Based on the several discs by Mike Brewer and his excellent
National Youth Choir of Great Britain that I’ve heard, several
words come to mind to describe them. One is “excellent” but
the one that comes most readily to mind in respect of this CD
is “enterprising” – though I hasten to say that the disc is
also excellent!
On a previous disc, Mike Brewer’s World Tour (review),
they offered music from many nations. Here they confine themselves
to one particular region, the Baltic, and perform music from
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The Baltic nations have a rich
choral tradition, which has been a vital part of their respective
societies, especially when the countries were Soviet satellites.
Now that these countries have gained their independence this
choral tradition – which continues to be vibrant – has been
opened up to music-lovers elsewhere in the world. The Baltic
choral tradition is discussed, along with the works on this
programme, by composer Gabriel Jackson in his fascinating booklet
notes. Jackson is an authority on this subject and in this review
I shall draw quite heavily on his note. With the exception of
Jackson himself, all the composers represented here were new
to me.
We start in Lithuania. Vaclovas Augustinas is represented
by two pieces. The French title of Hymne à St Martin
is explained by the fact that it was written to mark the 1600th
anniversary of the death of St. Martin of Tours. Despite the
French title the piece is sung in Latin. It’s a lovely piece
which, in Gabriel Jackson’s apt description, has a “gentle,
unostentatious glow.” In contrast Tau Bet Kokios Sutemos
Šviesios (‘Whither shall I go then from Thy Spirit?’),
which sets verses from Psalm 139, is a powerful and expressive
utterance which the National Youth Choir sings with arresting
confidence. In this impressive work Augustinas’s textures are
rich whereas Lacrimosa by Mindaugas Urbaitis
tends more towards minimalism. This is a Latin setting of the
last verse of the ‘Dies Irae’ and the music takes the form of
a passacaglia, relying a good deal on motivic repetition. Eventually
(at 4:41) he quotes the melodic line of a few bars from the
‘Lacrimosa’ of Mozart’s Requiem, after which Urbaitis’s piece
rather peters out.
Latvia is represented by Peteris Plakidis and his substantial,
five-movement Symphony for Choir: Nolemtiba.
Gabriel Jackson says that this work owes something to the Russian
Choir Concerto tradition. I found it to be a most impressive
composition. The five movements, which set nature-inspired texts
by the Latvian poet Ojars Vacietis (1933-1983), cover a wide
emotional range and make enormous demands on the choir. The
first movement is tense and dramatic while the music of the
succeeding movement is fast and features “restless ostinatos”
(Jackson). That second movement demands – and receives here
– lightness and precision from the choir as well as abundant
energy. The central, slow movement mixes some lovely choral
writing, especially for the ladies’ voices and some more assertive
passages, in which the men are usually to the fore. After a
virtuoso canonic scherzo the final movement contains, I think,
the finest music of all. As Gabriel Jackson observes, the writing
is “full of wide-eyed wonder” at the start. Then Plakidis introduces
a long-breathed melody, first given to the altos and then taken
up by the tenors and, all the while, exquisitely decorated by
the sopranos. This, it seems to me, is optimistic music, expressing
a joy in nature. Eventually the music quietly dissolves. This
movement is a moving end to an eloquent piece. I would imagine
that it’s ferociously difficult to master but Mike Brewer’s
exceptional young singers deliver it superbly.
Moving on into Estonia we encounter music by Galina Grigorjeva,
Ukrainian-born but a naturalised Estonian. Her Svjatki
(‘Holy Days’) is, says Gabriel Jackson, “a bone fide
Russian choir concerto..[setting].. texts of folkloric origin.”
It’s another impressive work. Cast in six movements, this piece,
like the Plakidis work, requires not only an expert choir but
also one that is totally committed to the music. No doubts on
that score on this occasion! The first movement is clearly rooted
in the Russian orthodox tradition. Some of the following movements
use soloists from within the choir and all those involved do
a first rate job. The third movement, for example, contains
a wide-ranging and very expressive contralto solo, splendidly
taken here by Stephanie Guidera, who has a gorgeous tone. A
very intense soprano solo (the excellent Charlotte Brosnan)
dominates the slow fifth movement. The final movement is a joyous
setting of a Christmas text into which is woven some lines from
Psalm 150.
Gabriel Jackson’s Cantus Maris Baltici (‘Songs
of the Baltic Sea’) was written at the request of Mike Brewer
as a companion piece to the other music in this programme. Brewer
proposed that a text from each of the three Baltic countries
should be set and this has been done, using English translations.
Jackson adopts the theme of looking eastwards in this fascinating
work which, though divided into sections plays continuously.
Throughout he displays his habitual excellent feel for innovative
choral textures and, as so often happens in his choral music,
the singers are stretched but not absurdly so and I’m sure they
don’t mind being stretched by such rewarding music. The music
for the second main section (3:37 – 8:37), which the composer
describes as a “nocturnal barcarolle”, is bewitching and highly
imaginative in the way the voices are used. The music in the
third movement is deliberately hesitant in nature, as suggested
by the text, and it contains some very beautiful and atmospheric
choral writing. At the end Jackson sets a couple of lines by
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) to plainsong-like music that fades
to nothingness.
This is a most impressive disc. All the music on it was new
to me and it’s all very rewarding to hear. The performances
of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain are beyond praise.
Throughout the programme they give assured and highly committed
performances. Not only is the sound they make excellent and
their discipline superb but also I admire enormously their linguistic
versatility. In this programme they sing, I presume, in Lithuanian,
Estonian and Russian, beside which bits of music in Latin and
English seem but a mere bagatelle. What a fantastic and challenging
grounding in choral music these young singers obtain from Mike
Brewer!
Working in three different venues engineer Paul Baxter has produced
sound that is up to the usual top-drawer Delphian standards.
The documentation is excellent though it’s a very minor irritant
that not all of the dates of composition are supplied. That,
however, is only a very minor criticism of a disc that confirms
and enhances the National Youth Choir’s reputation for excellence
and enterprise. Bravo!
John Quinn
See also review by William
Hedley
National Youth Choir of Great Britain/Mike Brewer 