Eötvös - Halleluja; Alle Vittime Senza Nome

The Guardian 60

Vermillion/Lehtipuu/Brandt/WDR Choir & SO/Eötvös/Santa Cecilia O/Pappano
(Wergo)
Eötvös’s oratorio, though influenced by the story and music of a medieval monk, is in reality a wry take on modern’s life’s babble

Halleluja, Peter Eötvös’s “stuttering oratorio”, with a text by the novelist Péter Esterházy, was first performed in 2016. It’s built around the historical figure of Notker Balbulus, Notker the Stammerer, a ninth-century Benedictine monk who was a chronicler and composer. But, Eötvös insists, “It is not so much a portrait of Notker as of the times in which we live … At first the choir represents a society that says ‘hallelujah’ to everything: they have to be satisfied with everything. But they become increasingly critical and defiant.”