Choral work part two - 17 years later; Arts.

Byline: Joe Riley

BETTER late than never.

The follow-up to a choralwork first heard in 1991 is premiered by the Liverpool Philharmonic nextweek.

Uneasy Vespers part 2, composed by Stephen Pratt, professor of music atHopeUniversity, is among the more significant of this season's 30 or so commissions, running to 55-minutes and incorporating the full orchestra, Philharmonic choir and semi-chorus, plus one of theUK's leading vocal ensembles, I Fagiolini, usually specialists in earlymusic.

But there is also a special reason for the link-up: Fagiolini's director, Robert Hollingworth, sang in the first part of the oratorio 17 years ago, performed as part of the Phil's 150th anniversary.

Together, theworkwould nowrun to more than one and a half hours.Here's hoping that can be arranged for the future."

In the meantime, Stephen Pratt extends the church/science conflict of part one to consider theAmerican conscience in thewake of the atom bomb drops onHiroshima and Nagasaki.

"Something like a quarter of a million peoplewere involved in the bomb project, but didn't actually realisewhat theywere doing," notes Stephen.

Thework offers contrasting themes of knowledge versus dogma aswell as an ultimate lack of control or prevention of something that became inevitable.

"The piece has occupied me, on and off, over a period of more than two decades," says Stephen.

Thursday's performance, conducted by Clark Rundell, is pairedwith another vocalwork by Luciano Berio.

CAPTION(S):

COMPOSER: Stephen Pratt, professor of music at Hope University