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The Swedish Radio Choir meets Kaspars

Kaspars Putniņš and the Swedish Radio Choir perform poignant choral works by four prominent European choral composers of the 20th century. György Ligeti depicts the light of eternity with unearthly mystique, Sofia Gubaidulina has set Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun to music, Gundega Šmite seeks the light of truth and Arvo Pärt paints with brilliant, divine sounds.

The concert was recorded on September 12, 2020.


SWEDISH RADIO CHOIR dot 2020/2021
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Participants

 

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32 professional choristers make up the Swedish Radio Choir: a unique, dynamic instrument hailed by music-lovers and critics all over the world. The Swedish Radio Choir performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, as well as on tours all over the country and the world. Also, they are heard regularly by millions of listeners on Swedish Radio P2, Berwaldhallen Play and globally through the EBU.

The award-winning Latvian conductor Kaspars Putniņš was appointed Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir in 2020. Since January 2019, its choirmaster is French orchestral and choral conductor Marc Korovitch, with responsibility for the choir’s vocal development.

The Swedish Radio Choir was founded in 1925, the same year as Sweden’s inaugural radio broadcasts, and gave its first concert in May that year. Multiple acclaimed and award-winning albums can be found in the choir’s record catalogue. Late 2023 saw the release of Kaspars Putniņš first album with the choir: Robert Schumann’s Missa sacra, recorded with organist Johan Hammarström.

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Kaspars Putniņš is Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir since 2020, and newly appointed Chief Conductor of the Latvian Radio Choir with whom he has worked closely for more than 30 years. He was formerly Chief Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in 2014–2021. He regularly appears with the RIAS Kammerchor, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Collegium Vocale Gent, Danish National Vocal Ensemble & Choir, Netherlands Radio Choir, NDR Vokalensemble Hamburg, Chorwerk Ruhr, among others.

While Putniņš is a skilled interpreter of a wide choral repertoire, from Renaissance polyphony through to romantic music, his foremost goal has always been promoting new and outstanding choral music. He has forged close relationships with Baltic and Nordic composers including Maija Einfelde, Mārtiņš Viļums, Gundega Šmite, Toivo Tulev, Lasse Thoresen, Gavin Bryars and Andris Dzenitis. He has also initiated several drama projects in collaboration with visual and theatre artists, and has worked extensively with young singers and conductors, including as Artistic Director of the Tenso Europe Chamber Choir in 2013–2017.

Autumn 2023 saw the release of Putniņš’ first album recording with the Swedish Radio Choir: Robert Schumann’s Missa sacra and Vier doppelchörige Gesänge, recorded with Swedish organist Johan Hammarström. His wide-ranging discography also includes recordings of Pēteris Vasks’ Māte saule, Jonathan Harvey’s The Angels, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil and Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Choir. His recording with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir of Schnittke’s Psalms of Repentance and Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat and Nunc dimittis was awarded both the Gramophone Award and Diapason d’Or in 2018.

Kaspars Putniņš has been awarded two of Latvia’s foremost awards for his musicianship: the Grand Music Prize Lielā mūzikas balva and the Council of Ministers Award for Achievements in Culture and Science. For his contributions to Estonian music life as Chief Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, he was awarded the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Annual Award in 2019. Putniņš grew up in Riga, Latvia, and was only 26 years old when he was first hired as conductor of the Latvian Radio Choir.

Programme

Approximate timings

Soloist: Sofia Niklasson, soprano

In Für Alina and Spiegel im Spiegel Arvo Pärt introduced his “tintinnabuli” (from Latin “bell”) technique. Pärt was inspired by the hypnotic, meditative elements of liturgical chant. Pärt is himself deeply religious, and his faith is central to his music. His Magnificat from 1989 is another example of tintinnabuli. According to conductor Paul Hillier it is the work in which Pärt makes the most elegant use of the technique.

 

The idea behind tintinnabuli came from a desire for a highly reduced soundscape, which can only be measured in millimetres,” Arvo Pärt’s wife Nora recounts. “The listener ultimately pays full attention. When the music stops this becomes especially poignant as you hear yourself breathe, your heartbeat or the whirr of a lamp.

 

Magnificat is written as a single movement divided into sections according to how Pärt has divided up the different voices, almost in the form of alternating solo and ensemble parts. This is how he creates tonal variation in this piece, which is meant to be perceived as a continuous presences, as if time has stopped. The text is sometimes referred to as the Virgin Mary’s song of praise and is taken from the New Testament Gospel of Luke. The words are uttered by Mary during her visit to John the Baptist’s mother Elizabeth while they were both pregnant. It begins: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

 

Text: David Saulesco

Approximate duration: 1 h 20 mins