John Cage: Choral Works Latvian Radio Choir & Sigvards Kļava

• John Cage (1912 - 1992): Five:
• 1 Cage: Five 05:07
• Hymns & Variations:
• 2 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Hymn A (After W. Billing's "Old North") 02:05
• 3 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Hymn B (After W. Billing's "Heath") 01:53
• 4 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 1 01:55
• 5 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 2 02:06
• 6 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 3 02:05
• 7 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 4 01:55
• 8 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 5 02:05
• 9 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 6 02:04
• 10 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 7 01:55
• 11 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 8 01:55
• 12 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 9 01:55
• 13 Cage: Hymns & Variations: Var. 10 02:05
• Four²:
• 14 Cage: Four² 07:09
• Four⁶:
• 15 Cage: Four⁶ 30:06
• Total Runtime 01:06:20

Info for John Cage: Choral Works

Chormusik und John Cage mögen wie eine seltsame Kombination wirken, schließlich war Cage nicht gerade als filigraner Harmoniker bekannt. Und tatsächlich hat Cage streng genommen nur zwei Kompositionen für Chor geschrieben, die beide auf diesem Album zu hören sind: „Hymns and Variations“ (1979) und „Four2“ (1990). Die anderen Werke des Albums („Five“, „Four6“) sind für (mehr oder weniger) offene Ensembles geschrieben und die hier für Chorstimmen umgesetzt wurden – und zwar von einem der besten Chöre der Welt: dem Latvian Radio Choir unter der Leitung von Sigvards Klava. Und siehe da: Cages Chormusik erhellt eine neue, ungewöhnliche Facette an dieser so faszinierenden Künstlerpersönlichkeit.

Latvian Radio Choir
Sigvards Klava, Leitung

The Latvian Radio Choir (LRC)
ranks among the top professional chamber choirs in Europe and its refined taste for musical material, fineness of expression and vocal of unbelievably immense compass have charted it as a noted brand on the world map. The repertoire of LRC ranges from the Renaissance music to the most sophisticated scores by modern composers; and it could be described as a sound laboratory – the singers explore their skills by turning to the mysteries of traditional singing, as well as to the art of quartertone and overtone singing and other sound production techniques. The choir has established a new understanding of the possibilities of a human voice; one could also say that the choir is the creator of a new choral paradigm: every singer is a distinct individual with his or her own vocal signature and roles in performances.

Sigvards Kļava
is one of the most outstanding Latvian conductors, also a professor of conducting and producer, music director of the Latvian Radio Choir since 1992. As a result of Sigvards Klava’s steady efforts, the Latvian Radio Choir has become an internationally recognized, vocally distinctive collective, where each singer possesses a creative individuality. Under Sigvards’ guidance, the choir has recorded a number of choral works by little known or completely forgotten composers of the past, as well as formed a friendly collaboration with a number of notable Latvian composers. Sigvards Klava is a professor at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music. Klava is a multiple winner of the Latvian Great Music Award.

Booklet for John Cage: Choral Works