Radio Moscow

Latvian Radio Choir’s new album conducted by Sigvards Kļava marks the international debut of composer Alfred Momotenko (b. 1970). Momotenko was born in Lviv, Ukraine, in 1970. He studied at the Sochi College of Arts and later percussion at the Moscow State University of Culture and Art. In 1990, the political situation having changed, Momotenko moved to the Netherlands where he continued his studies at the Brabant Conservatory and at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague. Momotenko’s timeless choral works continue the centuries old great tradition of choral works combining them with contemporary language, a blend most recently exemplified by the likes of Alfred Schnittke.

Latvian Radio Choir's new album conducted by Sigvards Klava marks the international debut of composer Alfred Momotenko (b. 1970). Momotenko was born in Lviv, Ukraine, in 1970. He studied at the Sochi College of Arts and later percussion at the Moscow State University of Culture and Art. In 1990, the political situation having changed, Momotenko moved to the Netherlands where he continued his studies at the Brabant Conservatory and at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague. Momotenko's timeless choral works continue the centuries old great tradition of choral works combining them with contemporary language, a blend most recently exemplified by the likes of Alfred Schnittke. Surrounded by choral music in his youth, Momotenko has returned to the world of choral music at a relatively late period: all the works on this album have been written between 2017 and 2022. Many of his enigmatic choral works are religious and could be described as poems or chants - larger than a miniature but less extensive than a fantasy, a narrative, a ballad or a story. Often there are two contrasting musical languages that are present: the ancient, pristine Znamennyj Chant and the modern one. Besides liturgic texts, Momotenko's choral works include settings to poems by Boris Pasternak and Joseph Brodsky. The largest work, Na Strastnoy (On the Passion), is a companion piece Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil.

Considered today to be one of Russia’s leading orchestras, the Moscow RTSO was formed in 1978 by the composer Alexander Mikyailov, who became its resident conductor. Its eighty members, with numerous international prizewinners among them, ensure a high standard of performance. The orchestra’s first successes came with performances and recordings of the works of twentieth-century Russian composers, such as Sofia Gubaidulina and Dmitry Shostakovich. Its richly varied repertoire which also embraces operatic music includes the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi alongside those of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.

30 years after the release of their debut album, ERASURE (Andy Bell and Vince Clarke) celebrate their incredible career and friendship with a 13 disc anthology box set charting their award-winning songwriting partnership. Mute / BMG are delighted to announce From Moscow To Mars – An Erasure Anthology. Curated by Vince and Andy it is a sumptuous box of memories of Erasure’s intergalactic journey through the pop and glitter and love that has defined their story so far. The BRIT and Ivor Novello winning pop duo have released a staggering number of albums, including 5 UK Number 1’s and 17 top 10 singles (35 singles charted in the UK Top 40) and their recent best of, Always, saw the band entering the Top 10 album charts once again. From Moscow To Mars is a 13-disc box set that includes all of the band’s 50 singles, a CD from both Vince and Andy compiling their favourite tracks, CDs of remixes (from Martyn Ware, William Orbit, Little Boots, Youth, Shep Pettibone, Chris & Cosey, to name but a few), b-sides, live material and rarities PLUS a radio documentary about the band and the Wild! concert, available on DVD for the first time.

A logical, albeit rare, association of symphonies by Balakirev, the composer of Islamey and Tamara He was the cornerstone of the Russian Mighty Five: César Cui, Aleksandr Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov and Mily Balakirev, who in the 1860s banded together in an attempt to create a truly national school of Russian music; free of the stifling influence of Italian opera, German lieder, and other western European forms. In this album two prestigious conductors do them justice. Symphony No.1 in C major is a romantic and well constructed work, performed by the early Karajan/Walter Legge team and the Philharmonia was certainly a crack ensemble at the time. The 2nd Symphony, which has with some justice been described as a paler copy of the 1st, brings an opening movement which under Rozhdestvensky s baton moves forward strongly, generating much Slavic energy. Digitally remastered.