Cover: Good Friday (2002) by Maggi Hambling (b1945)
Hyperion CDA67796 · March 2011
Ešenvalds - Passion & Resurrection & other choral works
Polyphony, Stephen Layton (conductor)
Press
American Record Guide2011Hyperion has done it again, with this stunning album of mostly sacred choral works by the younger-generation Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds, perfectly performed by Stephen Layton’s ever-welcome Polyphony and Carolyn Sampson…Read the review 
Audiophile Audition2011Eriks Esenvalds (b. 1977) is a Latvian composer who, according to the notes, comes from a new Latvia free of all repressive Socialist Realism strictures. Yet his music is hardly avant-garde either, and his teachers have included…Read the review 
BBC Music Magazine2011Ešenvalds responds to the purpose of the words he sets, occupying similar choral territory to the likes of Whitacre and Shchedrin, character rather than ego dominating … Ešenvalds favours the upper voices, giving them luminous…Read the review 
blog.codaex.de2011In den drei Republiken des Baltikum gab es immer schon eine ausgeprägt hochklassige und vielfältige Musikszene, die nach dem Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion wieder richtig aufblühte. Nun, rund 20 Jahre danach, ist sie zu einem…Read the review 
dailyclassicalmusic.com2011When composing a work, I give myself to the temptation of the creative work -- a journey, whose twisting roads persistently, but convincingly, bring me to the final sounds of the score. 'Only then do I exhale,' says Latvian…Read the review 
Entartete Musik2011Polyphony and Hyperion Records have done more to broaden our choral taste than any other choir or record company in this country. After excellent recent surveys of Gabriel Jackson, Morten Lauridsen, Paweł Łukaszewski and Eric…Read the review 
International Record Review2011Within seconds I knew I was going to adore this CD and the music of Eriks Ešenvalds … This is a performance of considerable impact, not least in the second movement when the electrifying choral cries of 'Crucify' dissolve so…Read the review 
klassiekezaken.nl2011De Letse componist Eriks Ešenvalds speelt een wonderlijk spel met de beleving van gezongen tekst. Er is volop tekst die we kunnen verstaan en begrijpen, maar Ešenvalds voegt eigenzinnig verschuivende harmonieën en etherisch…Read the review 
Limelight, ABC Classic FM2011A "singing revolution" of vocal magic from Polyphony, Stephen Layton and Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds. The Latvian struggle for independence from the Soviet Union has been dubbed the “Singing Revolution”, in which freedom…Read the review 
opusklassiek.nl2011De revolutie van 1991 in Letland is de geschiedenis ingegaan als de ‘zingende revolutie’. Duizenden Letten verzamelden zich om liederen te zingen die door de communistische machthebbers verboden waren. Eriks Esenwalds was…Read the review
Recorded: April 2010
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by David Hinitt
Release date: March 2011
Total duration: 64 minutes 7 seconds
Track list
- Passion and Resurrection: Parce mihi, DomineĒriks Ešenvalds (b1977)8'37
- Passion and Resurrection: My soul is very sorrowfulĒriks Ešenvalds (b1977)4'41
- Passion and Resurrection: At thy mystic SupperĒriks Ešenvalds (b1977)6'29
- Passion and Resurrection: O dulce lignumĒriks Ešenvalds (b1977)7'50
- EveningĒriks Ešenvalds (b1977)3'21
- Night Prayer Mistress of night watching down on meĒriks Ešenvalds (b1977)9'23
- A drop in the ocean Pater noster, qui es in caelis / Lord, make me a channel of your peaceĒriks Ešenvalds (b1977)6'43
- Legend of the walled-in woman Atje te ura në lumë 'There at the bridge o'er the river'Ēriks Ešenvalds (b1977)10'23
- Long Road I love you night and dayĒriks Ešenvalds (b1977)6'40
Recording details from Hyperion Records.