Britten Sinfonia and Polyphony
What has come out of the Baltic states in recent decades — reams of lush, well-crafted, listener-friendly choral
music — has been remarkable not only for what it is, but for what it shows. It’s evidence that the great choirs of
Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are thriving, of course: but also that spirituality is, too. These are cultures in which
Christianity is still a primary fount of creative energy. That’s rather different from Britain where, with some famous
exceptions, leading composers (and their audiences) veer towards the agnostic or atheist.
So to British ears the most striking aspect of Eriks Esenvalds’s 30-minute Passion and Resurrection, for choir and
small orchestra, is likely to be how direct and literal it is. Though it tells the Holy Week story from the anguished
viewpoint of Mary Magdalene (a stratospheric soprano role, gamely tackled here by Carolyn Sampson), in
essence it’s the straightforward biblical narrative, bereft of modern nuances. Even the music, quoting a motet by
the Renaissance composer Morales and utilising Eastern vocal inflections, glissandos and folk-like fiddle
obbligatos, seems rooted in eras when religious faith was simpler and surer.
That was the main work in this showcase for the 33-year-old Latvian. But shorter pieces, including a Mother
Teresa tribute called Piliens Okeana (A Drop in the Ocean) and a gorgeous choral love song called Long Road,
seemed spun from the same cloth. Esenvalds loves to send sopranos into orbit over deep harmonies enriched with
added ninths or spiced with soft bitonality. When the polyphony rises to one of his ecstatic climaxes, the web is
thickened by octave doublings. Hushed moments, meanwhile, are enhanced by tinkles of bells or gentle whistling.
In style and devotional aura it’s quite close to James MacMillan or John Taverner. But as yet Esenvalds lacks the
former’s dramatic thrust or the latter’s hypnotic use of cyclical forms. I wasn’t always gripped. Still, he’s clearly the
next big thing in musical mysticism, and he found superb champions here in Stephen Layton’s virtuoso choir
Polyphony and the Britten Sinfonia. If you want to hear for yourself, they are recording these pieces for Hyperion.
See concert details...