Tenor, piano and percussion

Earthly Prayers was composed in 1993 for John Duykers, who gave its first performance. It is a 52Õ work that combines Hebrew, Latin and Anglo-Saxon prayers with the words of victims of political conscience.

Its opening spoken word monodrama-"The Deposition"-is a semi-fictional account of the political horrors that crushed Chile in the wake of the anti-Allende coup, and is taken from George DennisonÕs novel Luisa Domic. The second movement-"B. W. 1916-1979"-is based on John CageÕs poetic remembrance of the composer Ben Webster, with whom he shared a friendship, but from whom he remained artistically distanced. Scored for tenor and drums played with hands, it represents a quiet testimony to a caring and gentle humanity between two individuals.

The third movement-"Quiet Prayers"-includes several Hebrew prayers to be offered under the spell of natural power and beauty: upon seeing lightning, falling stars, mountains and deserts, upon seeing a rainbow, hearing thunder, smelling fragrant woods, viewing the sea. Movement number four, the manic "Leaps of Faith," is framed by two sets of Latin Prayers, the first, words of praise and jubilation distorted through a prism of panic and despair, the second, desperate supplications, which finally resolve into the simple declaration: "It is sweet to praise the lord, to sing, highest God, in honor of thy name." Its middle section is drawn from an Anglo-Saxon prayer for restoring fertility to a barren land-a mixture of early Christianity and pagan incantations.

The fifth movement-"the Refugee"-is based on the recollections of a Croatian high school teacher who was imprisoned by the Bosnian Serbs and detained in a concentration camp until, near death, he was rescued by American relatives and brought into exile. The brief final movement, which follows without pause, is based on the famous quotation from the diary of Anne Frank: "Thank you, God, for everything thatÕs good and clear and beautiful; I am filled with joy."