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Sviridov: Canticles & Prayers / Klava, Latvian Radio Choir
Ondine

Sviridov: Canticles & Prayers / Klava, Latvian Radio Choir

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Details

Composer
SVIRIDOV, GEORGY
Artist
Klava
Format
CD
Label
Ondine
Released
May 11, 2018
Catalog #
ODE 1322-2
UPC
761195132227

About

This is a beautiful selection of Sviridov’s choral music.

Georgy Sviridov’s Canticles and Prayers is considered by many as one of the most important works in Russian sacred music. In this new recording the Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Klava offers impressive renditions of music from this collection by the Russian master. Sviridov, a pupil of Shostakovich, began writing religious works in 1969. Since then these works have come to form an important part of his oeuvre. In the 1980s Sviridov had several projects to write a liturgy or a mass. In the end, the sketches of his sacred music came to form a cycle titled Canticles and Prayers. The work was created at a turning point in the history of Russia, the perestroika years that ended in the collapse of the Soviet state. The composer was keenly affected by the events of those years, building a monument to his era. The main body of Canticles and Prayers was assembled between 1988 and 1992. In September 1997, Sviridov selected the versions he thought best, approving the final order for the first three parts and making the final edits to the score. This work remained incomplete at the time of his death in 1998. Canticles and Prayers was thus Sviridov’s last work. The recording also includes the chorus The Red Easter based on a cycle of Easter hymns. Previous releases of the Latvian Radio Choir on Ondine have been highly successful. For instance, the recording of Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil was chosen as the Record of the Month, Editor’s Choice and received a nomination in the Gramophone Awards in 2013. Also, their more recent releases of choral works by Valentin Silvestrov and Eriks Esenvalds received Gramophone Editor’s Choice.

REVIEW:

This is a beautiful selection of Sviridov’s choral music. There is a subtlety to phrasing of the Latvian Radio Choir’s performance of the Trisagion (track 2, ‘Holy God’), for example, that often eludes Russian and Ukrainian choirs. And this serves them well too in the remarkable Having beheld a strange nativity, especially in the last movement, with its ‘increasing’ alleluias, and their mastery of dynamics means that they can bring it down to the quietest of pianissimos in nanoseconds.

The cycle on texts from the Old Testament is less familiar but has similarly outstanding moments—the second, ‘Sprinkle me with hyssop’, is particularly memorable in its alternation of male and female and choral groups—and in fact strikes me as one of the most likely works on this disc to enter the repertoire of Western choral ensembles. ‘Taynaya vechera’ might also do so, but here I come to my most serious reservation regarding this disc, which has nothing to do with the wonderful performances but everything to do with the disastrous translations in the booklet.

Do acquire this disc, listen to the frequently wonderful music and the consistently astounding performances but recycle the booklet.

– Gramophone

Tracklist 22 tracks

  1. 1 Inexpressible wonder: Lord, save the pious 01:34
    Track
    1
    Title
    Inexpressible wonder: Lord, save the pious
    Duration
    01:34
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  2. 2 Inexpressible wonder: Holy God 04:52
    Track
    2
    Title
    Inexpressible wonder: Holy God
    Duration
    04:52
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  3. 3 Inexpressible wonder: It is worthy to eat 02:10
    Track
    3
    Title
    Inexpressible wonder: It is worthy to eat
    Duration
    02:10
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  4. 4 Inexpressible wonder: Christmas Song 01:21
    Track
    4
    Title
    Inexpressible wonder: Christmas Song
    Duration
    01:21
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  5. 5 Inexpressible wonder: Glory and Halleluja 03:59
    Track
    5
    Title
    Inexpressible wonder: Glory and Halleluja
    Duration
    03:59
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  6. 6 Inexpressible wonder: Inexpressible wonder 02:41
    Track
    6
    Title
    Inexpressible wonder: Inexpressible wonder
    Duration
    02:41
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  7. 7 Having beheld a strange nativity: Glory to the most Holy Trinity 01:12
    Track
    7
    Title
    Having beheld a strange nativity: Glory to the most Holy Trinity
    Duration
    01:12
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  8. 8 Having beheld a strange nativity: Come, let us worship 02:34
    Track
    8
    Title
    Having beheld a strange nativity: Come, let us worship
    Duration
    02:34
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  9. 9 Having beheld a strange nativity: Glory (Monastic) 00:43
    Track
    9
    Title
    Having beheld a strange nativity: Glory (Monastic)
    Duration
    00:43
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  10. 10 Having beheld a strange nativity: Repentance of the Prodigal Son 02:49
    Track
    10
    Title
    Having beheld a strange nativity: Repentance of the Prodigal Son
    Duration
    02:49
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  11. 11 Having beheld a strange nativity: Glory (Quiet) 01:01
    Track
    11
    Title
    Having beheld a strange nativity: Glory (Quiet)
    Duration
    01:01
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  12. 12 Having beheld a strange nativity: Have mercy on us, O Lord 02:37
    Track
    12
    Title
    Having beheld a strange nativity: Have mercy on us, O Lord
    Duration
    02:37
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  13. 13 Having beheld a strange nativity: Having beheld a strange nativity 04:35
    Track
    13
    Title
    Having beheld a strange nativity: Having beheld a strange nativity
    Duration
    04:35
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  14. 14 From the Old Testament: The King of Glory 03:03
    Track
    14
    Title
    From the Old Testament: The King of Glory
    Duration
    03:03
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  15. 15 From the Old Testament: Song of Purification 03:24
    Track
    15
    Title
    From the Old Testament: Song of Purification
    Duration
    03:24
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  16. 16 From the Old Testament: The Earth is the Lord's 05:35
    Track
    16
    Title
    From the Old Testament: The Earth is the Lord's
    Duration
    05:35
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  17. 17 Other songs: Glorification of the Mother of God 02:04
    Track
    17
    Title
    Other songs: Glorification of the Mother of God
    Duration
    02:04
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  18. 18 Other songs: Entreaty to the apostle St. John the Theologian 04:35
    Track
    18
    Title
    Other songs: Entreaty to the apostle St. John the Theologian
    Duration
    04:35
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  19. 19 Other songs: O Lord, stir up your strength 02:28
    Track
    19
    Title
    Other songs: O Lord, stir up your strength
    Duration
    02:28
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  20. 20 Other songs: Behold the bridegroom comes 03:41
    Track
    20
    Title
    Other songs: Behold the bridegroom comes
    Duration
    03:41
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  21. 21 Other songs: The Last Supper 04:36
    Track
    21
    Title
    Other songs: The Last Supper
    Duration
    04:36
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava
  22. 22 Pasha krasnaya (The Red Easter) 03:30
    Track
    22
    Title
    Pasha krasnaya (The Red Easter)
    Duration
    03:30
    Composer
    Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov
    Ensemble
    Latvian Radio Choir
    Conductor
    Sigvards Kļava