[ Ondine SACD / Hybrid SACD ]
Release Date: Sunday 25 October 2015
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Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov (b.1937) is an important contemporary voice in vocal music. In this new release, Silvestrov's hauntingly beautiful vocal works are performed by the Latvian Radio Choir under their director Sigvards Kļava.
During his artistic career, Silvestrov has explored a number of musical styles and techniques, such as avant-guard, post-modernism, neo-classicism, dodecaphony, aleatoric writing and pointillism. The fall of the Soviet Union, however, allowed Silvestrov to eventually compose spiritual works, inspired and influenced by his love of the Russian Orthodox Church music which Silvestrov imbues with his own unique sound and bursts of surprising harmonic moves.
Silvestrov's compositions are invested with the composer's own unique personality, musical sensibility and sense of beauty.
"At a first, superficial listening, this hour-long selection of Silvestrov's a cappella choral music gives an impression of sumptuous solace, suffused by the warm, swimming acoustic of St John's Church in Riga. Scratch a little deeper, however, and this contemplative recital reveals an astonishing richness which invites repeated listening. It has the effect of a healing balm and I cannot recommend it too highly for those who require restoration from life's vicissitudes.
The Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Klava sing, as expected, with a scintillating beauty. None of this programme, composed between 1995 and 2006, could be labelled technically easy. An absorbing, immersive choral experience for both the singers, one confidently assumes, and certainly for the listener, from an impressive choir." Gramophone Award Nomination 2016 - Contemporary
Alleluia
Cherubic Song (from Liturgical Chants)
Alleluia (from Liturgical Chants)
O Holy God (from Liturgical Chants)
Ave Maria (from Liturgical Chants)
Diptych
Sacred Chants (2)
Sacred Songs (2)
Christmas Lullabies (2)