The original version of Tongues of Fire was commissioned by the Scotia Festival of Music for percussionists Evelyn Glennie and Beverley Johnston, with partial support from the Canada Council of the Arts. It was later arranged as a concerto for percussion and brass band by composer Kevin Lau in 2012 at the request of The Hannaford Silver Brass Band. An arrangement of Tongues of Fire for wind orchestra is also available.
In Darkness and Fear - A depiction of the uncertainty and fear that is the lot of anyone who experiences loss of faith and/or persecution. It is without a doubt, the "Heavy Metal" movement of the concerto, riding on an "unsteady" beat, but otherwise reminiscent of 1960's rock music. The upper register is penetrated by extremely high piccolo, flute and a "wonky" E-flat clarinet, while the low and middle registers are punctuated by percussion and brass blasting at full volume. Vocal sounds of aggression and suffering as well as woodwind multiphonic shrieks and aggressive horn glissandi complete this picture.
Eternity's Heartbeat - This is based on a pop song by the same title which is meant to accompany performances and recordings of Tongues of Fire. Unlike the relatively static key structure of the movements surrounding it, Eternity's Heartbeat is in constant tonal flux. The movement ends in the key it started but it does so in a tonally unexpected manner.
Of This World is a psychological study on the darker side of human interactions. Drawing its musical inspiration from the Pentecostal "speaking in tongues" musical traditions of the American south and mid-west, it chronicles the uneasy relationship between potentially aggressive instruments, such as percussion and the rest of the orchestra.
To the Ends of the Earth is an epic finale. The music's Hollywood character is unmistakable. This movement represents the evangelical fervour of Paul's message to the nations. In the underlying psychological drama of the larger work, the egotistical soloist of the previous movement is now joining forces first by the orchestral percussionists and finally with the entire orchestra, consciously avoiding antagonisms with any of the players and thus gradually transforming herself from a spot light seeker to a genuine leader. The four movements of the concerto could be understood as four stages of the ego's transformation, expressed through the soloist's constantly changing relationship with the orchestra.
Tongues of Fire rises to terrifying levels of sound during the heat of the struggle and is musically, utterly convincing in its complexity and noble in its ambition.
A self-conscious tour de force, Hatzis' composition could have been mere gimmickry but turned out to be profoundly moving both in its inventiveness and ideas.
