| Estonian Philharmonic Chamber / Baltic Voices 2 |
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| Album: | Baltic Voices 2 | Collection: | Classical | |
| Artist: | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber | Added: | Aug 2004 | |
| Label: | Harmonia Mundi Usa | |||
| A-File Activity |
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| Add Date: | 2004-09-27 | Pull Date: | 2004-11-29 | Charts: | Classical/Experimental |
| Week Ending: | Nov 28 | Nov 21 | Nov 14 | Nov 7 | Oct 10 | Oct 3 |
| Airplays: | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Recent Airplay
| 1. | Oct 20, 2012: | Music Casserole Sisack: From Gloria Patri | 4. | May 07, 2009: | orangeasm Grigorjeva: on Leaving | |
| 2. | Nov 19, 2010: | KZSU Jazz Hour Sisack: From Gloria Patri | 5. | Nov 25, 2004: | Multiple Personality Disorder Grigorjeva: on Leaving | |
| 3. | Apr 01, 2010: | foolsgasm Schnittke: Three Sacred Hymn | 6. | Nov 17, 2004: | the Dog and Pony Show Per Norgard: Winter Hymn |
| Album Review |
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| Alex Reviewed 2004-09-19 | ||
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Artists: Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Album: Baltic Voices 2 Label: Harmonia Mundi Religious choral music from several Baltic nations, but especially Estonia. How can a country with a population less than that of San Francisco produce such a disproportionate effect on late 20th/21st century classical music? As an addition to the more famous music of Arvo Part, this CD features choral compositions by Estonians Urmas Sisask, Toivo Tulev, and Galina Grigorjeva. Anyone familiar with Arvo Part's choral music will detect definite similarities in the Estonian contributions-tuneful and tonal compositions with medieval melodic inspirations, and more modern compositional techniques snuck in on the sly. There's not a weak selection on this CD. I liked tracks 2, 8, 9, 10, and 14. However, I'd recommend playing tracks 8-12 together, since they work best as a whole. 1-5) Urmas Sisask: Five songs from Gloria Patri. The songs are centered around C#, D, F#, G#, A, which the composer derives from the orbits of the planets (!). The composition and recording quality combine for a very pleasing, luminous sound. 1) Brief introductory piece, declamatory, but not overly strident. 2) More mysterious, with a short, beautiful melody traded between bass and sopranos. Recommended 3) Brief, medieval-like call and response, again between male and female voices. 4) Long, very quiet intro. Suspended, slowly evolving chords, predominantly sopranos and altos. Rest of choir slowly joins. When the sound develops fully, it is stunning. Volume increases at ~6:30 into song, then abruptly drops again, fades into silence. 5) Gloria Patri. Again, medieval/early renaissance, but with much richer harmonies. Nice but brief, tenor/soprano solos. 6) Tolvo Tulev: And then in silence there will be only You. Based on the Hail Mary. Amorphous choral music. Tonal, with only occasional slight dissonance. Austere, and mysterious. Gets very quiet about 1' before end of track. 7) Per Norgard: Winter Hymn. Lovely, contemporary classical choral work. Lyrics in either in English or Danish (I couldn't tell) 8-12) Galina Grigorjeva. Transplanted Russian/Ukrainian currently working in Estonia. These tracks are adaptations of Orthodox liturgy. This is the first recording. This composition is influenced by 15-17th century Slavic polyphonic singing. 8) Slow and beautiful soprano/alto opening. About halfway through, very effective dissonance develops between the female and male voices within the choir. Recommended 9) Begins with high tenor solo, quiet soprano accompaniment. Then minimal bell, flute join. Flute becomes more energetic, although the tempo remains slow. Later soprano choir and flute. 10) Opens with monkish bass choir, similar to plainsong. Later tenor counter-melody appears. Blossoms into powerful and beautiful harmony, before fading into obscurity at the end. Recommended. 11) Soprano/alto choir, later adds tenors. If the previous movement was strength, this one sounds like mercy. 12) Resolution of previous themes. Full choir. Beautiful, balanced sound that is particularly effective following the isolated choral elements in the previous movements. 13-15) Alred Schittke: Three sacred hymns: German/Russian composer. These hymns were written in 1983. They fit well with the remainder of the CD, despite their differing musical and liturgical inspiration. Again, slow amorphous, and pretty. 13) Canon, with 2 choirs in E-flat major and C minor separated by 1 bar. The effect is slightly disorienting, but in an almost subliminal way. The music is still lovely, with an amorphous, slow tempo, and careful balance of dissonance and harmony. 14) Classical hard-core? Only 1:21 long, goes from whisper to full-throated in one beautiful swoop. 15) More varied (and longer) than the previous two movements. Some evidence of Bach, maybe a little Brahms. Alex D. | ||
| Track Listing |
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