Commissioned by Finnish Radio

  • 2222/4331/timp.3perc/hp/str
  • SATB
  • baritone
  • 25 min
  • selected by the composer
  • Hebrew

Programme Note

"Noa” is based on the ancient and perpetually topical myth of the destruction of the human race. When Noah had built the ark and gathered his family and the animals inside, the flood-waters rose and drowned everything living on the face of the earth. When the waters had risen over the mountain-tops, God commanded the rain to cease; a wind blew over the waves and the flood sank. The myth tells of the dove that returned with the first green-leaf in its beak, of Noah’s exit from the ark, and of how he made a thank-offering for the return of life, whilst God wove in the sky a rainbow as a sign of the new covenant.

© Erik Bergman

Discography