Search - Helsinki Chamber Choir, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra :: Lindberg: Graffiti; Seht die Sonne

New and fine from Lindberg

George Grella | Brooklyn | 03/25/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A surprisingly strong new release of music from Lindberg. His music has always had a rugged strength to it, and that's still here, but what's surprising is that those qualities are undiminished even though these pieces seem to mark a move to a more transparent, tonal and generally more accessible idiom. His previous work, uniformly fine, has been uncompromising in its harmonic complexity and challenging sonic quality. These two works are more immediately attractive to the ear and still involving and exciting.



Choral music is essentially a new venture, and GRAFFITI is an excellent work. He sets the ancient text with rich music that really supports the expression of the words; by turns grand, dark, raucous, funny, wistful and vulgar. At the end, the piece trails off into a captivating and mysterious sense of the pending doom of Pompeii, the source of the words. The music is full of energy and color, put together with taste, intelligence, imagination and an ear for what sounds good. This is even truer for Seht die Sonne, essentially a symphony in three parts. It has a grand Romatic sweep to it, the music frequently working it's way out of churning depths into resonant, bright textures. There's a sense of drama, of moving from one state to the next, and a satisfying excitement and emotional force. Excellent playing by the Finnish Radio Symphony under Sakari Oramo. Lindberg may be summing up all he's done before and moving into new territory, and the promise of this CD is one of the most exciting things about it."