"Mictlan," a choral composition by Mexican composer Jorge Cozatl, tells the story of the journey of the dead. Cozatl drew on his own ancestry to produce the new interpretation of Aztec mythology; some parts were translated from Spanish to Nahuatl, an Aztecan dialect. The piece is sung in 10 parts -- an introduction and nine movements representing the nine "tests" the soul must pass on its journey through the underworld.

Those nine sections, translated to English, are titled:

•"Where the river goes"

•"Place where hills hit to each other"

•"Hill of blades"

•"Place where the frozen wind blows"

•"Place where the bodies float like flags"

•"Place of arrows"

•"Place where Jaguar is fed on hearts"

•"Place of blindness in the fog"

•"Enclosure of the eternal rest"

WILLIAM C. CRUM