Concerto for Mixed chorus / Voices of Nature / Minnesang

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ALFRED SCHNITTKE
Concerto for Mixed chorus / Voices of Nature / Minnesang
Holst Singers / Stephen Layton (conductor)

[ Hyperion / CD ]

Release Date: Sunday 10 November 2002

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BBC Music Magazine - Best CDs of 2002

'A superb and revealing performance of one of Schnikttke's most approachable works' (Gramophone)

'One of the most imposing of all Schnittke's later works … superbly performed' (The Guardian)

Unquestionably one of the choral masterpieces of the 20th century, Alfred Schnittke's Concerto for Mixed Chorus is an extended setting (about 40 minutes' duration) of words from 'The Book of Lamentations' by the Armenian monk Grigor Narekatsi (951-1003). Written in 1984/5, it is scored for a very large choir and for this recording Holst Singers were augmented by large contingents of London's finest singers.
Like Wagner (in Tannhäuser) and Richard Strauss (in Guntram), Schnittke was attracted to the poetry and music of the minnesingers, the German medieval tradition of courtly lyrics and secular monophony. At first he planned to write an instrumental piece (intended for his third violin concerto) based on songs by the minnesingers, but he later rejected this idea and decided to keep these vocal melodies for vocal music. The result is Minnesang (1980/81) for 52 voices (18 sopranos, 12 altos, 10 tenors and 12 basses).

The third work on the disc is the haunting and evocative Voices of Nature, from 1972. This is a vocalise - that is, without words - for ten female voices and vibraphone. Its first public performance took place in spring 1975. Superb performances directed by the recipient of the recent Gramophone Award for the Best Choral Record of the Year (Britten's Sacred and Profane, CDA67140), Stephen Layton.

Tracks:

Concerto for Mixed Chorus (1984/5) [40'58]
(text by Grigor Narekatsi)
'O Pavelitel' sushchevo fsevo' [16'27]
(O master of all living things)
'Sabran'je pesen sikh, gde kazhdyj stikh' [7'22]
(I, an expert in human passions)
'Fsem tem, kto vniknet' [11'37]
(God, grant deliverance from sin)
'Sej trud, shto natchinal ja s upavan'jem' [5'28]
(Complete this work which I began)

Voices of Nature (Golosa prirodi) (1972) [5'07]
(without text); 10 female voices, vibraphone

Minnesang (1980/81) [18'32]
(12th- and 13th-century Minnesinger texts); 52 voices