Swedish Radio Choir, Tõnu Kaljuste - Alfred Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance (1999)
Artist: Swedish Radio Choir, Tõnu Kaljuste
Title: Alfred Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance
Year Of Release: 1999
Label: ECM New Series
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (image+.cue,log,scans)
Total Time: 53:00
Total Size: 200 Mb
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist: Title: Alfred Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance
Year Of Release: 1999
Label: ECM New Series
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (image+.cue,log,scans)
Total Time: 53:00
Total Size: 200 Mb
WebSite: Album Preview
01. Adam sat before the gates of Paradise and wept (2:55)
02. The desert receives me as a mother her child (5:06)
03. Why do I live in poverty (4:00)
04. My soul - why art thou steeped in sin (2:37)
05. O Man - damned and wretched (3:18)
06. When they saw the ship that suddenly appeared (2:10)
07. O my Soul, why art thou unafraid (6:23)
08. Wouldst thou overcome the timelessness of grief? (2:02)
09. My life as a cleric have I pondered (8:14)
10. Gather, Christian citizens! (3:42)
11. I came into this wretched life a naked babe (4:07)
12. (no text) (8:26)
Performers:
Per Björsund, tenor
Leif Aruhn-Solén, tenor
Swedish Radio Choir
Tõnu Kaljuste / Тыну Кальюсте, conductor
Superlative performances of Schnittke's most personal music: the composer's soul seems to be laid bare in the 'Psalms of Repentance'. These choral pieces, based upon 15th century poems and written to commemorate 1,000 years of Christianity in Russia, reveal none of the sardonic distancing or irony that is often characteristic of Schnittke's work. This is music from the heart, of direct emotional expression. The work takes on a special poignancy in the light of Schnittke's death in August 1998, and the Psalms can also be heard as threnody for him.
