Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble, Andrej Power, Lawrence Power, Christianne Stotijn - Voices of Angels (2020) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Voices of Angels I. Evocation
02. Voices of Angels II. Different Realms
03. Ein Engel
04. 14 Romances, Op. 34 No. 8, Muzyka
05. Vor deinen Thron tret' ich, BWV 668 (Arr. for Violin, Viola, Cello & Double Bass)
06. Meditation uber den Bach Choral Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit (After Bach's BWV 668)
07. 5 Gedichte fur eine Frauenstimme, WWV 91 (Wesendonck Lieder) No. 1, Der Engel
08. 12 Romances, Op. 21 No. 7, Zdes' khorosho
09. Hymn II


The Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble is – as the name implies – based in Stockholm, and consists of five of the city's leading musicians. Project-based and often inviting guest performers, the SSE is known for its imaginative programmes built around a particular event or concept and bringing together music from various genres and eras. For its first release on BIS the ensemble has taken Brett Dean’s Voices of Angels as their point of departure, a work scored for the same forces as Schubert’s ‘Trout quintet’ and inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s first two Duino Elegies: ‘Angels (it’s said) are often unable to tell whether they move amongst the living or the dead.’ Dean’s work from 1996 opens a programme which ranges from Bach to Sofia Gubaidulina, and includes various scorings for between two and six performers. The angels reappear in songs by Wagner and Gubaidulina performed by Christianne Stotijn, one of the ensemble’s guests on this disc – but it is also safe to assume that they are standing around the heavenly throne which Bach approaches in the chorale prelude ‘Vor Deinen Thron tret ich hiermit’ – here transcribed for strings. The same prelude is the subject of Gubaidulina’s Meditation, while the disc closes with a work by Gubaidulina’s friend Alfred Schnittke, namely his Hymn for cello and double bass.

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