Daba un Dvēsele (Nature and The Soul - Latvian Choral Classics) Latvian Radio Choir & Kaspars Putniņš

• Emīls Dārziņš (1875-1910):
• 1 Senatne 03:29
• 2 Meness starus stigo 03:23
• 3 Lauztas priedes 03:12
• Emilis Melngailis (1874-1954):
• 4 Daba un dvesele 03:53
• Latviešu rekviems:
• 5 Pamazam brauciet 05:29
• 6 Pamazam, palenam 01:48
• 7 Saule riet 02:04
• 8 Pastara diena 02:48
• Janis Zalitis (1884-1943):
• 9 Bikeris mironu sala 04:46
• Jekabs Graubinsh (1886-1961):
• 10 Meža nakts ir ienakusi 03:01
• Jāzeps Vītols (1863-1948):
• 11 Diena beidzas 01:40
• 12 Menestinš meloja 01:19
• 13 Duknu sils 03:43
• 14 Rukiši un mežavecis 04:05
• 15 Karalis un berzlapite 02:32
• 16 Davids Zaula priekša 08:05
• 17 Saules svetki 03:23
• Total Runtime 58:40

Info for Daba un Dvēsele (Nature and The Soul - Latvian Choral Classics)

"The wonderful works chosen for this album - each one with its own story and distinct character - collectively create something similar to a dear childhood home to which we need to return from time to time. The majority of Latvia's choir conductors have probably grown up with these songs whose imagery, sound and colour are deeply encoded in our consciousness, perhaps to a much greater extent than we realize. The subdued northern nature that bursts into a lavish display at the height of summer and the "various emotional states of the soul", as Emīls Dārziņš described the subjects that interested him in music - these two themes, their refined interrelations and the resultant imagery are to my mind the most important features of our choral music. It is very important for me to feel how the fantastic world of these songs comes to life again in our consciousness and imagination at a time when life is changing all around us and individual experience has once again added something new and come full circle. It is important to return home to meet one's self. Working on this album, I have felt as if I am writing a love letter. On your one hundredth birthday I wish you many returns of the day, dear Latvia!" (Kaspars Putniņš)

Latvian Radio Choir
Kaspars Putniņš, conductor

The Latvian Radio Choir (LRC)
ranks among the top professional chamber choirs in Europe and its refined taste for musical material, fineness of expression and vocal of unbelievably immense compass have charted it as a noted brand on the world map. Since 1992, LRC has two conductors – Sigvards Kļava, Music Director and Principal Conductor; and Kaspars Putniņš.

The repertoire of LRC ranges from the Renaissance music to the most sophisticated scores by modern composers; and it could be described as a sound laboratory – the singers explore their skills by turning to the mysteries of traditional singing, as well as to the art of quartertone and overtone singing and other sound production techniques. The choir has established a new understanding of the possibilities of a human voice; one could also say that the choir is the creator of a new choral paradigm: every singer is a distinct individual with his or her own vocal signature and roles in performances. The expertise of singers has made LRC a remarkably flexible ensemble able to deal with vocal and instrumental music, as well as with opera performances, multi-media projects, intimate a capella talks, and theatrical shows where singers can express themselves as soloists and talented actors.

e choir has participated in the top international musical forums in Salzburg and Montpellier, the Baltic Sea Festival, Klangspuren Festival, La Musica, Ultima, the Venice Biennale, White Light Festival USA, Soundstreams in Canada; and performed in renowned concert halls such as the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Konzerthaus in Berlin, and Cité de la Musique in Paris, Lincoln Center in New York and Dresden Frauenkirche. LRC has successfully worked with many outstanding guest conductors, including Riccardo Muti, Heinz Holliger, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Stephen Layton, Tõnu Kaljuste, James Wood, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, among others. The Latvian Radio Choir records on a regular basis. Every season, three or four new CDs appear in collaboration with such labels as Hyperion Records, BIS, GB Records, Ondine, and Naïve.

Sigvards Kļava
is one of the most outstanding Latvian conductors, also a professor of conducting and producer, music director of the Latvian Radio Choir since 1992. As a result of Sigvards Kļava’s steady efforts, the Latvian Radio Choir has become an internationally recognized, vocally distinctive collective, where each singer possesses a creative individuality. Under Sigvards’ guidance, the choir has recorded a number of choral works by little known or completely forgotten composers of the past, as well as formed a friendly collaboration with a number of notable Latvian composers. Sigvards Kļava is a professor at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. Kļava is a multiple winner of the Latvian Grand Music Award. He has performed at the Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw of Amsterdam, Berliner Konzerthaus and Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs- Élysées in Paris, Berwaldhallen in Stockholm, Dresdner Frauenkirche as well as in the New York Lincoln Centre.

Booklet for Daba un Dvēsele (Nature and The Soul - Latvian Choral Classics)