Game of the Antichrist

“Let’s find an ancient mystery play.” With those words, composer Robert Moran’s friend (and noted choral conductor) Alexander Hermann planted the seed for Moran’s setting of the ancient Latin play “Ludus de Antichristo” as “Game of the Antichrist.” A religious work from the 12th century, the play depicts the religious conflict around the arrival and eventual defeat of the Antichrist, but Moran’s oratorio is anything but old fashioned. The arrangement features a children’s chorus, guitar, jazz piano, alp horn and dozens of other instruments brought together to paint a rich narrative whose emotional undercurrents come across clearly -- even if you don’t know a word of Latin.

As a companion piece, “Within A Day” strikes a different but no less ambitious tone. A collaboration with the Thingamajigs Performance Group -- who use unusual musical instruments to combine traditional Eastern sensibilities with modern American technologies and performance practices -- the piece explores the connections between parallel universes. With evocative textural work centered on found sound and haunting melodic lines, “Within A Day” is a striking blend of the ambient and the concrete in music.

Philly-based Robert Moran studied with Apostel, Berio, and Milhaud long ago but never aligned himself with any musical  "-isms." His works range from Fluxus type community events to post-Minimal textures, and "shamefully Romantic" languages. This is his fifth release innova, following
Open Veins,
Mantra,
Cabinet of Curiosities,
and Trinity Requiem, commissioned for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 at the Ground Zero church.