Berbard Maris

Fridrich Bruk – born in Kharkov in 1937 and a Finnish resident since 1974 – made his name as a composer of tangos. But the heart of his music lies in a series of eighteen symphonies, which have a strong narrative element, some reflecting Jewish themes, others inspired by Karelia and Finland. Symphony No. 17, Joy of Life (which Bruk also calls a ‘Concerto-Symphony for Orchestra and Piano’), has an autobiographical programme charting, in abstract terms, Bruk’s surmounting of the obstacles fate put in his path.

Rysanov’s ONYX debut is of two extraordinarily beautiful and haunting works for viola and chorus/orchestra: both written for Bashmet, and the Tavener is a world-première recording! Giya Kancheli’s Styx is already renowned as a choral masterpiece for the 21st century, The River Styx in Greek mythology separates the living from the dead and the solo viola mediates between the two. John Tavener’s The Myrrh-Bearer is another epic, this time based on the Troparion of Cassiane, a Byzantine poet and composer. Here the viola represents the sin of Mary Magdalen. Both works were recorded in the amazing Dome Cathedral in Riga, Latvia, the largest medieval church in the Baltics, has just the right expansive acoustic for this music.