Latvian Radio Choir

Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Klava – Alfred Momotenko: Choral Works (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:53 minutes | 953 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Ondine

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.
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Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Kļava – John Cage: Choral Works (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:26 minutes | 1,10 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Ondine

This new album release by the Latvian Radio Choir and conductor Sigvards Klava on Ondine is devoted to choral works by the legendary American composer and music pioneer John Cage (1912-1992), one of the most iconic figures in 20th Century Avantgarde music.
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Latvian Radio Choir, Sigvards Kļava – Ivanovs: Vocalises (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:16:35 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © SKANI

The vocalises by Janis Ivanovs sung by the Grammy Award winning Latvian Radio Choir see the world-wide release for the very first time with this album.

vanovs, perhaps the greatest of Latvian symphonic composers, wrote the vocalises from the mid-1960s up until a year before his death, and they are dominated by the autumnal, elegiac mood characteristic of his later works. As soundscapes with imaginatively programmatic titles, the vocalises call to mind a series of compositions from Ivanovs’ youth (symphonic paintings, solo songs, arrangements of folk songs) that were also dedicated to the nature of his homeland and its beauty, sanctity and mystery.

In a way, they form an arc connecting the end of his life back to its beginning. Compared to the earlier works, however, the vocalises have the more serene balance and enlightenment that comes from viewing life and the world from a greater distance.
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Latvian Radio Choir & Sigvards Klava – Penderecki: Sacred Choral Works (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:38 minutes | 980 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ondine

This year marks the 90th birthday of Krzysztof Penderecki (1933–2020), one of the most prominent 21st Century Polish composers. Sacred themes and texts surround the creative work of Penderecki, including many of his large-scale works. This album by the award-winning Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Klava consists the majority of his impressive sacred a cappella choral works from five different decades and which are mainly written in Latin. These deeply religious choral works are modern classics in choral repertoire. Recent album by the choir, featuring choral works by John Cage, received nomination for the Gramophone Awards 2023.

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Latvian Radio Choir & Sigvards Kļava – Ramon Humet: Light (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:09 minutes | 789 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ondine

With this new release the Latvian Radio Choir together with its director Sigvards Kļava are returning to contemporary music after a series of recordings of 19th century sacred choral works. Ramon Humet’s (born 1968) new choral work, Llum, is a deep, spiritual journey to the gift of life, peace and love.

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Latvian Radio Choir & Sigvards Kļava – Silvestrov: To Thee We Sing (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:59 minutes | 968 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ondine

Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937) is an important contemporary voice in vocal music. In this new release Silvestrov’s hauntingly beautiful vocal works are performed by the Latvian Radio Choir under their director Sigvards Kļava.

During his artistic career Silvestrov has explored a number of musical styles and techniques, such as avant-guard, post-modernism, neo-classicism, dodecaphony, aleatoric writing and pointillism. The fall of the Soviet Union, however, allowed Silvestrov to eventually compose spiritual works, inspired and influenced by his love of the Russian Orthodox Church music.

Silvestrov imbues with his own unique sound and bursts of surprising harmonic moves. Silvestrov’s compositions are invested with the composer’s own unique personality, musical sensibility and sense of beauty.

Latvian Radio Choir’s previous releases on Ondine have been highly successful. For instance, the recording of Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil (ODE 1206-5) was chosen as the Record of the Month, Editor’s Choice and received a nomination in the Gramophone Awards in 2013.

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