This highly publicized and anticipated oratorio with very lofty goals turns out to be disappointingly bland, juvenile, and poorly put together. The text has few moments of insight, unfortunately drowned in a well of thoughtless deepities and dated platitudes. The music, running just under 90 minutes, has very little variation in musical style and orchestration and is consequently very tiring to listen to. The Blue Water Chamber Orchestra and Cleveland Chamber Choir perform excellently but are woefully underused, mired in muddy orchestrations and bizzare settings of the already wordy and unusual text. 

It is unfortunate that so much money, so many people, and such a large project was devoted to a piece so totally stale in both stlye and idea, and amounts to no more than the longest, dullest planetarium show of my life.

Carl Sagan would not approve.