Cappella Amsterdam & Daniel Reuss - Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Cappella Amsterdam and its artistic leader Daniel Reuss present their third Pentatone album with a recording of Alfred Schnittke’s Psalms of Repentance. Schnittke composed the piece in 1988 to commemorate the Christianisation of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in 1988, and based it on anonymous Russian texts from the 16th century about guilt and repentance. It is one of the most impressive large-scale works for a cappella choir written in the twentieth century, setting intensely emotional texts to equally expressive music, and approaching centuries-old Orthodox musical traditions through the lens of late twentieth-century music. This recording uses the original manuscript, which differs in multiple ways from the published score, resulting in an interpretation that aims to be closer to the composer’s intentions.

Since its foundation in 1970, Cappella Amsterdam has shown an exceptional mastery of contemporary and early vocal music, with acclaimed excurses to Romantic repertoire as well. Daniel Reuss has been Artistic Leader of Cappella Amsterdam for over three decades now, and has worked with several renowned choirs and ensembles. Their PENTATONE debut album In Umbra Mortis (2021) won an Edison Klassiek Award, and was followed by David Lang: the writings in 2022.

Tracklist:
01. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: I. Adam sat weeping at the gates of paradise
02. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: II. O wilderness, gather me
03. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: III. That is why I live in poverty
04. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: IV. My soul, my soul
05. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: V. O Man, doomed and wretched
06. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: VI. When they beheld the ship that suddenly came
07. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: VII. Oh my soul, why are you not afraid
08. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: VIII. If you wish to overcome
09. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: IX. I have reflected on my life as a monk
10. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: X. Christian people, gather together!
11. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: XI. I entered this life of tears a naked infant
12. Schnittke: Psalms of Repentance: XII. (wordless)


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