Everlasting Light was written especially for a concert by the Elmer Iseler Singers and dedicated to the memory of Iseler, the group's distinguished founder and life-long conductor. It is a setting of the Greek Orthodox funeral "Trisagion" which is sung by the three solo voices (countertenor, tenor, baritone) and of the first two lines from the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass which are sung by the choir. In addition to the voices there is a five-octave marimba and four crystal glasses which are played behind the audience.
The work is more a ritual than a piece of concert music. It is meant to be performed at appropriate church services (memorial or funeral services). In such occasions the performance of the work may be interrupted at points specifically marked in the score, so that the priest or the service attendant may insert prayers, commentary or anything else that may be appropriate for the occasion. There are instructions in the score for adapting the language (Byzantine Greek and Church Latin) to the specific gender and case (singular/plural) particulars of the person(s) commemorated in the service.
There was nothing to lead one to expect a piece of music that turned out to be so ravishingly beautiful…its movement is slow, some of the harmonies are very close and the feeling of ambience is indescribable...The music has a potent sense of otherworldliness and an immense quiet dignity. Echoes of it followed me all the way home.
