Earthrise Cover Image

Earthrise: ChoralWorks(Secular)

$15.95 USD
$15.95 USD
Skip to product information
Earthrise Cover Image
Earthrise: ChoralWorks(Secular)

Earthrise: ChoralWorks(Secular)

Version for SATB Choir, Semi-chorus and Piano (4 hands) with optional Percussion

By Alec Roth

Item: 98-EP73224G
$15.95
Shipped

One moment…

Related Items

Earthrise: Choral Works (inc. Oratorios)

$32.00
View

Earthrise: ChoralWorks(Secular)

$31.95
View

Earthrise: Mixed Ensemble

$102.00
View
Description

Alec Roth's Earthrise is a 25-minute work inspired by the famous image of Earth taken in 1968 during NASA's Apollo 8 mission and its influence on the nascent environmental movement. This version is for SATB choir, semi-chorus and piano (4 hands) with optional percussion.

Isaiah's evocation of a God's-eye view of the Earth, together with visionary words from other sources, forms the text for Earthrise, which is sung in Latin. The original 40-part version of Earthrise was commissioned by Ex Cathedra on the occasion of its 40th anniversary in 2009. The first performance was given by Ex Cathedra, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore, at Birmingham Town Hall on 31 January 2010.

The first performance of this version of Earthrise was given by the Dartington International Summer School Choir and singers from Ex Cathedra (semi-chorus), with Joanna MacGregor and Gavin Roberts (piano duet), conducted by Jeffrey Skidmore, in the Great Hall, Dartington, on 7 August 2015.

This is the optional percussion part (EP73224g) of the version for SATB choir, semi-chorus and piano (4 hands). The vocal score (EP73224), full score (EP73224f) and piano (4 hands) part (EP73224b) are available to purchase separately.



This product is Printed on Demand and may take several weeks to fulfill. Please order from your favorite retailer.

Earthrise: ChoralWorks(Secular) isn't in MakeMusic Cloud just yet...but it could be. Let us know you'd like to see it, and you'll help shape what comes next. In the meantime, start a free trial and dive into thousands of interactive titles your students can play along with today.

Request This Title

Tell us you want it.

Start Your Free Trial

Explore everything that's ready to play right now.
Sample Pages

Sample Audio
No sample audio found.
Sample Video
No sample videos found.
Additional Details
Series: Edition Peters
Publisher: Edition Peters
Page Count: 12
ISBN10: 0-57-702176-1
ISBN13: 979-0-57-702176-8
SKU: 98-EP73224G

More about this title

About the Creator: Alec Roth

Alec Roth has built a reputation as a composer of ambitious choral works that marry contemporary musical language with profound textual meaning. His commissions span sacred and secular domains, and his writing consistently demonstrates a gift for blending large forces into textures that feel both expansive and intimate.

Why we love this

Earthrise taps into a real hunger among choirs to explore repertoire that addresses the world beyond the concert hall. The combination of Isaiah's visionary language with Latin text gives the piece both spiritual gravity and contemporary urgency, while Roth's orchestration for semi-chorus, full choir, and four-hand piano creates genuinely theatrical moments without requiring a full orchestra.

What to expect

Earthrise unfolds like a meditation viewed from orbit. The music alternates between moments of luminous stillness and passages of architectural grandeur, building an emotional arc that mirrors humanity's first glimpse of Earth as a unified whole. The Latin text lends an almost liturgical solemnity, though the piece remains entirely secular in its environmental and philosophical concerns.

Who it's for

Mature choirs with 60 or more singers, access to strong pianists comfortable with duet playing, and the bandwidth for a substantial 25-minute work. Programs serving adult choirs, university singers, or ambitious high school ensembles with proven Latin facility.

How to get the most out of it

  • Balance the semi-chorus carefully in rehearsal by positioning them distinctly from the main choir; they function as a responsive voice and need acoustic separation to register clearly.
  • The four-hand piano part demands coordination between two accomplished pianists. Begin early with rhythm section work to establish the metric foundation before layering vocals.
  • Mark percussion entrances prominently in all vocal scores. Optional instrumentation can easily get lost if the rhythm section isn't locked in first.
  • Plan substantial rehearsal time around the Latin text. Clarity of diction here carries philosophical weight, not just linguistic accuracy.

How to use it

Position this as a centerpiece for a concert exploring humanity's relationship to the natural world, or as the spiritual anchor in a mixed-genre program. Its length and scope make it suitable as the closing work on a choir concert, allowing audiences to sit with its themes.

Skills your students will build

  • Latin diction and sustained vowel clarity over long phrases
  • Blending full choir textures with semi-chorus independence
  • Responding to large-scale architectural form across 25 minutes
  • Ensemble coordination with two-piano accompaniment
  • Interpretation of contemporary choral writing with tonal clarity

You May Also Like