Peteris Plakidis: Eternity

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Cat No: LMIC123

Release Date: 10 September 2021

Label: Skani

Packaging Type: Digipak

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 4751025440932

Genres: Classical Choral

Description

Latvian Radio Choir's most recent studio recording features previously unavailable recordings of choral works by one of the most promintent Latvian composers Peteris Plakidis.

Peteris Plakidis (1947–2017) is – and will remain – one of the most significant Latvian composers. He observed life with a keen, sharp gaze and echoed it in his music firmly, strictly, actively. He tread quietly and imperceptibly yet resolutely and decisively in the realm of the nation's spirit (in composition, pedagogy, performance art, theatre and cinema). He persisted and has endured.
At first glance (or listen), Plakidis was a true instrumentalist, creating everything from miniatures to ambitious, voluminous works. In addition, an opus sparkling in unchecked humour would often swirl up next to his ever-substantial, frequently tense, contradictory works. While these pieces were invitations to repose from the usual chain of ideas and intonations, in fact they usually served as supplements, escapades, a spark of fantasy. But quite soon a clear turn, or even push, towards vocal chamber music appeared. The solo song, which had long lived in the vitality of enthusiastic lyrics, suddenly lit up with a completely different, tense and polemically intense character.

The technical arsenal of this music is clear, secure, paradoxical, convincing. The diatonic dominates unequivocally: polished, refined, rooted deeply in folk motifs. But it is a tonal dictionary that is fresh and pristine, one could even say unsullied. For example, the consistent use of an unencumbered diatonic tonal structure as ornamentation but also as a kind of network (in the main layout, the rhythmic expansion and the twofold expansion all at once!) is unexpected and surprising. The result is a vibrating diatonic cluster – a seemingly neutral but potentially very active accumulation of sound. The diatonic is the main meloharmonic choice here. It may be coloured in an infinite variety of nuance yet not lose its link to the primordial foundation. But this is all merely material for the composer's imagination, thoughts, feelings, attitude and world-view. In short, Plakidis was able to express himself in the genre of choral music precisely in this way, and only in this way.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

"Whether floating ethereally weaving magically or declaiming bodily, the Latvian composer Peteris Plakidis's varied soundworld is admirably showcased by this superb choir. The title track 'Eternity' is simply mesmerising." – 5 STARS, BBC Music Magazine, November '21

"…the radiant readings of the Latvian Radio Choir – especially in the Two Chants from the Old Testament and Fata Morgana, where the voices are continuous from lowest to highest – represent an important documentation of a composer who came relatively late to choral writing." – Choir and Organ, 4 STARS
Tracklisting