Sinfonietta Rīga / Maxim Rysanov PETERIS VASKS Viola Concerto - String Symphony "Voices"

VIOLA CONCERTO - STRING SYMPHONY

Latvian Radio Choir / Sigvards Kļava ANDREJS SELICKIS Paradisus vocis

Andrejs Selickis (b. 1960) is a singular, idiosyncratic phenomenon among Latvian composers. As with Arvo Pärt, Selickis’ work is inseparably linked to his faith, which has found a deep and unique expression in his distinct style. Iconic symbolism, sacred archetypes and the ecstatic experience of God’s presence are the keys to his music. This new recording by the Latvian Radio Choir includes choral works by Selickis. Andrejs Selickis grew up and studied music in Latvia, when a crucial meeting with Arvo Pärt took place in the 1970s. Arvo Pärt became a mentor and an example for the composer, both in life and in music. After Pärt emigrated from the Soviet Union, Selickis’ found new home in his church. Selickis has worked as an independent artist since graduating from the conservatory. He lives in Riga and serves as a regent, liturgist and psalmist in various congregations of the Church. In 2015 he was awarded the Latvian Great Music Award, the highest state honor in music. The creative collaboration and friendship between Sigvards Klava and Selickis began in 2012 with the Litany to Mother Teresa, the first composition with which Andrejs Selickis entered active concert life. Together, Klava and Selickis have studied and sung Old Believer chants and have also set out pilgrimages to various monasteries. The present album serves as a resume of the creative collaboration between the Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava and Andrejs Selickis.

Alina Pogostkina / Sinfonietta Riga / Juha Kangas PETERIS VASKS Vox Amoris

Peteris Vasks' music should be viewed against the socially and politically turbulent history of his home country Latvia. All three pieces, here, according to Vasks, represent the polarity between optimistic hope for a better future and an anxious concern for the modern world.
Regarding the fantasia "Vox Amoris" Vasks said: "It has to do with the strongest force in the world - love. I hope that this piece touches the listener and makes the world a little more friendly and open for love." With the violin, the "voice of love", the listener experiences different sensations from a gentle blossoming to open passion.
1996/97 saw the composition of the concerto "Tala gaisma" (Distant Light", Vasks' first and so far most extensive work for violin and string orchestra. Its form consists of a sequence of strongly contrasting episodes that are partly influenced by Latvian folk music.
Almost ten years later he wrote "Vientulais engelis" (Lonely Angel). During its composition, Vasks had a special image in mind: "I saw an angel, flying over the world; the angel looks at the world's condition with grieving eyes, but an almost imperceptible, loving touch of the angel's wings brings comfort and healing. This piece is my music after the pain."
The pieces are performed by the exceptional violinist Alina Pogostkina, superbly accompanied by the Sinfonietta Riga under the direction of Juha Kangas. "You really have to rhapsodize about Alina Pogostkina: so young, so brilliant, so musical, perfect and at the same time natural." (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

ARVO PÄRT Adam's Lament

I’ve always been an admirer of Arvo Pärt’s music, and certain works I love. But also, at times I’ve started to feel a little burnout with successive releases, which recycle a certain sober, austere, mystical mood. Thus it’s with great pleasure that I can recommend this disc unqualifiedly. It is a complete success, and has some of the composer’s most satisfying music that I’ve heard in quite some time. The reasons for this are:
First, the pieces are quite varied, despite all being clearly from the hand of the same creator. The largest work (over 20 minutes) Adam’s Lament , was a joint 2010 commission of the cities of Istanbul and Tallinn, setting a text by the monk Staretz Silouan (1866-1938), and in keeping with its circumstances, seems to use melodic Middle Eastern modes more than I’m accustomed to in Pärt. But then the disc ends with two lullabies that in their gentle folksiness seem almost like Ländler. At times we hear austere chant, which may suddenly erupt in choral tutti (as Statuit ei Dominus ). At other times there is the bare-boned counterpoint of neomedievalism ( Alleluia-Tropus ). In Salve regina I hear a fullness of harmony and texture that reminds me of Brahms. So the expressive and technical range is satisfyingly broad.
Second, the pacing of all these works has a rightness, no matter how long or short they are. Pärt has truly mastered the control of how any given sound or ensemble fits its proper temporal space, and the rate at which it unfolds. This is one thing that gives the work a quality for which we use words like “natural” and “inevitable”.
Third, the orchestration is masterful. It never stands out unduly, the sound is very full and blended, even when scored for chamber orchestra (again, a Brahmsian virtue). And yet there are also very special touches; examples being more string harmonics and pizzicato than I remember from earlier works, subtle chime tolls in Beatus Petronius , and an accompaniment of cellos that is like a viol consort in L’Abbé Agathon.
Finally, it’s gorgeously performed and recorded. This release has the best possible balance between ECM’s emphasis on highly reverberant acoustics and a clarity that serves the music in its detail. Early in the season, but a Want List contender. (FANFARE: Robert Carl)