The Latvian choral tradition is admired worldwide, and the nation’s composers for these forces are writing overwhelmingly spiritual music—perhaps a reaction to the suppression of that material by the Soviets. But here the Latvian State Choir do the honour of turning to a British composer—albeit one who has immersed himself in the contemporary Baltic sound-world. Gabriel Jackson’s sumptuous choral textures and beautiful, yet individual, harmonic language respond thrillingly to the Latvian treatment.
“It's easy enough injecting an element of fervour into choral singing, harder to do so without sacrificing technical accuracy...the State Choir Latvija manages both a bristling ardour in its delivery of the text and a virtuoso response to the vocal demands of the setting...An incandescent performance of the 40-part motet Sanctum est verum lumen sets the seal on this magnificent demonstration of the art of choral singing.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2013 *****
“all the music is full of interest and is written with what we’ve come to expect from this composer; namely a highly imaginative ear for choral texture, great empathy for the human voice and tremendous responsiveness to texts. It’s hard - nay, impossible - to imagine these pieces receiving finer advocacy than they receive from the superb Latvian choir, who give one of the most memorable exhibitions of unaccompanied choral singing that I’ve heard for some time.” MusicWeb International, January 2013
“Unquestionably the State Choir Latvia is a magnificent body of singers. They encompass a vast dynamic range and deliver words and music with impeccable precision and clarity...Most of this music was, however, conceived for rather smaller and more discreet vocal forces, and often there is a sense of its being overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the choral sound.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013
BBC Music Magazine
