Mack Wilberg's The Prodigal for SATB and Organ or Orchestra. With a text by David Warner on the parable of The Prodigal Son from St Luke's Gospel this dramatic choral work brings to life the ancient universal story of reconciliation and belonging. The closely woven text and music feature an expansive range of expression-plaintive exuberant and resolute-before concluding with a transcendent coda that gives way to reverberating 'Amen's. With echoes of some of the minimalist elements of Wilberg's Requiem as well as Arvo Pärt Henryk Górecki and John Tavener the work is scored for mixed voices without soloists allowing the choir to function like a Greek chorus-sometimes narrating sometimes participating in the action sometimes reflecting on it-all underpinned by Organ or Orchestra or Chamber Ensemble.
