The Leģendas series, produced by the Latvian record label MicRec, continues with the third release, a compact disc featuring well known Latvian singer Ojārs Grīnbergs (MRCD 497), to celebrate Grīnbergs’ 70th birthday.

Leģendas, meant to spotlight singers who were integral parts of Latvian popular music in previous decades, began with a release in 2010 dedicated to the late Nora Bumbiere. The series’ second entry was Leģendas Ziemassvētkos, a collection of Christmas songs.

Grīnbergs, who has had a career spanning five decades, rose to fame, as many did in the 1960s and 1970s, after collaborating with Raimonds Pauls. Many of Pauls’ best known early songs were performed by Grīnbergs – such as ‘Mežrozīte’ (though there was also a version performed by Zigfrīds Račiņš), ‘Tev, mana labā’, ‘Sens ir tas stāsts’, ‘Somu pirts’, among many others.

The Leģendas CD collects 26 recordings – mainly compositions by Raimonds Pauls, but also songs by Gunārs Freidenfelds, Uldis Stabulnieks and Ivars Vīgners. The songs by Vīgners, from the children’s puppet theater production of Šveiks, are released on CD for the first time. The CD also has three re-recordings from 2007.

The CD booklet contains an essay in Latvian on Grinbergs by Latvian music journalist Daiga Mazvērsīte.

Track listing:

1. Sens ir tas stāsts

2. Tev, mana labā

3. Mežrozīte

4. Nepārmet man

5. Kam ziedi, mežabele

6. Tik dzintars vien

7. Gaujai

8. Zilie lini

9. Mirdzošais gliemežvāks

10. Somu pirts

11. Dziesma nenosalst

12. Cik klusa nakts

13. Saulrieteņa dzīvībiņa

14. Atmiņu lietus

15. Zvaigžņu laiks

16. Sāpju dziesma

Dziesmas no izrādes Šveiks

17. Piparkūku sirsniņa

18. Šveika songs

19. Šveiks cietumā

20. Šveiks dodas karā

21. Mazliet mīlas un mazliet šūpuļdziesmas

22. Karalauka pasts

23. Fināla dziesma

Papildus

24. Tik dzintars vien (2007)

25. Nepārmet man (2007)

26. Zvejnieku sievas (2007)

Now available for the first time on compact disc are the complete Dainas by Jānis Mediņš for solo piano.

Performed by pianist Jonathan Powell and released by the Toccata Classics record label, 24 Dainas (TOCC 0097) is a collection of piano works that Mediņš composed over the course of his career.

The CD booklet includes a lengthy biography of Mediņš in English. Mediņš (1890-1966), the brother of another famed Latvian composer Jēkabs, was one of the most significant Latvian composers in the first half of the 20th century, and among his works are the opera Uguns un nakts (1913-1919) and the ballet Mīlas uzvara (1934). After Soviet occupation, Mediņš resided in Sweden. One of the more amazing facts noted in the biography is that Mediņš carried the score for Uguns un nakts in his backpack for 10,000 km in his journey from Vladivostok to Latvia.

Jonathan Powell specializes in late Romantic composers, and is currently based in Poland. Powell has performed all over the world and has recorded a number of CDs and has worked with many well known orchestras and conductors.

The Tocatta Classics label has released a number of CDs of the works of Baltic composers, including works by Latvian Pēteris Plakidis, Estonian Veljo Tormis and Lithuanian Vytautas Bacevičius.

For further information, visit Jonathan Powell’s website at http://jonathanpowell.wordpress.com/ and the Toccatta Classics website at http://www.toccataclassics.com/. For further information on Jānis Mediņš, visit the website of the Latvian Music Information Centre, http://www.lmic.lv (information in Latvian and English).

Youth choir Kamēr… have released their latest CD entitled Mēness dziesmas (KCD012). The CD is a companion piece to their 2008 recording World Sun Songs, which gathered 17 new compositions from international composers, all of which had themes related to the sun.

Mēness dziesmas, as its title would indicate, collects songs about the moon. Unlike World Sun Songs, all of the compositions are by Latvian composers. The compositions on this CD were all premiered at two concerts at the University of Latvia earlier in 2012.

This is also the first CD released by Kamēr… since the departure of long time conductor Māris Sirmais – the choir’s artistic director Is now Jānis Liepiņš. The CD booklet contains lyrics for all the compositions, as well as brief descriptions of the songs and biographies of the choir and of Liepiņš. All texts are in Latvian and English. The Kamēr…website provides more information: http://www.kamer.lv

Track listing:

1. Tu esi mēness neredzamā puse – Raimonds Pauls

2. Selēnes zilie putni – Juris Karlsons

3. Mani mīl mākslinieks grēcīgs – Līga Celma

4. Mēnessnakts – Kaspars Zemītis

5. Mēnesnīcas noktirne – Arturs Maskats

6. Mēness vocalīze – Evija Skuķe

7. Moonlight Sound Design – Raimonds Tiguls

8. Mēnesī… – Rihards Zaļupe

9. The New Moon – Ēriks Ešenvalds

10. Pasaka ‘Mēnesim robs’ – Andris Sejāns