Author: Egils Kaljo

Beautiful textures of Ešenvalds’ works performed by Portland State Chamber Choir

Egils Kaljo | 

The choir works of Latvian choral composer Ēriks Ešenvalds have been sung and heard all over the world. Even if a listener does not understand the language of the text, Ešenvalds’ skills with melody and harmony allow him to speak clearly and personally to an audience.

Many choirs internationally have actively championed Ešenvalds’ works, among them being the Portland State Chamber Choir, conducted by Ethan Sperry, who released an album of Ešenvalds’ choir compositions, entitled The Doors of Heaven, in 2017. The choir has followed that recording up with Translations, released in 2020, which contains seven of Ešenvalds’ compositions.

One of Ešenvalds’ most popular choir works is the spiritually moving ‘O salutaris hostia’, a prayer for peace. The piece features many of Ešēnvalds’ trademark compositional approaches, such as the rich harmonies of the choir, spiritual longing, and beautiful textures. Combined with the performance of the soaring soprano soloists Kate Ledington and Maeve Stier, whose duet elevates this work to a truly heavenly level, this work has rightfully become one of the most performed of the composer’s choir songs.

Scored for a quartet of soloists, as well as a background choir quintet, the work ‘Translation’, with poetry by Paulann Petersen, is a reserved, meditative work. The soloists, whose voices flow together as if in a deep meditation, are enhanced by the wordless background vocalists, as well as the performance of handbells, which gives the work an otherworldly sound – appropriate, considering Petersen’s text referencing the moon.

Ešenvalds often presents stories in his music, allowing a choir to become a storyteller or a narrator, and one such legend presented on this CD is the story of Vineta, a mythical city on the Baltic Sea that was lost in a flood, due to its excessive ways. For the text, Ešenvalds used the poetry of German poet Wilhelm Müller. The choir creates an immersive performance – at times fearful, other times mystical, expressing a longing for this lost city. Bells are often heard throughout the work, perhaps to represent the tolling of the church bells of Vineta.

The tragic ‘Legend of the Walled-In Woman’, based on an Albanian folksong about a young maiden Rozafa, who, to ensure the castle remained standing, was sacrificed by being walled in in the walls of the castle that bears her name. A vocal quintet tells the tale in Albanian, in a Balkan singing style, with grief and woe expressed vividly in the performance. In a somewhat disconcerting moment, the choir (in a different key) joins in, giving the song an almost unearthly atmosphere. The song concludes with the English translation of a text by Albanian poet Martin Camaj, which, through the voice of the soprano soloist, emphasizes the sorrow and sadness of the legend.

The collection concludes with the epic ‘In Paradisum’, which begins with the mournful sounds of the cello, and a wordless vocalize sung by the choir about this journey into Paradise. The work builds into a crescendo as the choir sings the text of the Catholic liturgy, which leads into a seemingly random burst of sound from the strings as the choir’s voices soar higher. The powerful and reverent performance then slowly dissipates, as the strings play a gentle, tender melody to conclude the work.

The Portland State Chamber Choir and conductor Ethan Sperry, who have been performing the choir works of Ēriks Ešenvalds for more than a decade, have, with their intimate familiarity with the composer and his works, again displayed their skill on Translations. The choir and Sperry reveal the many nuances and layers of Ešenvalds’ works, confirming his status as one of the premiere living choir composers. Filled with moments of both breathtaking beauty, as well as spiritual richness, Translations confirms Ešenvalds’ ability to move audiences worldwide with his music.

For further information, please visit Ēriks Ešenvalds’ website, and the Portland State Chamber Choir website.

Ēriks Ešenvalds – Translations

Portland State Chamber Choir, Ethan Sperry conductor

Naxos 8.574124, 2020

Track listing

  1. O salutaris hostia
  2. The Heavens’ Flock
  3. Translation
  4. My Thoughts
  5. Vineta
  6. Legend of the Walled-In Woman
  7. In paradisum

Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area . Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.

Vasks’ works played, conducted by violist Rysanov provide inspired performance

Egils Kaljo | 

The viola has long been overshadowed by the slightly smaller violin, and there is significantly less music written specifically for the viola as compared to the violin. Some even may consider the viola to be a more ‘accompanying’ instrument, rather than a solo instrument. However, the viola, with its lower and richer sound, still has a distinct resonance and timbre, and is deserving of a much broader solo repertoire.

Perhaps recognizing that, Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks composed a concerto for viola in 2014/15 and dedicated the work to the distinguished violist Maxim Rysanov. In 2020, the Swedish record label BIS released a recording of this work, featuring Rysanov as both violist and conductor, along with the orchestra Sinfonietta Rīga. The conductor and orchestra also pair the Viola Concerto with Vasks’ Symphony for Strings Balsis (‘Voices’) on the CD.

Much of what Vasks composes is emotionally tense and full of sadness, and the Viola Concerto is no exception. The first movement opens with an eerily quiet and almost fragile performance from the strings, a slowly ascending melody that is punctuated by plucked strings. Rysanov enters playing a slow, mournful melody, as the orchestra slowly grows in volume and intensity. The plucked strings create a pulse or heartbeat in the second movement, as the tension continues to grow, and the viola performs a kind of melancholic dance. The dance becomes more frantic over time, but then turns into a solo performance by Rysanov, with sudden starts and stops, creating an aura of uncertainty. 

The gently flowing third movement gradually turns ominous, as the viola and orchestra perform a kind of dialogue, and the conversation becomes more strained and frantic as the movement progresses. Rysanov brings out the expressive nature of this movement in his lyrical and fluid performance, particularly the extensive solo performance at the end of this movement, which is then joined by the orchestra only to suddenly end, giving way to the solemn adagio of the fourth movement. The first few glimmers of hope appear here, with Rysanov’s melodious viola bringing a kind of calm to conclude the storm of the previous movements. 

The monumental Symphony for Strings Balsis was written in 1991, a particularly turbulent time in Latvia’s history. Though independence was in the process of being restored, the process was tumultuous and even dangerous at times. An uneasy, barely audible string melody is heard at the beginning of the first movement ‘Klusuma balsis’ (or ‘Voices of Silence’). The foreboding stillness slowly begins to expand in a very deliberate, steady melody in the strings, and Sinfonietta Rīga’s performance gives it the sound of a choir’s wordless vocalize. 

Themes of nature, an oft-used motif in Vasks’ music, can be heard in the second movement – ‘Dzīvības balsis’ (or ‘Voices of Life’), which could perhaps be described as the sound of the dawning of a new day, with brief flutters and chirps of sound from the orchestra. The music is very tentative, as if unclear what this new day will bring but begins to swell and become a soaring song, full of life, though it does gradually descend into a kind of cacophony or musical chaos near the end, perhaps indicating the unstable and uncertain environment of that era. That confusion leads to perhaps the most personal of the movements, the third and final – Sirdsapziņu balsis (or ‘Voices of Conscience’), where the strings, often in unison, play a dramatic and piercing melody, turning into discordant waves of sound. It concludes with the similar, almost whispering strings of the introduction, giving the conclusion an almost ephemeral nature.

Over the course of the album, it becomes clear why Pēteris Vasks dedicated the Viola Concerto to Maxim Rysanov, as he displays an innate and keen understanding of not just Vasks’ music, but also the emotions and thoughts behind it all. And not just as a violist, but a conductor as well – Rysanov, along with Sinfonietta Rīga, provide for an inspired performance of Vasks’ Symphony Balsis, giving an interpretation that is both urgent and nuanced, revealing the many layers and textures of the work, one of Vasks’ towering symphonic accomplishments. 

For further information, please visit the BIS Records website  and the Sinfonietta Rīga website.

Pēteris Vasks – Viola Concerto / String Symphony Balsis

Sinfonietta Rīga, Maxim Rysanov – viola & conductor

BIS Records, BIS-2443, 2020

Track listing:

Concerto for Viola and String Orchestra

  1. I. Andante
  2. II. Allegro moderato
  3. III. Andante
  4. IV. Adagio

 Symphony for Strings ‘Voices’ (Balsis)

  • I. Voices of silence (Klusuma balsis)
  • II. Voices of life (Dzīvības balsis)
  • III. Voice of conscience (Sirdsapziņas balss)

Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area . Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.

Celebrating 25 years, Radio Klasika release 25 digital album collection

Egils Kaljo | 

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Latvijas Radio 3 “Klasika”, the Latvian radio station dedicated to classical and academic music, the Latvian national music label Skani, overseen by the Latvian Music Information Centre, is releasing a 25 digital album series containing some of the best performances from the Latvian Radio archives.

Each album contains the works of one Latvian composer, and the composers selected include a broad range of eras and styles. The series features early Latvian composers such as Pēteris Barisons, Jāzeps Mediņš, and Alfrēds Kalniņš, 20th century composers such as Jānis Ivanovs, Marģeris Zariņš, and Artūrs Grīnups, as well as modern composers such as Ēriks Ešenvalds, Pēteris Vasks, and Andris Dzenītis. There will also be releases that spotlight the work of exiled/diaspora composers like Tālivaldis Ķeniņš, Imants Mežaraups, and Gundaris Pone. Recordings were made between 1963 and 2018.

The albums are available via multiple streaming services.

For further information, please visit the Skani website and the Latvijas Radio 3 “Klasika” website

Egils Kaljo is an American-born Latvian from the New York area . Kaljo began listening to Latvian music as soon as he was able to put a record on a record player, and still has old Bellacord 78 rpm records lying around somewhere.