Kreek: The Suspended Harp of Babel
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CYRILLUS KREEK
Kreek: The Suspended Harp of Babel
Vox Clamantis
[ ECM / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 8 May 2020
The Suspended Harp of Babel features revelatory performances of the choral music of Estonian composer Cyrillus Kreek (1889-1962).
Kreek's pieces, incorporating graceful settings of psalms and folk hymns, are juxtaposed here with instrumental fantasias and interludes created for this recording by Marco Ambrosini. Under the direction of Jan-Eik Tulve, the Vox Clamantis choir whose previous ECM recordings have addressed works of Arvo Prt, Erkki-Sven Tr and Helena Tulve as well as Gregorian chant prove to be ideal interpreters of a music poised between old and new.
The Suspended Harp of Babel was recorded in Tallinn's Transfiguration Church in August 2018.
Personnel: Vox Clamantis; Jaan-Eik Tulve (conductor); Marco and Angela Ambrosini (nyckelharpa); Anna-Liisa Eller (kannel)
"A caressing velvety choral reassurance underpins Jaan-Eile Tulve's tender direction of Psalm 121…Nothing is forced. The singing breathes with a collective, gentle inevitability…The final impression is abiding solace for these distracted times." BBC Music Five Stars. Choral & Song Choice July 2020
"Their clarity, their precision, their sheer musicianship make them easily one of the best vocal ensembles currently active anywhere in the world...Two of the most impressive works are Bless the Lord, my soul and By the rivers of Babylon, both of which are absolutely ideal vehicles for Vox Clamantis, whose precise placing of chords, assisted by impeccable tuning, means that every harmonic detail is as clear as a bell. Highly recommended." Editor's Choice Gramophone July 2020
