Search - The New York Voices :: Lepley: Visions Within - Spiritual Poems of Rilke Interpreted Through Vocal Chants and Harmonies

Visions Within links the ancient past with the present to create a new spiritual sound. I composed primitive-sounding chants woven into contemporary fugues and canons that circle around illusive poly-rhythms as well as other pieces with ancestral harmonies that evolve into lush tone clusters used in contemporary jazz. I used Rilke s poems because their profound existential nature has the power to connect ancient symbols of the sacred; found deep within the human psyche with current forms of religious and secular spirituality that explore the relationships between thought and emotion, life and death, fear and love, personal faith and social justice. It is an honor to have Ms. Streep's sensitive presentation of the poems on the recording, and I chose the remarkable New York Voices to bring Visions Within into being. My hope is that this work has the power to nurture healing of the inner life, and to transform the subconscious universal spiritual symbols of peace, justice and compassion outwardly into positive community values that nurture the common good and care for the poor, that promote nonviolence, that respect the differences between people, and that protect our sacred Earth.