Composer’s Note:

This mass movement is part of a project sponsored by the parish choir of Zepernick, Germany, with each section set by a different German or American composer. This movement is unusual in its setting in one particular way. The chorus is asked to create sounds with a certain rawness, evocative of non-Western forms of singing, in particular those of Central Asia. The idea that the “holy” can come in many forms and many faiths is a motivation for this sound, which attempts to suggest a meeting between different religious traditions, a meeting made all the more necessary and obvious by the horrific and sobering events of recent months.