Scored for SATB choir, organ and orchestra, Carl Vine’s Choral Symphony sets four ancient hymns in exotic languages that have not been spoken for thousands of years: ‘Enuma Elish’, an Akkadian creation myth describing the creation of the world from primeval chaos, and three Homeric Hymns to the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun (in Greek 'Epic Dialect'). The vocal writing in this 26-minute symphony (Vine’s sixth) is homophonic throughout, reflecting the composer’s wish for the work to ‘revel in the power of the human community’.