Customer Reviews

Grey: Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio

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I had the privilege to be one of the performers for Mark Grey's Enemy Slayer, both at the World Premiere in Phoenix and at the subsequent presentation at Chataqua in Colorado. As a performer I can say it was a challenging work, with only Ned Rorem's Pilgrim Strangers (most popularly performed by Chanticleer) as an equal in it's difficulty and emotional depth.

It is very rare to see the Navajo perspective represented in Classical performance, and the composition by Grey as well as the libretto by Laura Tohe very deeply reflect the values of the Navajo people and reflect the inner turmoil of Seeker as he returns from the war. In performance the musical score was richly accompanied by slides by Deborah O'Grady of native Arizona...adding to the extraordinary performance of Scott Hendricks.

Time will tell if the score stands the test of time, but as a performer of the piece I count myself to be richly blessed to have had the opportunity to perform this brilliant work. I certainly hope you will have the chance to experience this piece not only in the recording, but also in live performance as well.

Up until now, no oratorio based on a creation story has had its basis in anything but the Holy Bible. Composer Mark Grey, however, with the help of a text written by Laura Tohe, a Navajo-born professor at Arizona State University, has changed all that with his 70-minute work "Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio", a powerful choral work based on an ancient Navajo legend of two heroes who, having vanquished the monsters who threatened their people, began having nightmares similar to any veterans coming home from a long and drawn-out war. Thus, while it may be based in Navajo legend and its choral text in the Navajo language itself, its essence is universal and spiritual: that of war sucking the life and soul out of all people, in what used to be known as battle fatigue, but which is known today as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Baritone Scott Hendricks sings the solo parts of this oratorio, while the Phoenix Symphony Chorus (under the direction of choral master Gregory Gentry), and the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, led by current music director Michael Christie, provide stirring and sterling accompaniment. Not only is it rare to have the Navajo represented even in modern classical music, it is even more rare for much in the way of any Native American music from any of our thousands of tribes represented in modern music at all, except when it is integrated into film music, like in the scores of such Native American-themed films as A MAN CALLED HORSE or GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND. All of those involved in this recording deserve plaudits for this recording, including the composer himself; and hopefully, because of the high quality of the recording here on the low budget Naxos label, "Enemy Slayer" will find a wide audience, initiating a greater fascination with the music of a group of people we have rejected and ostracized for far too long.