Hyperion CDA67297 · January 2002
Schnittke - Choir Concerto & Minnesang
Holst Singers, Stephen Layton (conductor)
- BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE - BEST of 2002
Press
ClassicalSource.com2011I well remember the first time I heard a piece of Schnittke’s, as a student at the Huddersfield Festival, the Concerto Grosso No.1. I was intrigued, surprised, found it funny and disturbing in equal measure and couldn’t wait to…Read the review 
BBC Music Magazine2002Performance Sounds No longer need Alfred Schnittke's daunting and often overwhelming Choir Concerto be seen purely as the provenance of those supernaturally adept Russian choirs. In both the most uplifting of block harmonies and…Read the review 
Music Week2002Schnittke: Choir Concerto; Minnesang; Voices of Nature. Holst Singers/Layton (Hyperion CDA67297). Stephen Layon's abilities as a choral trainer and conductor have been recognised with a Gramophone Award and a series of…Read the review 
The Times2002None of the music ... gets the spine tingling as much as the Schnittke choral music sung by the Holst Singers, conducted by Stephen Layton, on Hyperion CDA 67297. Minnesang, from 1981, features 52 voices surging ecstatically…Read the review 
The Guardian2002From its very opening the Choir Concerto proclaims its affiliations to the Russian choral tradition. Completed in 1985, it is one of the most imposing of all Schnittke's later works - 40 minutes long, and setting passages from an…Read the review 
The Evening Standard2002Although technically the Holst Singers are amateurs, it would be wrong to think they were in any way second rate. Indeed, they sing Schnittke’s "Choir Concerto" better than did the professional BBC Singers in last year’s…Read the review 
Gramophone Magazine2002A superb and revealing performance of one of Schnittke’s most approachable works The rather anodyne name Concerto for Mixed Chorus, intended to convey a conscious link to similarly named works by Bortnyansky and other composers…Read the review - BBC News2002The death of Alfred Schnittke in 1998 robbed the world of one of its most distinctive symphonists. But as this fine disc of his lesser-known choral works makes clear, it also deprived Russia of a composer deeply aware of his…Read the review
- Rough Guide2002If in some of his choral music Schnittke sounds a little ‘unlike himself’, this disc reveals a less theatrical, more introspective side to his character. Perhaps it’s that the influences sit contentedly together, Rachmaninov is…Read the review
Classical Music2002Those who know Schnittke as a master of the grotesque, the trashy or the avant garde would be as surprised to hear this CD as his supporters in the Soviet era were when this magnificent concerto for choir first appeared in 1981…Read the review - Amazon.co.uk2002If the idea of an unaccompanied choral work, sung in Russian, lasting more than 40 minutes sounds like hard work, don’t be too quick to dismiss it. Schnittke’s Choir Concerto (1984-85) has the unmistakable whiff of greatness…Read the review
International Record Review2002if the concerto does not ultimately go down as one of the masterpieces of the late twentieth century choral repertoire, I shall be staggeredRead the review 
The Irish Times2002the music, direct in manner and imposing in effect, should appeal to anyone who already loves the sacred choral works of Rachmaninov or TchaikovskyRead the review 
The Observer2002high vocal standards … A fine introduction to some rare and satisfying repertoireRead the review 
Classics Today2002Stephen Layton’s Holst Singers really show their mettle … Schnittke fans will want to hear this; and anyone else who’s curious about what one of the 20th Century’s more intriguing and inventive composers was up to during the…Read the review 
Music Web International2002The Holst Singers have done an excellent job … They have a beautiful, cool sound in the best British tradition, and the deep bass voices bring forth some glorious noises … This disc is hugely welcome … fascinating and…Read the review
Recorded: July 2001
Produced by Jeremy Summerly
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: January 2002
Total duration: 64 minutes 33 seconds
Track list
- Choir Concerto: O Pavitel' sushchevo fsevoAlfred Schnittke (1934-1998)16'27
- Choir Concerto: Sabran'je pesen sikh, gde kazhdyj stikhAlfred Schnittke (1934-1998)7'22
- Choir Concerto: Fsem tem, kto vniknetAlfred Schnittke (1934-1998)11'37
- Choir Concerto: Sej trud, shto natchinal ja s upavan'jemAlfred Schnittke (1934-1998)5'28
- Voices of Nature 'Golosa prirodi'Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)5'07
- MinnesangAlfred Schnittke (1934-1998)18'32
Recording details from Hyperion Records.