Nature And The Soul: Latvian Choral Classics

Latvian Radio Choir and Kaspars Putni?s

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Cat No: LMIC054

Release Date: 18 August 2017

Label: Skani

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 4751025440208

Genres: Classical Choral

Description

The wonderful works chosen for this album, each one with its own story and distinct character, collectively create something reminiscent of a dear childhood home to which we need to return from time to time. The Latvian Radio Choir beautifully performs these Latvian choral classics by Vitols. Darzins, Melngailis, Zalitis and Graubins.

'The majority of Latvia's choral conductors have likely grown up with these songs whose imagery, sound and colour are deeply encoded in our consciousness, perhaps to a much greater extent than we realise.
The subdued northern nature that bursts into a lavish display at the height of summer and the "various emotional states of the soul", as Emils Darzin¸s described the subjects that interested him in music – these two themes, their refined interrelations and the resultant imagery are to my mind the most important features of our choral music.
It is very important for me to feel how the fantastic world of these songs comes to life again in our consciousness and imagination at a time when life is changing all around us and individual experience has once again added something new and come full circle. It is important to return home to meet one's self.
Working on this album, I have felt as if I am writing a love letter. On your one hundredth birthday I wish you many returns of the day, dear Latvia!' – Kaspars Putnins

Reviews

'Anyone lucky enough to have heard last Sunday's celebration of the music of Rachmaninov at the BBC Proms couldn't help but be impressed by the meticulous singing of the Latvian Radio Choir. Now, to mark Latvia's forthcoming centenary, it has released a recording of compositions from its homeland where once again we can savour its miraculously cohesive sound. Featuring a pure soprano line and sonorously rich basses, the choir charts a path through the development of Latvian choral music, majoring on the works of Jazeps Vitols (1863-1948), whose extended masterwork, David Before Saul is a highlight, rivalled by Emilis Melngailis's heartbreaking Move Gently and Quietly.' –Stephen Pritchard, The Observer

'The life-giving rays of the sun are an eternal image in the poetry of the frozen North. In Emilis Melngailis's "Nature and the Soul", which gives this disc its title, music with its roots in the folklore of the region adds its voice. In time for the centenary of Latvia's independence in 2018, the Latvian Radio Choir and its director, Kaspars Putninš, have chosen to showcase five of their native composers from the early decades of the 20th century. The music is mostly simple, choral ballads couched in a succinct expressive language. The choir's singing, as always, is exemplary.' –Richard Fairman, Financial Times

EDITOR'S CHOICE
'This is a truly beautiful album of Latvian choral works performed by singers clearly immersed in its musical and cultural foundations.' --Martin Cullingford, Gramophone

'Gentle music, touchingly sung and introducing non-Latvian listeners to some lustrous delights.' –Rob Barnett, MusicWeb

'This Latvian programme whisks us away to landscapes of enchanted forests and never-ending sunsets, thanks to a stunning performance by the Latvian Radio Choir.' –BBC Music Magazine
Tracklisting