Tu pauperum refugium was commissioned for the UNESCO-sponsored SongBridge 2001 concert in Vancouver, where it was performed by the Tygerberg Children’s Choir (South Africa), the Odawara Children’s Choir (Japan), the Moran Choir (Israel) and the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir, with the participation of the audience. The conductor was Hennie Loock. This is a live recording of that performance.
The main body of the work consists of an extended invocation in the form of a polychoral motet, based on an anonymous Latin text, and ending with a plea for peace. This is preceded by a briefer introductory section, based on passages from the Old Testament, in which the horrors of violence and oppression are described.
