Rias Kammerchor Wolfgang Rihm Astralis & Other Choral Works

Arvo Part - Choral Works - Stephen Layton, Polyphony (2014) {Hyperion - CDA68056}
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© 2014 Hyperion Records | CDA68056
Classical / Avant-Garde / Choral / Chamber Music / Modern Composition

Stephen Layton and Polyphony have a long and fruitful relationship with the music of Arvo Pärt. Their recording of Triodion and other choral works (CDA67375) won a Gramophone Award and became a cult classic. The extraordinary purity of Polyphony’s singing is the perfect vehicle for music of such clean, elemental simplicity, such cathartic calm. This third Pärt album from Stephen Layton and Polyphony reaches right back, intriguingly, to the composer’s youthful modernist phase and spans nearly five decades—from 1963 to 2012—in the process. As with the album Triodion, it reflects an increasingly broad spread of languages and sources in Pärt’s chosen texts. Latin, German and English are joined here by Church Slavonic and Spanish. A range of biblical texts are set alongside ancient prayers.

This album presents a sequel for the award-winning album (ICMA Choral disc of the year) of Tchaikovskys sacred choral works by the Latvian Radio Choir and conductor Sigvards Klava. These two albums together form the composers complete sacred works for the choir. The All-Night Vigil Op. 52 for mixed choir, also known as the Vesper Service, was written between May 1881 and March 1882. It was first performed by the Chudovsky Chorus conducted by Pyotr Sakharov in Moscow at the concert hall of the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition on 27 June 1882. Tchaikovsky described the work as An essay in harmonization of liturgical chants. For this work the composer carefully studied the tradition of musical practice in the Russian Orthodox Church, which could vary considerably from one region to another.

This disc forms one of the few comprehensive collections of Duruflés choral music in the catalogue. Duruflé is most famous for his exquisite 'Requiem', included here, but his other choral works are equally appealing and they complete this unique programme.

When Wolfgang Rihm composed the 'Fragmenta Passionis', in 1968, this 16-year old artist was already a ‘compositional force’ that seemed beyond any doubt in terms of critical consciousness. Two further compositions, the 'Sieben Passions-texte' of 2001-06 and the major half-hour-long work 'Astralis' of 2001, feature on the present recording alongside the early choral work.

Brahms composed choral music prolifically throughout his life. As the heir to Bach and the German Protestant tradition, he based most of his motets on texts from Luther’s translation of the Bible – yet succeeded in infusing them with Romanticism at its most soulful.

Deus Passus is one quarter of the Passion Project 2000, which celebrated not only the turning of the millennium but also commemorated the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death. German conductor Helmuth Rilling honored this occasion by commissioning Passions from four disparate composers: Wolfgang Rihm, Tan Dun, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Osvaldo Golijov. Deus Passus is a setting of the Passion according to St. Luke, and it is a marvel of a piece for many reasons. For a full hour and a half, with music that is mostly slow and largely atonal (in the sense that Berg’s music is atonal), the twisting, aching, unpredictable harmonies are totally captivating. Rihm chooses a straightforward setting, a simple, dramatic telling of the story, and it is in his capacity for restraint that the true brilliance of the piece lies. He uses the chorus sparingly, mostly for dramatic purposes, having it portray the angry rabble bent on crucifying Jesus (as it often does in Bach’s passions).