/ 
and the score is available through the Canadian Music Centre.
http://www.musiccentre.ca/node/138861

The piece is scored for full orchestra (including extensive percussion) double choir, SSATB soloists. The poem is a masterful, modern reflection on the Biblical story of Babel, with marginalia in many languages.
The arc of the piece is like this:
1st mvt: Choir, Bass soloist, full orch  (The optimistic building of the first tower, its fall and the confusion of languages.)
2nd mvt (12:36) Choir, SS soloists, orch  (The people are confounded, and they lament their failures.)
3rd mvt (23:10) Tenor solo, strings, percussion, women's choir (An angry Britten-esque rant against a jealous God whose actions seem unfair)
4th mvt (28:45) Choir a cappella (A motet for art so beautiful it causes us pain)
5th mvt (31:07) Orch, mezzo solo (The turning point, when we resolve to build something better and lasting that finds favour with God)
6th mvt (35:45) Orch, choir, all soloists (A joyous conclusion, time will run back and fetch the age of gold)

Martin - Babel: A choral symphony

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Robert Tilton plays us in. I have stood at crossroads very late at night. But nothing happened.
Well, I was almost hit by a car. Lesson: wear bright colours at night, not black.

Nocturne 4 (Long Night)

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