No British choir sings with the precision and vibrato-free purity of this brilliant group from Riga, so it’s no wonder Gavin Bryars has been inspired to work with them. This lovely CD draws partly on work by two Latvian composers, but Bryars’s own ecstatic brand of neomedievalism, adapting material from 13th – century Spanish manuscripts, is what powers it.

Gavin Bryar’s music and the special qualities of the Latvian Radio Choir fit one another like hand and glove. (..) Overall then an eminently collectable disc, beautifully sung and recorded from first note to last.

Operation: Orpheus does not obey rational analysis - it is rather a metaphysical adventure, a journey in spiritual world. In this instrumentation radio choir group imbues functions of both orchestra and choir transforming the performance into manifesto of the most powerful music instrument – the human voice. Professionalism and the explicit sound of the Radio Choir in the performance is to be envied, because it is full of individual colors as well as excellent joint sonority. It seems that every individual is functioning for him/herself and giving the right emphasis where it is needed.

(..) The beauty of this music is hardly disputable. Some commentators find his current style too simplistic, neo – Romantic and sentimental (..) but even they must acknowledge the superb performances here: clear, perfectly paced, beautifully balanced and sumptuously textured, with just the right pitch of emotion.

Vasks (b.1946) is to Latvia what Arvo Pärt is to Estonia: a musical conscience. (..) His Pater Noster strikes the calming, consoling tone. The Kyrie has a modern harmonic edge, the Gloria a quiet ardour, while a joyful Sanctus adds contrast. The Benedictus and Agnus Dei provide a mystic finale - to which the Latvian Radio Choir and Sinfonietta Riga under Sigvards Klava bring their own special mystique.  read more...

In the concert's first half, the Choir, conducted by Kaspars Putnins, demonstrated its versatility in a cappella works by contemporary composers. Firm discipline has formed this choir into one responsive organism, demonstrating a subtle and powerful virtuosity. Two pieces by Knut Nystedt and Sven-David Sandström - inspired by Bach and Purcell respectively - opened up spacious vistas as the audience held its breath in awe. Hopefully, the Latvian Radio Choir will join CoCo again. And again.

Though it has been in use for some 900 years, it is probably safe to say that Ewenny Priory has never heard a finer choir than the magnificent Latvian Radio Choir. The choir boasts (though their unassuming manner is a million miles away from any such action) a beautiful ensemble sound, perfect intonation, immense flexibility, outstanding clarity, tremendous commitment, thrilling sopranos, rich altos, powerful male voices, superb soloists . and just about every other virtue you could look for. Their performance was quite remarkable and it is hard to envisage any of this music being performed with greater precision, commitment, control and feeling.

This is probably one of the finest choirs in the world today and I was able to experience at first hand the extraordinary beauty of its choral sound, the precision of its ensemble, the perfection of its intonation, the subtlety of its phrasing, as well as the striking individuality of its soloists.

….the eight members of Kaspars Putnins's Latvian Radio Chamber Singers are given plenty of chances to display their stunningly pure vocal qualities as they drift round the stage like characters sleepwalking through their own fractured memories. read more...

L'un des deux choeurs professionnels de Lettonie. En France, on les connaīt notamment pour leur participation annuelle au Festival de Radio France et Montpellier ou ils se produisent souvent en rmation < renforcée > dans des opéras ou des oratorios de vastes proportions. A la base, le Choeur, fondé en 1940, ne comprend pourtant que 24 membres, placés sous la direction de Sigvards Klava et Kaspars Putnins, et c'est dans cette onfiguration qu'ils se produiraient dans le cadre du festival letton. Ils abordent tous les répertoires (a 24 mais aussi en formation réduite : 6, 8, 12, 16... selon les oeuvres), leur spécialité restant la musique contemporaine dans laquelle ils sont absolument impressionnants de technicité et de maītrise, jusque dans les pages les plus diaboliquement écrites. La qualité est largement équivalente, voire supérieure, a celle des plus célebres choeurs de chambre ayant pignon sur rue en France aujourd'hui.

The sound of the world’s symphony orchestras may well be losing national identity as a handful of fashionable conductors, unsure of which country thay are in, make them all sound the same. But the great choirs of the world maintain a strong national identity, and the Latvian visitors to the Huddersfield festival must be numbered among them ... The ovation demanded a return visit.

... some words of high appraisal for the Radio Choir from Riga (Latvia). 80 artists, mainly very young ones, who managed equally well to convey both the mourning of the oppressed people and the hymns of triumph or the divine invocation, gave us a possibility to live moments full of beauty and emotion.

... The small ensemble produced a full sound without being heavy or pompous. It was produced with a marvelously light touch, gloriously radiant sopranos, forceful male voices, and extreme clarity in the intricate textures of Carpantier’s Te Deum and Bach cantatas ...

... And remember the Latvian Radio Choir, a flexible ensemble from the aspect of dynamic range, very accurate in intonation and equipped with bright soprano voices. The audience’s enthusiastic applause were replied by an encore of the choral “Gloria” from Bach Cantata 140.

“So much so that, just four years ago, the Latvian Radio Choir set up a Festival of New Latvian Choral Music. In their first visit to the UK, with their two conductors Sigvards Klava and Kaspars Putnins, theyshared some of its first fruits with an enthusiastic audience at the Covent Garden Festival ... read more...

... On Sunday afternoon the voices of 8 young singers who make up a Vocal Ensemble invaded the St. Michel Chapel of Grandmont. In this magnificent place where one feels the presence of the history everywhere, the Latvian singers' performance comprised opuses from the XVI century (Thomas Luis de Victoria) to the XX century (Messiaen and Latvian composers unknown in France but whose music is marvellous and represents a different culture and a different approach to the world. read more...

Excerpt from interview with A. Pärt. read more...

Each time it happens that after the concert a journalist who has to write about music suppose that his job is absolutely useless. The same has happened with me after in Montpellier when I have left the St. Peter Cathedral after the concert of ecclesiastic music of Latvian Radio Chorus. The performance has been beautiful. read more...