For fans of Baltic singing this upcoming broadcast on Latvian TV by the amazing youth choir Kamēr... may be of interest http://www.ltv.lv/lv/tieshraide/ambe...irmi/live.377/
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Excellent: a REAL choir, with a big range of subtle vocal textures, amazing diction, and projection. Can do it all from ppp to fff.
And deffo not a collection of soloists striving to out-shout the rest. -
They are, to my mind, one of the great choirs of Europe. They take it incredibly seriously and work incredibly hard - two rehearsals a week normally (plus individual singing lessons) but in the run-up to Amber Songs last month they were rehearsing 4/5 nights a week. The staging was done by a stage director (which is why it worked, unlike the preposterous "choralography" many choirs think they have to indulge in), the outfits were new for this project - everything is carefully thought out and beautifully executed. They are highly motivated, highly intelligent, hard-working and sophisticated young people who have very busy lives but for whom singing in Kamēr... is a fundamental part of their identity and something of which they are deeply, deeply proud.Originally posted by DracoM View Post
The extraordinary thing is they are not alone: when they were rehearsing on the Thursday night before the first Amber Songs concert (in the University of Latvia, in whose Great Hall this concert was held) on the floor above one of the university's seven choirs, Juventus, were also rehearsing and they were sounding fantastic too.Comment
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'Atvanojiet' appears to mean Sorry. Is this why I can't see what to click on?
And 'beigusies' means over ...It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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It's moved to here http://www.ltv.lv/lv/raksts/19.04.20...certs.id27994/Originally posted by french frank View PostComment
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Thanks - I was struggling a bit with the Latvian!Originally posted by Gabriel Jackson View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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Thanks Gabriel - an excellent choir indeed.
I assume that all the songs were in Latvian so I presume you had an English translation of the text of your setting of 'Neviens Putnis Ta neputa' (something about 'no birds' and 'foam' ??) (26.34 in the recording)
I wasn't really able to hear a distinctive national 'voice' in the songs - for me, they didn't have a particularly Spanish or Turkish or Polish 'feel' - but that's probably because of my limited musicological ear.
Only one or two of the sixteen composers a woman (Kasia Glowicka - Poland) ? Maybe Evija Skuke (Latvia) ?
Anyway, many thanks for introducing me to this excellent choir, Kamer, (which apparently means 'While' ?) and for opening yet another window on excellent music-making in the Baltic countries. I think the last piece they sang (Dziedot dzimu - Born singing) is a sort of choral national anthem, isn't it, sung at those huge gatherings of thousands of singers so beloved in Latvia ?Comment
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They are indeed all in Latvian. There were no texts or translations in the concert programme, presumably because most, if not all, of these folksongs are well-known. "Neviens putnis" means basically "no bird sings as sweetly as the wood dove, no boy is as nice as the neighbour boy, when it's cold he wraps me in fur to keep me warm, in the morning we are sad because one of us has to go and one of us must stay". I thought my piece sounded very English but Latvians thought it sounded very Latvian, so there you go!
The three dots in Kamēr... are important - it's shorthand for "while you are young, anything is possible".Comment
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