Kagel: Motetten (Motets) for 8 violoncelli

Kagel played piano, clarinet and cello but it is the cello which has a central role in his compositions. He stated "I enjoyed playing the cello straight away because its register coincided with that of the human voice." This CD demonstrates his fascination with the instrument.

Poetry and music, a difficult combination of profoundly human essences which, throughout history, has generated a vast variety of artistic forms of the deepest inspiration, from Medieval and Renaissance Christian liturgical chant through opera to current, more or less iconoclastic cultivated and popular tendencies. The content of the programme making up this disc precisely focuses on the most recent musical creation for voice and instrumental accompaniment, under the great guidance of the recently deceased Mauricio Kagel and the mark of three young composers: Gabriel Erkoreka, María Eugenia Luc and Ramón Lazkano, all born between 1958 and 1969 and in one way or another linked humanly and artistically to the Basque Country. With the voice of the mezzo Elena Gragera as protagonist, and the instrumental accompaniment of the Amsterdam Cello Octet, this compact disc is a sincere homage to the most emotive sung word, splendid testimony of “poetic music”.