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Somerset Chamber Choir to bring the best of music from Russia and the East to Somerset
| Published: 9th February 2012 12:28 |
Somerset Chamber Choir will take its audience on a musical journey East with some delectable and inspiring choral works from Russia and the Baltic States at its concert 'Out of the East' on Sunday 19 February at King's College Chapel, Taunton at 3pm.
The concert will include movements from such works as Rachmaninov's Vespers and other beautiful unaccompanied choral works by composers from that region, under conductor Graham Caldbeck, interspersed with well-known and loved piano works by Chopin, Rachmaninov and more played by dazzling pianist Anita D'Attellis.
Tickets, priced £11, £15, £18, are available from Taunton TIC (tel: 01823 336344), at the door or find out more and book online at www.somersetchamberchoir.org.uk
Here are some words of introduction about the concert from conductor Graham Caldbeck:
"This striking musical sequence includes the undated and anonymous Kontakion of the Departed (based on an ancient Kiev Orthodox chant) and progresses towards our time via movements drawn from the significant settings of Vespers and other liturgies by Tchaikovsky, Grechaninov and Rachmaninov, each composed with the express intention of reconciling the traditional musical style of the Russian Orthodox Church with more recent musical developments. After the 1917 Revolution in Russia, Stravinsky developed this tradition further when he composed several short, beautiful choral works for the Orthodox Church, following his return to the faith.
During the 1970s and 80s, choral music generally, and choral festivals in particular, provided many of the Baltic States with a focus for reasserting their own native cultural traditions, as political events leading to the eventual break up of the Soviet Union gathered momentum. This period is represented by music by Górecki (Poland), Einojuhani Rautavaara (Finland), and Schnittke (who left Russia to live in Germany in 1990). Representing the period after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the engaging music of Arvo Pärt (Estonia), Vytautas Miškinis (Lithuania) and Paweł Łukaszewski (Poland) brings us up to the present.
Anita D'Attellis, the choir's accompanist and a regular piano recitalist, performs complementary masterpieces for piano by Chopin and Rachmaninov, alongside more recent works by Rautavaara and Łukaszewski. Her selected pieces provide an early taste of Polish musical nationalism in some of Chopin's most famous works, and also explore the piano writing of some of the featured choral composers.
This fascinating exploration not only mixes the well known with the unfamiliar, but also traces and celebrates the affirmation of musical, national and spiritual independence throughout times of political turbulence and radical social change of the countries included.
We hope that you will enjoy this afternoon exploration and may find some previously unknown gems to enliven and expand your own enjoyment of music."
Find out more about the concert and book online at www.somersetchamberchoir.org.uk
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