MOHAMMED FAIROUZ (b.1985): Zabur.

Description: This powerful, intensely moving oratorio is a war requiem for our time. Set in a war-torn city in the Middle East, it denounces the horrors of war while suggesting that hope and art are eternal and inextinguishable, and will survive disaster and atrocity. Based around the Psalms of David, the work combines epic themes expressed on monumental scale and the intimate personal experiences of David, now reimagined as a contemporary poet, and his companions in adversity. Fairouz' idiom is compelling and gripping, very indebted to the 'romantic post-minimalism' of Glass, Rabinovitch-Barakovsky and their ilk. Harmonically neo-romantic, with nods to the oratorio tradition stretching back to the Baroque, the work contains fewer instances of the middle-eastern modal melodic inflections than Fairouz' other, more eclectic large-scale works on similar themes. Texts included. Dann Coakwell (tenor), Michael Kelly (baritone), Indianapolis Children’s Choir, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra; Eric Stark.