AUGSTĀ DZIESMA | CANTICUM CANTICORUM

Kaspars Putniņš carried the idea in him for several years: to bring together into one musical cyle pieces composed in different early traditions and based on the Solomon’s Song of Songs which is known not only in the Christian and Judaic traditions, but also in the classical Islam and the mystical tradition of Sufism.

To create the album, the Latvian Radio choir collaborated with the Saraband ensemble, which was founded in Germany in 1986 by Vladimir Ivanov, a Bulgarian immigrant. The membership of the ensamble is changing and currently it consists of 23 musicians – singers, performers of early, classical and folk instruments from different places around the globe. They perform mainly instrumental music coloured by the medieval, Middle Eastern, Arab, Sufi, Sephardi and other musical schools. Each of Saraband’s albums is a thoughtful journey in a specific geographical, historical or spiritual direction.

The recording of Canticum Canticorum has received the Annual Latvian Music Recording Award “The Golden Microphone” in 2017 in as the best academic music album.

Egils Kaljo | Latvians Online | 10.2017.
"The ensemble Sarband and the Latvian Radio Choir, conducted by Kaspars Putniņš have created a rich tapestry of sounds for the meditative journey contained on Canticum Canticorum. With its blend of the spiritual and sacred, the modern and the ancient, Eastern and Western, and the harmonious and discordant, the collection of works included on the record create a very intimate and spiritual journey. The Latvian Radio Choir show again that they are adept interpreters of all kinds of music, and seamlessly blend together with Saraband in these spiritual works, with texts in many different languages, both ancient and modern. As a result, Canticum Canticorum is an engrossing musical meditation."

Composers | Vladimir Ivanoff, Mārtiņš Viļums, Santa Ratniece, Toivo Tulev, Lasse Thoresen, Bushra El-Turk

Latvian Radio Choir
Ensemble Sarband
conductor | Kaspars Putniņš