Passion and Resurrection of Christ Are Years, That Should Come As No Surprise, for He Is Born of Re-Enacted and Re-Experienced by Christians Every Week
EŠENVALDS CAROLYN SAMPSON · POLYPHONY · BRITTEN SINFONIA · STEPHEN LAYTON _ RIKS EŠENVALDS is a pragmatic composer— of the choral repertoire from the inside, as he is also_ a Epragmatic in the sense that he is always the tenor in the professional State Choir Latvija. Yes, Eriks conscientious professional, tailoring each new work Ešenvalds is a pragmatic composer, embracing a medium to the requirements of the occasion, the forces available, he knows he has much to offer, and a truly modern one, and the abilities (and priorities) of the performers; creating opportunities for himself by reaching out to the pragmatic, too, is his tendency to set English texts, mindful world from his tiny country, researching his texts on the of the needs of an international audience; but also prag- internet, and taking his inspiration from such diverse matic is his use of whatever techniques, whatever degree sources as the Jan Garbarek/Hilliard Ensemble Officium of dissonance or consonance, of rhythmic and textural CD on the ECM label, or a French recording of Albanian complexity, suit his expressive purposes at any point. The folk music. result might seem to be wilful eclecticism, but like many Before realizing his true vocation lay in music, Baltic composers, his work is characterized by a lack Ešenvalds studied for two years in a Baptist seminary, and of self-consciousness, a directness of expression that is he remains deeply committed to the church, serving as _ disarming in its sincerity. Coming to maturity in a newly director of music for the Vllande Baptist Congregation in independent Latvia, he is not subject to the confining Riga.
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