A Better World

2019 SATB and piano (CE) 41'

A suite of 12 choral settings of quotations from speeches of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

A Better World is a suite of choral settings of aspirational and inspirational (non-partisan) epigrammatic quotations from speeches of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, set more as mantras or articles of faith than as narratives or ephemeral utterances.

Movements

This is the Time to Speak the Truth (Recording: Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir)

3'30"

Repetition Does Not Transform (Recording: Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir)

3'30"

Civilization Cannot Go Back (Recording: Composers' Choir)

3'15"

There Are Many Ways of Going Forward (Recording: Composers' Choir)

4'

Without the Help of Thousands (Recording: Composers' Choir)

3'

What the Flag and the Constitution Stand For (Recording: Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir)

3'45"

A Nation Does Not Have to be Cruel (Recording: Composers' Choir)

3'30"

The Test of Our Progress (Recording: Composers' Choir)

2'15"

The Basic Things Expected (Recording: Composers' Choir)

3'40"

The Real Safeguard of Democracy (Recording: Rocky Mountain Chamber Choir)

3'05"

We Shall Choose a Path of Social Justice (Recording: Composers' Choir)

4'

Beyond the Horizon (Recording: Composers' Choir)

4'55"

The pieces in A Better World may be performed individually as well as collectively. If performing a subset, the order of performance should be preserved.

This project is aimed at community and college-level choirs. Singers can learn their parts using these synthesized recordings: https://mazicmusic.com/A%20Better%20World.htm.