The Lebrecht Report - CD of the Week

Peter-Anthony Togni: Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae (ECM)

*****

"The Canadian composer Peter-Anthony Togni has a fascination shared by Stravinsky with the tolling cadences of the Prophet Jeremiah, who warned that the city would be destroyed for its sins and then lamented its fate in testimony and consolation. Of all the recorded offerings for Holy Week (see below), this is by some measure the most original and affecting that has come my way.

Beneath a mixed chorus, Togni bravely inscribes a bass clarinet as his only instrumentation. It is a brilliant decision. The lower registers conjure some of the tropes of Arabic music, while the higher wails hint at klezmer playfulness. The virtuoso clarinettist Jeff Reilly extends his cadenzas across the history of sound, from monotony to modernism, in a performance that is dominant and often hypnotic. Lydia Adams directs the Elmer Iseler Singers, with solo soprano Rebecca Whelan.

Putting on this record without reading the booklet, I was smitten by Togni’s atmospheric force, imposing a contemplative mood with a gloss of consolation that is the quest of all faiths at this time of year. There is something epiphanic about this music; resist it, if you can."
Norman Lebrecht; Tuesday, 30 March 2010 20:18

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