Songs of the Baltic Sea
Mike Brewer National Youth Choir of Great Britain Songs of the Baltic Sea
1 Tau Bet Kokios Sutemos Šviesios [5:21]
Vaclovas Augustinas (b1959)
2 Lacrimosa [5:45]
Mindaugas Urbaitis (b1952)
3 Hymne à St Martin [5:04]
Augustinas
4–8 Nolemtība (Destiny): Symphony for Choir [28:49] Pēteris Plakidis (b1947)
9–14 Svjatki: Choir Concerto [17:57]
Galina Grigorjeva (b1962)
Amelia Berridge soprano [12, 14]
Charlotte Brosnan soprano [13]
Stephanie Guidera mezzo-soprano [11]
Sarah Champion alto [14]
Richard Bignall tenor [14]
Dominic Barberi bass [12]
15 Cantus Maris Baltici [14:01]
Gabriel Jackson (b1962)
Rachel Spencer soprano
Felicity Buckland alto
David Jones tenor
Dominic Barberi bass
Total playing time [76:59]
Recorded on 26 August 2010 in the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford [1-3];
28 August 2008 in Lancing College Chapel [4-8];
14-15 April 2010 in the Church of St Alban the Martyr, Holborn [9-15]
Producer and Engineer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing: Adam Binks
24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter
Design: Drew Padrutt
Booklet editor: Henry Howard
Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK
www.delphianrecords.co.uk
Songs
Today the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea gently lap the shores of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Only twenty years ago that same picturesque coast was the north-west border of the vast prison camp that was the Soviet Union; heavily policed and with access severely restricted, its sandy beaches were raked nightly so that the footprints of would-be escapees could be easily detected. When in 1991 these three tiny European countries finally threw off the shackles of occupation this act of selfliberation was dubbed the “singing revolution” by artist/activist Heinz Valk. During the late 1980s the mass song festivals of all three countries, which were established during the first National Reawakenings of the late 19th century, and in which thousands of performers sing to audiences numbered in the hundreds of thousands in specially-built amphitheatres, played a vital role in the re-assertion of national identity, and as a focus for political resistance to the Soviet tyranny. (Juris Podnieks’ film Krustcelš (Homeland) documents this unique cultural revolution with heroic immediacy: in a postscript to the film we see camaramen Gvido Zvaigzne and Andris Slapinš shot by snipers and Slapinš, mortally wounded, shouting “Keep filming.”)
The USSR was only the most recent occupying power: for most of their history the Baltic peoples lived under foreign rule. When ordinary folk had little access to education or professional music-making, singing, which
requires neither expensive instruments nor literacy, became the primary means of articulating the social and ritual life of an oppressed people. Over the centuries a rich repertory of folk songs evolved which is still very much a living tradition: a great many of these songs are widely known, well-loved and frequently sung, for even now they carry great emotional and cultural resonance. Choir membership is widespread at all levels of society, and the elite groups of the region
– Jauna Muzika of Vilnius, the Latvian Radio Choir, the State Choir “Latvija” and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir – are among the great choirs of the world.
In fact the very sound of Baltic choirs has arguably been shaped by occupation too; traces of Russian, Scandinavian and Germanic singing styles meld into a characteristic sonority that is clean yet rich, transparent but full-bodied, with a particular plangency and emotional authenticity. With such resources at their disposal, and with singing at the heart of the musical life of their nations, it is no surprise that composers from the region have been inexorably drawn to the myriad of possibilities offered by the age-old sound of voices in concert.
In recent years a growing number of composers from the Baltic states have found an appreciative audience west of the Gulf of Riga but there are many more discoveries to be made. This short voyage through three of
of the Baltic Sea
With thanks to the Warden and Fellows of the House of Scholars of Merton College, Oxford
Europe’s smallest countries can only encompass a handful of the many fine works that are deserving of a much wider currency.
The journey begins in southern, Catholic Lithuania, with Tau Bet Kokios Sutemos
Šviesios by Vaclovas Augustinas. Augustinas has had a distinguished and varied career as prolific composer, choral conductor, pedagogue and, in his youth, rock musician (a past he shares with fellow-composers Ugis Praulinš from Latvia and the Estonian Erkki-Sven Tüür). In this short piece we can hear some of the characteristics of Baltic choral music: a virtuoso command of vocal orchestration, a mingled richness and clarity of texture, a fondness for cluster-chords and diatonically saturated harmony and the frequent use of ostinatos. The text, from Psalm 139, is not set in the conventional manner – there is no wordpainting – but, rather, the Psalmist’s optimistic certainty is conveyed through internal pedals and carefully weighted antiphonies between an eight-part choir and a four-part semi-chorus. Almost entirely homophonic, with open yet sonorous voicing, the piece has an exultant buoyancy, the brightness of its opening gradually darkening into an overlapping chorale-ostinato whose repetitions are abruptly halted by a final phrase of quizzical harmonic ambivalence. The lengthy silence that follows is part of the piece.
Repetition is the very essence of the music of Mindaugas Urbaitis. A leading light of “Lithuanian minimalism”, a 1970s movement whose melodic simplicity and lyrical patternmaking have their origins in folk music rather than the lofts of downtown New York, Urbaitis began in the late 1980s to embrace a lusher, more referential aesthetic. The diatonicism, the overlaid loops and cellular construction remain but in a compositional process he calls “recycling” the building blocks are now clearly recognisable fragments from composers of the past; the intention is to create a music “as simple as everyday life” yet one in which the listener’s memories and associations are an essential part of the work’s Affekt. His Lacrimosa which, significantly, was begun in 1991, is a simple passacaglia; as the music intensifies in textural complexity and harmonic richness the origin of the small motifs that make up its raw material gradually comes into focus and eventually fully reveals itself in a quotation from the “Lacrimosa” from Mozart’s Requiem before, again, being abruptly torn off at the point where death stayed Mozart’s hand. The work is dedicated “to those that died defending freedom in Lithuania”. (Lithuania was the first country to try to break free of the Soviet yoke, and was rewarded with a punishing yearlong economic blockade, and the shooting of fourteen civilians and seven border guards.)
Martin was written in 1996 for a competition to celebrate the 1600th anniversary of the death of St Martin of Tours, which explains why this Latin-texted piece has a French title. Scored for double choir, its triple-time lilt matched by a tripartite structure, this homage to the most modest of saints has an appropriately gentle, unostentatious glow, its artless melodic charm occasionally drifting into more ambiguous harmonic waters. Each stanza ends with pealing alleluias that are both halting and exultant, their rhythmic displacements quietly disturbing the otherwise even metrical flow.
Lithuania and Latvia share not just a border but also a language group, of which they are the only extant members. And the Latvian language, the fate of the Latvian people and their responsibilities towards each other and to their native soil are the subjects of Pēteris
music, with Renaissance and Baroque techniques like canon, fugue, chaconne and variation serving to offset his natural theatricality with a classical sense of balance and proportion.
The final panel of this Lithuanian triptych is also by Vaclovas Augustinas. Hymne à Saint
Plakidis’ five-movement choral symphony Nolemtība (Destiny). Plakidis is the foremost Latvian composer of his generation, an accomplished pianist and chamber musician and an inspirational teacher of composition. In the early 1970s he was musical director of the Latvian National Theatre and also served as pianist for the Riga pantomime troupe. This youthful involvement with the stage helped Plakidis to develop a flexible and pragmatic musical language and a flair for dramatic characterisation and vivid immediacy of gesture. A high level of internal organisation and logic is also characteristic of Plakidis’
Nolemtība is his most substantial work for voices, and owes something to the Russian choir concerto tradition in its variety of texture, extremes of register and use of extensive divisi, though the lucid diatonicism and folk-influenced melos are very much Plakidis’ own. The texts, by poet Ojārs Vācietis, are pithy, earthy and full of tender feeling for the natural world; ecological concerns were a favourite theme for dissident writers in the Soviet Union. Vācietis – a committed communist but an enemy of totalitarianism, feted with a USSR State Award and the title People’s Writer yet unable to publish some works during his lifetime due to their subversive content – was and remains a deeply-respected figure in Latvian literature. His opening images of impending doom are articulated by Plakidis through whispered bass drones of polyrhythmic tension over which angular fragments of melody are subjected to canonic and, later, heterophonic development, building to a brief, assertive chorale. The second movement’s restless ostinatos support a defiant cantilena, flattened fifths darkening the mood, as the poet sings of self-sacrifice in order to save civilisation. The visionary meditation that follows is calm and ecstatic, “eternal” triads rooting to the
earth the sopranos’ soaring flights of fancy and contrapuntal elaboration. At the close an angry reprise from the first movement insists that “I have to sing of white when it is white… I will never have other rights.” The fourth movement is a scherzo, canonic and bustling, alternately aerated and anchored, an appeal to humanity and for forgiveness. The finale begins with onomatopoeic chirrupings, full of wide-eyed wonder. Out of this nature-music emerges a quiet hymn to the power of human love, at once fragile and determined; as the tenors’ and basses’ chorale-ground descends to its restingpoint one last time, the music dissolves into ever more evanescent wisps of wordlessness, serene in its diatonic purity and repose.
A richer, more intense diatonicism may be heard in Svjatki (Holy Days) by Galina Grigorjeva. Premiered by a Latvian choir (under Māris Sirmais) and written by a naturalised Estonian, Svjatki is a bona fide Russian choir concerto. Grigorjeva was actually born in Ukraine and studied at the Odessa and St Petersburg conservatoires before heading to Tallinn for postgraduate work with the great symphonist Lepo Sumera (who, appropriately, was also Minister of Culture during the period of the singing revolution). Her music is deeply rooted in the Russian liturgical tradition and in her love of European Renaissance polyphony. (She has had a close association with the early music consort Hortus Musicus, who also gave a number of pioneering performances of Arvo
Pärt in the 1970s.) Her output is relatively small, her works carefully and painstakingly constructed: the result is a music of unique radiance and spiritual integrity.
The texts for the concerto are of folkloric origin and have an unselfconscious peasant directness; their shameless amalgam of the sacred and the secular, the earthbound and the elevated, is characteristic of Svjatki (the holiday period between Russian Christmas and Epiphany, a time of feasting and fortune-telling, of pagan as well as Christian rituals). For all its worldliness the air of the opening movement is thick with the incense of Orthodox ceremonial and its alternation of metrically flexible unison phrases with chordal exclamations of “Slava!” has (deliberate?) overtones of the first of Stravinsky’s Four Russian Peasant Songs, which is similarly structured. In “Holy Evening” the men’s urgent exhortations are answered each time by an identical refrain, their unpredictable rhythms closely contoured to the stresses of the words. The primordial technique of call-and-response, fundamental to almost all musical traditions, can be heard throughout Svjatki; in the third movement a ruminative contralto solo is interwoven with mournful homophonic assertions from the upper voices. The climax is dense, and darkly-bright. The swirling rivers and mounting menace of “O, Kalyudka!” are conjured up by interlocking ostinatos, limited and obsessive in pitch, their 3+3+2 metre grimly insistent, building to a
scarily hammered-out conclusion. Throughout the work Grigorjeva uses, albeit to very different expressive ends, many of the same building-blocks as Pēteris Plakidis – drones and heterophony in the fifth movement, for instance. Here, underpinned by a permanent open-fifth bourdon, a lone soprano sings of the coming of spring; the gradual shadowing of her supple, minor-key musings is effected through a rhythmically complex micropolyphony, its canonic proliferation nicely evocative of melting snow and burgeoning vegetation. The exuberant finale is launched with striding confidence by the tenors and basses. Again, much of its momentum is achieved through canonic elaboration. There is an appealing directness about this simple Christmas celebration (which takes in part of Psalm 150 along the way), and with touchingly unceasing joyfulness the movement ends as the whole piece began, with a triumphant shout of “Slava!”
My own Cantus Maris Baltici also begins in Estonia, with a brief choral fanfare. It was commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and premiered in California in the summer of 2009. It was Mike Brewer’s suggestion that I write a companion-piece to the other works in this programme, setting texts from all three Baltic states. Meaning “Songs of the Baltic Sea”, Cantus Maris Baltici is also about the idea of “East”: three contrasting visions of the sea as metaphor for the human condition are framed by a very polemical poem by Andres Ehin which itself
looks eastwards, and a fragment by the English philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon. Retracing the journey taken by the other works in the programme, the main body of the piece begins with a tempestuous seascape setting words by the Lithuanian Romantic nationalist Maironis (born Jonas Mačiulis). Mirdza Bendrupe’s poem which follows was suggested to me by its English translator Margita Gailitis. It acts as a central slow movement – a nocturnal barcarolle – as the lower voices’ aqueous musings elicit an increasingly urgent response from the sopranos, before winding down to a peaceful, deep resolution. As well as moving geographically north, the texts for the piece become more modernist; the Estonian Jaan Kaplinski’s somewhat gnomic poem is itself Eastern-influenced and my setting is deliberately hesitant, with frequent use of silence. After a brief polyphonic flowering comes a quasi-plainchant coda which is progressively more orientalised (with increasingly ornate embellishments of the line) as – and this is surely the whole point of our journey – “all face East”.
Gabriel Jackson is a full-time composer with a strong commitment to the choral medium and a particular interest in the music and culture of the Baltic states, where he has many friends. He is currently Associate Composer to the BBC Singers.
1 Tau Bet Kokios Sutemos Šviesios
Vaclovas Augustinas
Kur pabegsiu nuo Tavo dvasios, nuo Taves pasislepsiu?
Jeigu kilčiau i dangu, ten esi, jei nužengsiu i pragarus rasiu.
Jei aušrines sparnus igyčiau ir gyvenčiau jūros pakrantej, net ir ten Tavo rankos vadžiotu, dešinioji Tavo paremtu.
Jeigu tarčiau: “Teapgaubia tamsa, ir šviesa naktimi tepavirsta.”
Tau bet kokios sutemos šviesios.
Kas tamsu, Tau visai netamsu, o naktis kaip diena Tau nušvinta.
Tau bet kokios sutemos šviesios.
2 Lacrimosa
Mindaugas Urbaitis
Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus, Huic ergo parce Deus.
Pie Jesu Domine dona eis requiem. Amen.
3 Hymne à St Martin
Augustinas
O virum ineffabilem, Nec labore victum, Nec morte timendum, Qui nec mori timuit, Nec vivere recusavit. Alleluia.
Whither shall I go then from Thy Spirit: or whither shall I go then from Thy presence?
If I climb up into heaven, Thou art there: if I go down to hell, Thou art there also.
If I take the wings of the morning: and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there also shall Thy hand lead me: and Thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, Peradventure the darkness shall cover me: then shall my night be turned to day.
Yea, the darkness is no darkness with Thee, but the night is as clear as the day: the darkness and light to Thee are both alike.
Psalm 139:6-11
tr. from the Book of Common Prayer
Full of tears will that day be When from dust and ashes
Guilty Man rises again to be judged: So spare him, Lord God.
Faithful Jesus, Lord, give them rest.
Amen.
from the Requiem Mass tr. Henry Howard
O man beyond description, Undefeated by labour, Unfearful in death, Who neither feared death, Nor renounced life. Alleluia.
Oculis et manibus
In caelum semper intentus, Invictum ab oratione Spiritum non relaxabat. Alleluia.
Martinus Abrahae sinu
Laetus excipitus: Martinus, hic pauper et modicus, Caelum dives ingreditur, Hymnis caelestibus honoratus. Alleluia.
With eyes and hands
Ever stretched towards heaven, He did not let slip
His indomitable spirit from praying. Alleluia.
Martin, joyful to be welcomed
In the bosom of Abraham: Martin, this poor and modest man, Enters heaven a rich man Honoured with celestial hymns. Alleluia. after Sulpicius Severus (360-425) tr. Henry Howard
Nolemtība (Destiny: Symphony for Choir)
Pēteris Plakidis
4 Piesaukšana
Kuries
slīpa lietū, mana uguns, kuries.
Buries pāri senču kauliem, mana sirdsapzina, buries. Kur ies mana tauta, mana dūša tur ies.
Turies debesīs un zemē, mana nolemtība, turies.
Calling Up
Burn
in sloping rain, my flame, burn.
Wade on through the bones of ancestors, my conscience, wade on through. Wherever my nation goes, that’s where my courage will be.
Stand firm in the sky, on earth, my destiny, stand firm.
5 Izkal Pakavu Akmens Zirgam
Izkal pakavu akmens zirgam.
Ēze ir krūtīs.
Kur nemšu dzelzi?
Pierīgas purā, sarkanā rāvā, no senču asinīm satecinātā.
Izkal pakavu nelaimīgiem. Lakta pats būšu. Kur nemšu āmuru?
Paskaties, nelga, Debesīs augšā –liktens stāv zvērojošs ar zibens acīm.
6 Vajadzētu
Vajadzētu tik gaišu dziesmu
kā pērkons
pār smaragda zalo un pirmo zāli.
Tik gaišu
kā acu liesmu, kad izbeidzies karš starp brāli un brāli.
A Shoe For The Stone Horse
Forge a horseshoe for a steed of stone. The fire is in the breast. But where shall I get iron?
In the marsh on the outskirts of Riga In the red stagnant waters red from our ancestors’ blood that has spilt there. Forge a horseshoe for the unfortunate ones. Let me be the anvil. Where will the hammer come from?
Look up to the skies, you fool –that’s where your destiny lies with lightning in its eyes.
There Should Have Been
There should have been a song as bright as a flash of lightning over newly sprouted grass as green as emerald.
As bright as the flame in the eyes, when the war has ceased, the war between two brothers.
Vieglu kā vītola lapotnē iemestu saulstara liesmu.
Kā lietus asaru, kas no cilvēku asarām izmazgā sāli.
Vajadzētu briesmīgi.
Bet man jādzied baltais, kad – balts, un – melns, kad ir melns.
Nekad man nebūs citādu tiesību.
7 Apvārdošana
Apstājies, ašā bulta, neskrien uz mazu putnu, atgriezies malkas škilā, aizsācies atkal dzīva, izplauksti zalās lapās, aizziedies medus ziedā, neskrien uz mazu putnu, vinam ir mazi bērni, vēl mazināki.
As light as a ray of sun cast onto a willow’s leafage. As a tear of rain, that washes the salt out of human tears. There should have been, I need it badly. But I have to sing of white when it is white, and of black when it is black. I will never have other rights.
Magic Stop, arrow fast, don’t fly towards that tiny bird, return to the chip of wood, come live again, unfold in leaves so green, blossom out in a honey flower, don’t fly towards that tiny bird, it has its own fledglings, even smaller.
Basām kājām dvēselīte rasas rītā
iznāk skatīties, kā mazai zīlei milzīgs ozols
iznāk.
Nav ne lielu, nav ne mazu
šajā dzīvē, iznāk –ja ir liela mīlestība, tad viss lielais
iznāk.
Basām kājām mīlestība acu zilgmē
iznāk, lai ne pašam, bet lai savai
dzimtai zemei
iznāk.
Ja nav citam, tad nav pašam
mīlestības, iznāk, ja ir sirdī labā gaisma, tad viss mīlais
iznāk.
Earth
Barefoot a soul comes out on a dewy morning to watch a tiny acorn grow into a big oak. Nothing’s big and nothing’s small in this life, it just happens so –if a love is really big, big things are free to happen.
Barefoot a love comes out into the azure of an eye, so that there would be love enough for your motherland and not just for yourself.
If there’s no love you can give to others there’s no love for yourself, so it happens, if there is a flame of kindness in your heart, everything comes out in love.
Basām kājām dvēselīte rasas rītā iznāk skatīties, kā mazai zīlei milzīgs ozols iznāk.
Barefoot a soul comes out on a dewy morning to watch a tiny acorn grow into a big oak.
Ojārs Vācietis (1933-1983)
tr. Musica Baltica
Svjatki (Choir Concerto)
Galina Grigorjeva
9 Slava!
Slava Bogu na nebe, slava!
Gosudaryu nashemu na sey zemle, slava!
Chtoby nashemu Gosudaryu ne starit’sya, slava!
Yego tsvetnomu plyat’yu ne iznashivat’sya, slava!
Yego dobrym konyam ne iz”ezhivat’sya, slava!
Yego vernym slugam ne izmenivat’sya, slava!
Chtoby pravda byla na zemle, slava!
Krashe solntsa svetla, slava!
Chtob tsarëva zolota kazna, slava!
Vek byla polnym polna, slava!
Chtoby bol’shim-to rekam, slava!
Slava byla do morya, slava!
Malym-to rechkam do mel’nitsy!
A etu pesnyu my khlebu poyëm, khlebu chest’ vozdayëm, starym lyudyam na utesheniye, dobrym lyudyam na uslyshan’ye!
Slava!
Glory!
Glory to God in heaven, glory!
Glory to our Lord in the whole earth, glory!
May our Lord never grow old, glory!
May his brilliant robes never wear out, glory!
May his beloved steed never die, glory!
May his chief servants never betray him, glory!
May truth flourish in the whole world, glory!
May the sun shine over the world, glory!
May the royal treasury be ever full of gold, glory!
May the great rivers run graciously to the sea, glory!
And the little streams down to the mill. We sing to honour the grain, A comfort to the old, and for good people to hear!
Glory!
8 Zeme
10 Svyatyy Vecher
Vot doma sam Pan khozyain.
Khot’ zhe on doma – nam ne kazhetsya, nam ne kazhetsya, pribirayetsya!
Svyatyy vecher, dobryy vecher. Vstavay, vstavay s posteli, otkryvay dveri!
Oy budet k tebe troyechka gostey. Pervyye gosti – zharkoye Solnyshko, drugiye gosti – Yasen Mesyachko, tret’i gosti – Droben Dozhdichek. Svyatyy vecher, dobryy vecher.
Oy, proydi, proydi, troichna v nochi.
Oy, smochi, smochi zhito pshenitsu vsyakuyu.
Oy zhe bud’ zdorov, da s Novym Godom!
Da so vsem rodom!
Svyatyy vecher, dobryy vecher.
11 Podblyudnaya
Za dezhoy sizhu, pyaterney vozhu.
Yeshchë posizhu, yeshchë povozhu.
Komu zhe my speli, tomu dobro!
Komu vynetsya, tomu sbudetsya.
Stoyat sani snaryazhënnyye i polost’yu podernuty.
Tol’ko sest v sani, da poekhati.
Holy Evening
See, the Lord himself is at home. He is indeed at home.
Make no mistake, it is clear!
Blessed evening, holy evening. Get up from your bed and open the doors!
You can expect three guests:
First – the hot sun.
Second – a bright moon, and Third – the kindly rain.
Blessed evening, holy evening. But let them come during the night.
O, water our wheat.
Blessed evening, holy evening. Be fit for the New Year!
For the New Year, With all creation.
Blessed evening, holy evening.
Komu zhe my speli, tomu dobro!
Komu vynetsya, tomu sbudetsya. Sidela ya u okoshechka, zhdala k sebe milogo, ne mogla dozhdatisya, spat’ lozhilasya, utrom vstala, spokhvatilasya, glyazhu na sebya – vdova. Komu my poëm, tomu dobro, tomu dobro budet, sbudetsya, ne minuyetsya.
Idët Smert’ po ulitse, neset blin na blyudtse. Komu zhe my speli, tomu dobro!
Komu kol’tso vynetsya, tomu sbudetsya, skoro sbudetsya, ne minuyetsya.
12 Oy, Kalyudka!
If we have sung to you, You’ll have good luck!
If you endure, your wish will come true!
I sat by the window, Waiting for my dear one to come. I couldn’t go on waiting. I lay down to sleep.
I got up in the morning and suddenly remembered I looked at myself: I am a widow.
If we sing, you’ll have good luck, You’ll have good luck, Your wish will come true, without fail!
Death is walking down the street Carrying a pancake in a little dish.
If we have sung to you, you’ll have good luck!
If you get the ring, your wish will come true. It will come true soon, without fail!
O, Kalyudka!
Guessing Song
All alone I sit by the bowl And mix the dough.
I’ll sit a bit longer And mix a bit longer.
If we have sung to you, You’ll have good luck!
If you endure, your wish will come true!
The sleigh stands all ready, Covered with a cloth, Just sit in the sleigh And off you go!
Za rekoyu za bystroyu okh, lesa tam dremuchiye.
Oy, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
V tekh lesakh ogni goryat, ogni goryat velikiye!
Oy, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
Vokrug ogney skam’i stoyat, skam’i stoyat dubovyye.
Oy, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
Na tekh skam’yakh dobry molodtsy.
Oy, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
Za rekoy dobry molodtsy,
Over the swirling river
There you’ll find a dreaming forest.
O, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
Huge fires burn in that forest,
O, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
Around those fires there are oak benches, And on those benches, sit handsome young men.
O, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
Beyond the river the fair youths
Sing songs to beautiful little Kalyudka!
O, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
Among them there’s an old man,
krasny devitsy poyut pesni Kalyudushke!
Oy, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
V sredine ikh starik sidit, on tochit svoy bulatnyy nozh, kotel kipit goryuchiy.
Vozle kotla kozël stoit, khotyat kozla zarezati!
Oy, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
Oy ty, bratets Ivanushka!
Ty vyydi, vyprygil, bratets Ivanushka!
Ya i rad byl by vyprygnut’, goryuch kamen’ k kotlu menya tyanet, zhëltyye peski serdtse vysosali!
Oy, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
Chto Nastanet Vesna
Chto nastanet vesna da krasnaya, da proydët zima kholodnaya. Rastayut snega belyye, protekut ruch’i tekuchiye.
Narastët trava muravaya, razov’yutsya kusty gustyye, priposleyut sladkiya gody. Vy lyubeznyye moy podruzhen’ki, vy poydëte v les za yagody, da posmotrite moyu devich’yu krasotu –ne sidit li ona pod kustikom, ne pletet li ona rubchistu kosu.
Narastët trava muravaya, razov’yutsya kusty gustyye. Oy lyuli!
Vy lyubeznyye moy podruzhen’ki, vy poydëte v les za yagody, da posmotrite moyu devich’yu krasotu –ne pletet li ona rubchistu kosu
Sharpening his knife.
The pot’s boiling, And just nearby there’s a goat. They plan to slaughter it!
O, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
O, little brother, Ivanushka, Get out, jump out, Little brother, Ivanushka!
“I’d love to jump out, but The hot stones draw me to the pot, And yellow sands have sucked out my heart.”
O, Kalyudka, Kalyudka!
14 Khristu rozhdënnomu
Stan’ Davide s guslyami, bryatsay pesni dnes’ s nami.
Stan’ Davide s guslyami, angel’skiye liki
sovmestno s cheloveki.
Khristu rozhdënnomu igrayem i veselo spevayem.
Dnes’ vo rozhdestvo Yego.
O Tvortsa nashego
Proslavlyayem.
Solntse, luna i zori svetyashi s vyshney goryyu
To the Newborn Christ
Come, join David with his harp, Sing with us.
Spring Is Coming
Beautiful spring is on its way, Cold winter ends.
All the white snows will melt, Streams will flow again, Grass will grow, And dense bushes will appear. Good years are on the way. My dear girls, You’ll be going to the forest to pick berries. Look out for my beautiful lady, Is she perhaps sitting under a bush, Braiding her flowing hair? Grass will grow, And dense bushes will appear. Oy lyuli! My dear girls, You’ll be going to the forest to pick berries, Look out for my beautiful lady, Is she perhaps sitting under a bush, Braiding her flowing hair?
Khristu rozhdënnomu igrayem i veselo spevayem.
Dnes’ vo rozhdestvo Yego.
Tvortsa nashego
Proslavlyayem.
Knyazi lyudey slavnyye,
v trubakh, guslyakh, timpanakh, glasakh, strunakh, organakh, vsyakoye dykhan’ye
izday vosklitsan’ye.
Dnes’ vo rozhdestvo Yego.
Tvortsa nashego
Proslavlyayem.
Slava!
Yunoshi, startsy, letni devitsy mlado tsvetni.
V trubakh, guslyakh, timpanakh, glasakh, strunakh, organakh, dnes’ vo rozhdestvo Yego.
Yako Tvortsa nashego Proslavlyayem.
Slava!
Come, join David with his harp, Angels’ voices, Blending with our own. We make music for baby Jesus, And sing with joy, For this is his birthday! We bless his endeavours. With the sun, the moon, And beams from on high, We play for Christ, And sing with joy.
For this is his birthday, We bless his endeavours.
O, lords and fine people, Praise him with the sound of the trumpet, Praise him with the harp and lyre, Praise him with timbrel and dancing, Praise him with the strings and pipe, Praise him with the clash of cymbals, Praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath, praise him, For this is his birthday!
We bless his endeavour.
Glory!
Young men and old men, Young girls and women, Praise him with trumpets, harps, Lyres, cymbals and organs, For this is his birthday!
We bless his endeavours.
Glory!
trad. Russian
tr. Andrew Colin and Lydia Mazzotti13
Cantus Maris Baltici
Gabriel Jacksonthe fate of the baltic countries
the fate of the baltic countries will be determined by russia the fate of russia will be determined by japan the fate of japan will be determined by the pacific ocean
the abyss of tuscarora
fate rises from the east like a deceitful sun
Andres Ehin (b.1940)
tr. J. Talvet and H.L. Hix
From Birute HillRolling wind-driven breakers ashore from the west, Splash my breast with the chill of your waves, or to me Grant your power with which my own heart could express All its strivings as grandly as you, Baltic Sea!
How I longed for you, infinite one! How I yearned
Just to hear your mysterious voices resound! You alone understand me, because you have scorned Through the ages to silence your breakers unbound!
Are you sad? So am I! And I do not know why; I just pray all the storms to howl louder for me: Though they offer no tranquil forgetfulness, I Always strive to be closer to you, Baltic Sea!
Maironis (1862-1932)
tr Lionginas Pažūsis
By The SeasideThe sea is kin to my flesh –salt like tears and blood. The sea is kin to my thought –luring further, ever further. The sea is kin to my strength –no burden too heavy to bear.
Kin to my helplessness –she does not run from a safe shore.
Kin she to my solitude –who else could be more sadly silent?
Kin to my restless mind –her shining waves never sleep.
Kin to my tenderness and dreams –at the horizon she clasps the sky.
Kin to my hot-headed recklessness –singing she gives herself to every gale.
Kin to my curiosity –she calls to parts unknown.
To my thirst – she drinks all streams but never drinks her fill.
I fall to my knees in front of the sea; in you I recognize my mother –Teach me what I still don’t possess: the majestic peace of your depths!
Mirdza Bendrupe (1910-1995)
tr Margita Gailitis
The sea doesn’t want to make waves. The wind doesn’t want to blow. Everything wants balance, peace, and seeking peace has no peace.
If you understand this, does it change something? Can you be peaceful even where there is no peace?
Is it a different kind of peace? Questions all over again. Answers are few, as always. The wave goes up and down. A flock of birds flies down to NNE. This, too, is a wave. Thought is waves, too.
Jaan Kaplinski (b.1941)
tr. by the author with Fiona Sampson
...et similiter mare Balticum, quae omnia reflectunt ad orientem...
...and likewise, the Baltic Sea: all face East…
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
15
The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain
Founded in 1983 as a single choir of 100 of the nation’s best young singers, NYCGB now provides a wide range of musical experience for over 750 young people aged 9-28. The educational structure comprises four Junior Choirs, “Cambiata Voices” for boys at the voice change, two Training Choirs, the National Youth Choir itself, for singers aged 16-22, and the world-renowned chamber choir, Laudibus. The National Youth Choir has an enviable reputation as one of the world’s most flexible vocal ensembles, and has performed with leading musicians all over the planet. The choir has an equally high profile in the UK, singing in Parliament, the National Gallery, the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall, several BBC Proms, TV documentaries and even the programme Airport, an FA Cup final and rugby internationals. In its commitment to new music, NYCGB has commissioned works by a great number of leading composers. For the choir’s 25th anniversary it commissioned a piece from
Mike Brewer OBE
A leading figure in choral music, Mike is in demand throughout the world for vocal and conducting workshops and as a guest conductor. Mike is series editor and arranger for a new series called “World Tour” for Faber Music (an NYCGB recording, Mike Brewer’s Word Tour (DCD34080) was released by Delphian in 2010). His books include the bestselling Kick-Start Your Choir, WarmUps, Improve Your Sight-Singing (with Paul Harris) and Fine-Tune Your Choir. Mike’s sets of African songs Hamba Lulu and Banuwa are performed
Eric Whitacre, premiered in collaboration with the King’s Singers. The choir subsequently toured with Whitacre in California, culminating in a concert of his music in Disney Hall, L.A.
NYCGB takes great pride in its ongoing recording series with Delphian, which regularly inspires accolades and five-star reviews. This includes discs of the music of Richard Allain (DCD34026) and Giles Swayne (DCD34033), an acclaimed disc of music by Schütz (DCD34043), and of works for multiple choirs (Sanctum est Verum Lumen, DCD34045). Forthcoming recordings include a disc of works by Górecki. Laudibus, NYCGB’s associated chamber choir, has recorded Song of Songs (DCD34042; a Classic FM Record of the Week), and music by Vaughan Williams (DCD34074; a Classic FM Disc of the Month). In 2010 Scotland at Night (DCD34060) won high praise; their first Christmas disc is scheduled for release in 2012. worldwide: Hamba can be found on YouTube in nearly 100 different versions. Mike is consultant for over 20 prize-winning UK choirs, and in 2008 led workshops for the TV competition Last Choir Standing. He wrote the song for the Olympic baton handover in August 2008, performed in 27 city centres across the UK. Mike Brewer is a gold medallist double bass player and was a Churchill Fellow for the year 2002-3. A special love is his work with NYCGB of which he has been musical director since 1983.
National Youth Choir on Delphian
Giles Swayne: Convocation
The National Youth Choir of Great Britain Laudibus
Mike Brewer conductor Michael Bonaventure organ
Stephen Wallace counter-tenor (DCD34033)
When a powerful team of new music exponents come together, magic will happen; when the music is by Giles Swayne, a composer whose light shines brilliantly in its own unique direction, the results will entrance. This disc offers a bracing sonic experience - vividly communicative music performed with rare verve, passion, and youthful vibrancy.
‘Delicious precision: most of the world’s choirs would die for their clean, blazing sound.’ - The Times
‘Swayne is a master’ - The Independent Sanctum est Verum Lumen: Multi-part music for choir
National Youth Choir of Great Britain
Mike Brewer conductor (DCD34045)
Tallis’s monumental Spem in Alium is one of the greatest glories of Western polyphony, and its pre-echoes and aftershocks reverberate through all the other pieces on this disc. The massed voices of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain shed dazzling light on their multifaceted programme of polychoral jewels from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, interspersed with virtuoso tributes from three leading contemporary composers including Gabriel Jackson’s own 40-part motet.
‘A new piece by Gabriel Jackson lends this collection its title. Despite the funereal origins of the text, it’s a radiant, virtuoso essay and a touching homage to Tallis’s Spem in Alium ... Under Mike Brewer’s expert direction, the young voices of the National Youth Choir make properly massive impact.’
- The Sunday Times, October 2008
DCD34052