Seattle Symphony free-streams prayer of hope for an end to violence

The Seattle Symphony has taken the unusual step of offering a new work for free download.

It is Giya Kancheli’s Nu.Mu.Zu for Orchestra, recorded two weeks ago before the Paris and Beirut atrocities. Kancheli, a displaced Georgian who has lived since 1991 in Germany and Belgium, has experienced more than his fair share of political violence and turmoil.

You car stream or download the 23-minute recording for free, here.

Nu.Mu.Zu means ‘I don’t know’ in the ancient Mesopotamian language of Sumerian. Kancheli says: ‘What is happening in the world is gradually, step by step, destroying the last hope in my consciousness, without which, for all of us, life loses its meaning. ‘I don’t know’ what will happen in the future. However, having lost hope, I keep dreaming about a world in which fanaticism, sectarian strife and violence are no longer the dominant features of world order.’