Song About Latvian Rivers

2021

17.03.2023

LMIC 146

The synergy on this album between three personalities – poet Inese Zandere, composer Raimonds Pauls and conductor Ints Teterovskis – has become one of the ports of call in the BALSIS Youth Choir’s “river story”, a special journey that it embarked on already a decade ago. Songs About Latvian Rivers features a lesser-known cycle of eight a cappella choral songs composed by Pauls with poetry by Zandere. Also special is the participation of both artists – with Pauls at the piano and Zandere reading – on River Poetry, the last track on the album.

Teterovskis is convinced that as long as Zandere continues writing about rivers and as long as young people respond to Latvian choral music, BALSIS (which means ‘voices’ in Latvian) will continue to flow along smaller and larger rivers to wider waters.

"This is a very long-awaited album. Several “generations” of our choir have already sung the River Songs cycle. A constantly changing line-up is characteristic of youth choirs, but this also generates new musical ideas. It’s wonderful that every time we learn a song anew, we rediscover it – in a different colour, with a different feeling. I’m happy and grateful to these young people that they trust Latvian choral music and not only want to but are also capable of immersing themselves in it and performing it brilliantly. I love developing new repertoire, but we regularly come back to this cycle and keep it in the choir’s core repertoire". - Ints Teterovskis

Kristiāna Vaickovska