Choral Focus

On Photography is the title of this disc on Gavin Bryars's own record label which showcases the Latvian Radio Choir and on which Bryars allows pieces by the Latvian Arturs Maskats and the more widely known Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov to appear alongside his own work. The conducting duties for the choir are shared between Sigvards Klava and Kaspars Putnins. Among the Baltic Sates, it is perhaps Estonia that is most famous for its' choral tradition, the singing revolution and all that. But the Latvians here show that they are a force to be respected in their own right. It is perhaps a bit of a cliche to talk about the bass sound produced by choirs from this region. On this disc that is indeed evident but there is also some spectacular solo work in the female upper registers too. The pieces by Maskat and Silvestrov are both devotional. Maskats sets text from Psalm 141 while Silvestrov's Diptychon sets the Lord's Prayer in Russian and Testament, a religious poem by a Ukrainian poet Tarass Shevchenko. Bryars's own works are secular but the sound world they inhabit retains this devotional sense. There is a prose setting, And So Ended Kant's Travelling In The World, and settings of three poems by Italian Cecco Angiolieri. The title piece was meant for a large scale work for the Los Angeles Olympics but has devolved downwards in size but not in stature and focuses ( no pun intended ) on the fascination with early photography by such luminaries as Jules Verne and Pope Leo XIII. The only deviation from the acapella recording is the addition of some subtle and understated percussion but the disc is never less than entrancing.