The work was jointly commissioned by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival for percussionist Evelyn Glennie.
He wrote:This work takes its inspiration from the diversity of spirits and other supernatural forces from cultures around the world who manifest their presence through sound.
[1]The seven movements are thus named after various mythological creatures from cultures around the world, including the Jiu huang ye (Malaysia), the Bean nighe (Scotland), the Ellyllon (Wales), Te Mangoroa (Māori), the Coyote (Navajo), the Tengu (Japan), and the Wah’Kon-Tah (various Native American traditions).
[1] Richard Whitehouse of Gramophone wrote, "Spirit Voices (2003) may open with a feisty solo cadenza but thereafter the relationship between percussion and orchestra is of the subtlest, with Stucky’s depiction of deities drawn from Oriental, Celtic and Amerindian cultures merging into a sequence as evocative as it is restrained.
"[2] Andrew Druckenbrod of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the piece "a remarkable percussion concerto" and added, "The powerful work concluded with a profound statement of the Native American Great Spirit treated perhaps the only way possible, with complete silence at the end.