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

2. Nun seh ich wohl

Violins:  Yeganeh Sotudehnia, Marie Anton
Viola: Kemi Lo 
Cello: Darya Zonoozi
Baton Waver: Matt

Paraesthesia

Violin Caprice no. 16 by Franz Benda, played on cello by Elinor Frey

Benda Caprice No. 16 in D major

Matthew Emery - I.Love (from Two Pickthall Songs)

Nocturnes sans Apostrophe

Nocturne 4 (Long Night)

composer: Stephanie Martin
poet: H.W. Longfellow
publisher: Cypress Choral Music
visit cypresschoral.com to learn about the composer and study the score while you listen

BUY THE SHEET MUSIC

The Arrow and the Song

Beyond

If you want autobiography, read an autobiography: these are just a bunch of songs.
//

But, once, there really was a guy; after a late night at the local bar (they had karaoke: I’m sure someone sang 24 Hours from Tulsa; hell, it might even have been me) I drove the very drunk little fella home. My idea of civic duty. He lived in his parents' basement and was keen to show me the things he loved. Out with a photo album: his motorcycle, his dog, his girlfriend. In that order. Then he took a wizz in a washing machine and passed out. And yet it was a shock when both girlfriend and dog took leave of him.

Dog Song

"They that go down to the sea in ships", an anthem for SATB chorus a capella, was commissioned by St. Thomas's Anglican Church, Huron Street, in memory of Roland Andrews, the Rev. Mark Andrews's late father. The piece received its first performance on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, during the course of Solemn Evensong and Devotions, under the direction of Matthew Larkin. This is a recording of that performance. The piece is published by Renforth Music (Catalogue #: TM ACH 931): http://www.renforthmusic.com/works/rmach931.php

They that go down to the sea in ships,
These men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
For at his word the stormy wind ariseth, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They are carried up to the heaven, and down again to the deep: their soul melteth away because of the trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.
So they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivereth them from their distress.
For he maketh the storm to cease, so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad, because they are at rest.

- Psalm 107: 23a; 24-30a

Op. 7: They that go down to the sea in ships (Published by Renforth Music)

A tribute to Edward Elgar. Inspired by a visit to his birthplace, and a hike in the nearby Malvern Hills in the English Midlands. Many thanks to Unitatis Strings for playing this piece.

Martin - Babel: A choral symphony

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