Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

The title of this piece, The Lion's Country, may be a little puzzling, given that the only animal mentioned in the text is the Lamb! It is in fact a reference to C.S Lewis's The Silver Chair, which opens with the magical transportation of its main characters, Eustace and Jill, to the land of Aslan, the Great Lion. Even as a child, I was fascinated by the religious imagery of this novel and of the other six in the Narnia series, even though I did not then fully understand the significance of Aslan as metaphor for Christ. The Biblical parallels do not stop there of course: indeed Lewis appears to have modelled Aslan's country on the Apostle John's vision of heaven, Apocalypse (Revelations) 22: 1-5 (perhaps the least insane and bloodthirsty section of that book!). Consequently I employed Lewis's source text to reflect his fantastical renderings thereof.

At first glance, The Lion's Country may seem of a religious nature. However, it is not an affirmation of Lewis' Christian beliefs, which are rather too prejudiced by his cultural and social situation, or Christianity in general, but rather an acknowledgment of the joy and wonder that the products of his formidable intellect have given to countless children (and maybe to some who are a little older as well!). Whether the benefits bestowed to readers are ethical, intellectual or otherwise, I feel that the magic of Narnia is a far greater gift to a society that is generally apathetic towards the anachronistic attitudes of established Religions.

Work Details

Year: 1997

Instrumentation: 2 SATB choirs.

Duration: 5 min.

Difficulty: Advanced — Grade 8.

Dedication note: In memorium Taklin.

Winner of the Australian Voices Young Composer Award.