Bryars - On Photography - GB Records: BCGBCD07 - CD or download

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

The choir's every bit as good as Bryars says it is, with a focused and clear yet wonderfully rich sound. The recordings, made in two churches in the Latvian capital Riga, are a marvel, capturing... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2006, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 14th Nov 2005
Catalogue No: BCGBCD07
Label: GB Records
Length: 70 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

January 2006

Editor's Choice

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Bryars: And so ended Kant's travelling in this world

Work length8:01

$1.50

$2.30

Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava

Bryars: La mia malinconia...

Work length3:47

$1.00

$1.50

Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava

Bryars: S'i' fosse foco...

Work length4:42

$1.00

$1.50

Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava

Bryars: La stremita...

Work length5:34

$1.00

$1.50

Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava

Maskats: Da ispravitsja molitva moja

Work length9:14

$1.50

$2.30

Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava

Bryars: Expressa solis

Work length2:37

$1.00

$1.50

Latvian Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš

Bryars: Expressa solis / Tersa perfetta

Work length17:14

Album only

Latvian Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš

Bryars: Resonare fibris...

Work length3:34

$1.00

$1.50

Latvian Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš

Sylvestrov: The Lord's Prayer

Work length5:40

$1.00

$1.50

Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava

Sylvestrov: Testament

Work length10:14

$1.50

$2.30

Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Gavin Bryars was guest composer at the Arena Festival in Riga in 2003. His first concert there was with the Latvian Radio Choir in the very beautiful St John's Church. Working closely with them made him realise that "this is probably one of the finest choirs in the world today" and he "experienced at first hand the extraordinary beauty of its choral sound, the precision of its ensemble, perfection of its intonation, subtlety of its phrasing, as well as the striking individuality of its soloists". He resolved to find the opportunity to do more with them and proposed a series of recordings, of which this is the first.

For the first time on GB Records Gavin has also included composers other than himself. This came about because of his work with the choir, and from a particular incident. For the first concert in Riga the choir sang in two different formations - as it does here. One was a large ensemble of 50 voices for 'Three Poems of Cecco Angiolieri' and one a medium ensemble of 24 voices for 'And so ended Kant's travelling in this world'. Arriving early for the rehearsal he heard the choir sing a work he did not know but thought "the most beautiful music I had ever heard". He later learned that it was by Valentin Silvestrov (the Ukrainian composer championed by ECM) and was one of the very few pieces of choral music that he had written. Gavin Bryars resolved at that moment to include this music on the recording and enable it to be heard more widely.

Subsequently he decided to add another extraordinary work by Latvian Arturs Maskats. Getting to know Latvian and other Baltic composers has been one the pleasures and privileges of working with the choir and he now has a lively working relationship, and strong personal friendship, with its two great conductors Kaspars Putnins and Sigvards Klava.

Recorded 2005

Personnel: Latvian Radio Choir, conducted by Sigvards Klava and Kaspars Putnins, Edgars Saksons (percussion - 5), Janis Maleckis (piano), Gavin Bryars (harmonium - 7)

Reviews

April 2006

The choir's every bit as good as Bryars says it is, with a focused and clear yet wonderfully rich sound. The recordings, made in two churches in the Latvian capital Riga, are a marvel, capturing all the fine detail despite the vast echoing acoustic.

Bryars - On Photography

CD

Downloads

Contents

Download queue