Latvian Radio Choir - Nature and the Soul

The Guardian 80

Latvian Radio Choir/Putniņš
(Skani)

Anyone lucky enough to have heard last Sunday’s celebration of the music of Rachmaninov at the BBC Proms couldn’t help but be impressed by the meticulous singing of the Latvian Radio Choir. Now, to mark Latvia’s forthcoming centenary, it has released a recording of compositions from its homeland where once again we can savour its miraculously cohesive sound. Featuring a pure soprano line and sonorously rich basses, the choir charts a path through the development of Latvian choral music, majoring on the works of Jāzeps Vītols (1863-1948), whose extended masterwork, David Before Saul is a highlight, rivalled by Emilis Melngailis’s heartbreaking Move Gently and Quietly.