It was performed publicly and recorded in mid 1995 and released commercially in 1996. Yo-Yo Ma performed Solo Cello on "Part I"; other performers include: The Pacific Chorale & Children's Chorus, the Ngan-Khoi Vietnamese Children's Choir, Ann Panagulias and James Maddalena; it was conducted by Carl St. Clair.
It is not considered an archetypal oratorio as it doesn't tell a story so much as it brings together many different poems and words of praise, the latter adding a sort of religious aspect in the form of requiem.[1]
^Gramophone – Volume 74 887 1996 p. 81 "A pupil of John Corigliano and Aaron Copland, Brooklyn-born Elliot Goldenthal (b. 1954) is perhaps best-known for his highly ... This feverish dance of death (which bears the subtitle giang co or "tug-of-war") utilizes a far-ranging assortment of documents – from Virgil, Tacitus and Cicero to terms used in the Vietnam conflict ..."
