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Paweł Łukaszewski (b. 1968) is possibly the most-performed contemporary composer from Poland. His spiritual choral works are performed by both professional and amateur choirs around the world. Paweł Łukaszewski’s output has a significant position in Great Britain where his works are performed and premiered by renowned London and Cambridge choral ensembles. This new album by the award-winning State Choir LATVIJA under Māris Sirmais includes several world première recordings from the Polish master.
Łukaszewski is a prolific contemporary composer whose entire output (which includes some chamber and orchestral works) can be described as profoundly spiritual, with almost all of his compositions overtly sacred. In his work he continues a centuries-old Sacred Music tradition of his native Poland, presently being one of its most prominent creators. This album, much of it containing world première recordings, presents settings of psalms, liturgical, evangelical, and religious texts. The first nine works, all for SATB choir, were composed between 2012 and 2019, with the last two dating 2009 and 2004 respectively. The last two works are for two a cappella choirs, and most are commissions. Łukaszewski’s style has been described as relating to, or emerging from, the neo-medieval, neo-tonal spiritual tradition of Henryk Górecki, Arvo Pärt, and John Tavener. The composer himself describes himself working in the style of a ‘renewed tonality’. The works on this recording present a comprehensive portrait of the composer’s vocal writing: accomplished, technically masterful and mature, with euphonious choral sonorities and dramatic contrasts achieved via dynamic, rhythmic, and harmonic shifts, a variety of emotional states from calm and peaceful to pleading, yearning, and agitated, bold harmonic progressions, and above all, luscious, melodic, and vibrant choral writing that respects its texts.
The State Choir LATVIJA is one of the most significant monuments of Latvian cultural life and history. The choir’s musical radiance is defined by the vocal culture and sound of the Latvian choral tradition, characterised by warmth, balance and precision. The State Choir LATVIJA is the largest professional choir in the Baltic States, and it is regularly in demand on the concert programmes of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. Since 1997, the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the choir has been Māris Sirmais, while the choir’s General Manager has been Māris Ošlejs. The 60 members of the State Choir LATVIJA are renowned for their musical intelligence and vocal skill, making the choir a unique instrument capable of performing everything from subtle a cappella pieces to large vocal-symphonic masterworks. The State Choir LATVIJA has collaborated with world-renowned symphony orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and others.
Since 1997, Māris Sirmais has been the Artistic Director of the State Choir LATVIJA. Māris Sirmais has collaborated with such world-renowned conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mariss Jansons, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Tõnu Kaljuste, Matthias Jung, Neeme Järvi, Eri Klas and Andris Nelsons. He has also worked closely with Arvo Pärt, Rodion Shchedrin, Valentin Silvestrov, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gabriel Jackson and others. Māris Sirmais founded the Youth Choir Kamēr… in 1990 and served as the choir’s Artistic Director and Chief Conductor until 2012. In that time, the choir received over one hundred international awards, the most significant being the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Gorizia, Italy, in 2004. Māris Sirmais has appeared with the State Choir LATVIJA and Youth Choir Kamēr… in many prestigious European festivals, where he also leads masterclasses and workshops. He has been awarded the Latvian Great Music Award ten times, and is an Associate Professor of Choir Conducting at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.
The recording is financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual programme NIEPODLEGŁA 2017–2022
Adam Mickiewicz Institute:
Sleeve notes in English. Lyrics with English translation.
Celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2012, the State Choir "Latvija" is one of Europe's finest choirs and the winner of many awards, including five times the Latvian state award (1998, 2000, 2002, 2009, 2010). It received the award of the Latvian Council of Ministers in 2003 and the award of the Latvian Cultural Ministry in 2007. The Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the State Choir "Latvija" since 1997 has been Maris Sirmais.
Its repertoire covers golden classics in all genres of choral music, both accompanied and unaccompanied, in a time frame from the early Renaissance to the present day, including oratories, cantatas, masses, symphonies, opera performances as well as a broad a cappella repertoire. The choir is constantly updating its repertoire with innovative music in the most varied of genres, from jazz to film. The choir featured on the sound track for Tom Tykwer's film Perfume, a CD of which was released in 2006 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle.
In recent years it has partnered leading orchestras in many parts of the world under numerous outstanding conductors. It has appeared on concerts in Israel, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Amsterdam, London, Moscow and St Petersburg as well as Singapore under Mariss Jansons, Andris Nelsons, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Valeri Gergijev, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Fedosejev ja Tõnu Kaljuste.
In 2007 the choir organised the 10th International Sacred Music Festival that took in the first performance in Latvia of Leonard Bernstein's Mass. Also in that year it gave the world premiere performance of Lera Auerbach's Russian Requiem.
At the end of 2007 the Latvija choir performed Itaipu, a work by Philip Glass and 2000 Today: A World Symphony for the Millennium by Tan Dun. In 2008 it premiered Arvo Pärt's Deer's Cry in Ireland, in a Baltic Voices concert.
Since 1997, Māris Sirmais has been the Artistic Director of the State Choir LATVIJA. Māris Sirmais has collaborated with such world-renowned conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mariss Jansons, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Tõnu Kaljuste, Matthias Jung, Neeme Järvi, Eri Klas and Andris Nelsons. He has also worked closely with Arvo Pärt, Rodion Shchedrin, Valentin Silvestrov, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gabriel Jackson and others. Māris Sirmais founded the Youth Choir Kamēr… in 1990 and served as the choir’s Artistic Director and Chief Conductor until 2012. In that time, the choir received over one hundred international awards, the most significant being the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Gorizia, Italy, in 2004. Māris Sirmais has appeared with the State Choir LATVIJA and Youth Choir Kamēr… in many prestigious European festivals, where he also leads masterclasses and workshops. He has been awarded the Latvian Great Music Award ten times, and is an Associate Professor of Choir Conducting at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Shenyang, bass-baritone · Mari Palo, soprano · Tuomas Katajala, tenor · State Choir "Latvija" · Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra · Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor
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