MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Eriks EŠENVALDS (b. 1977)
Passion and Resurrection (2005)* [27:37]
Evening (2006) [3:21]
Night Prayer (2006) [9:23]
A drop in the ocean (2006) [6:43]
Legend of the walled-in woman (2005) [10:23]
Long Road (2010) [6:40]
* Carolyn Sampson (soprano)
Polyphony
*Britten Sinfonia/Stephen Layton
rec. 10, 12-13 April 2010, All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London. DDD
Texts and English translations included
HYPERION CDA67796 [64:09]

Experience Classicsonline

In recent years Hyperion has carved out something of a niche through recordings of the choral music of Baltic composers. Many of these have been under the expert direction of Stephen Layton. The latest such features the music of the Latvian composer, Eriks Ešenvalds.

I fancy that the name and music of Ešenvalds may be new to many readers, as it was to me, and for information about him and his compositions I’m indebted to the excellent booklet note by his fellow-composer, Gabriel Jackson. Ešenvalds first studied in Riga but subsequently he has studied with quite a range of composers, including Richard Danielpour, Michael Finnissy and Jonathan Harvey. Jackson describes him as “a pragmatic composer – pragmatic in the sense that he is always the conscientious professional, tailoring each new work to the requirements of the occasion, the forces available, and the abilities (and priorities) of the performers.” That may seem a pretty basic set of criteria for a composer but I’m sure we can all think of many composers – or works – that don’t meet them. Jackson also comments that this pragmatism extends to the frequent setting of texts in English with an eye to international audiences. All of the music on this disc is wholly or in part set to English works, though Long Road is a setting of a Latvian poem, which we hear on this disc in an English version made specially for Polyphony and Stephen Layton – and, in that version, dedicated to them.

Ešenvalds’ music is accessible and sounds to me to be well written for voices, though needing an expert choir to do it justice. Occasionally he requires his singers to make ‘special’ effects – I’m unconvinced that his touch is as sure on these occasions, but other listeners may be more receptive.

The major work on the disc is Passion and Resurrection, a piece that relates and comments on aspects of the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. Written in four parts, which play continuously, it’s a powerful and impressive piece. There’s a prodigious role for a solo soprano. Carolyn Sampson, the soloist here, is mainly known for her work in the Baroque repertoire but many musicians who specialise in pre-Classical music seem to have an affinity also for contemporary music and I recall that Miss Sampson impressed me enormously in the première of John Joubert’s An English Requiem at the 2010 Three Choirs Festival (review). She’s every bit as successful here in another very demanding role.

As a kind of unifying device Ešenvalds weave into his work quotations from a piece, Parce mihi, by the sixteenth-century Spanish composer, Cristóbal Morales. In fact, this music, sung by a solo quartet, opens the piece and listeners may be reminded of those recitals by The Hilliard Ensemble and Jan Gabarek, though, mercifully, the intrusive saxophone is absent here. The Morales music reappears at important junctures throughout the piece. For the most part the music is meditative in nature. Sometimes the choir sings the words of Christ and at other times they report or comment on the events. The soloist is, in Gabriel Jackson’s words, “a distinctly Marian and maternal presence”. The accompaniment by a small string orchestra is most effective and very well played here.

Passion and Resurrection makes a strong impression and its appearance on disc - for the first time? - in such an expert and committed performance is an important event.

The remaining pieces, all of which are for unaccompanied choir, are also well worth getting to know. Evening is a simple, thoughtful piece. Gabriel Jackson says that the piece “doesn’t really go anywhere, it simply is, full of innocent wonderment at the close of the day.” That’s a very good – and positive – description. A Drop in the ocean commemorates the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Much of the music is fairly simple – though effective - in nature though I don’t much care for the passage where the performers speak some of the text, rising to shouting. However, the closing section, beginning at the words, ‘Ah, Jesus, you are my God’, is hypnotically beautiful.

Long Road also contains some impressively lovely music. Much of it is homophonic in nature and the music has what I’d call a sophisticated simplicity. It makes for a lovely and touching end to the recital.

I’m glad to have made the acquaintance of the music of Eriks Ešenvalds through this disc and I hope to hear more of his output. Though I haven’t seen any scores it sounds to me as if the performances by Stephen Layton and Polyphony are pretty much definitive – the singing is superb, as we’ve long come to expect from this group – and the contribution of Carolyn Sampson to Passion and Resurrection is magnificent. I’m sure that the composer must be thrilled that his music has received such advocacy. As ever with Hyperion, production values are top-drawer. The recorded sound is very fine and the booklet, not least the essay by Gabriel Jackson, is a model of its kind.


John Quinn



 

 

 

 

 

 



 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.