Latvian Radio Choir’s most recent studio recording features previously unavailable recordings of choral works by one of the most promintent Latvian composers, Pēteris Plakidis.

Pēteris Plakidis (1947-2017) is - and will remain - one of the most significant Latvian composers. He observed life with a keen, sharp gaze and echoed it in his music firmly, strictly, actively. He trod quietly and imperceptibly yet resolutely and decisively in the realm of the nation’s spirit (in composition, pedagogy, performance art, theatre and cinema).

He persisted and has endured. At first glance (or listen), Plakidis was a true instrumentalist, creating everything from miniatures to ambitious, voluminous works. In addition, an opus sparkling in unchecked humour would often swirl up next to his ever-substantial, frequently tense, contradictory works. While these pieces were invitations to repose from the usual chain of ideas and intonations, in fact they usually served as supplements, escapades, a spark of fantasy. But quite soon a clear turn, or even push, towards vocal chamber music appeared.

The solo song, which had long lived in the vitality of enthusiastic lyrics, suddenly lit up with a completely different, tense and polemically intense character. The technical arsenal of this music is clear, secure, paradoxical, convincing.

The diatonic dominates unequivocally: polished, refined, rooted deeply in folk motifs. But it is a tonal dictionary that is fresh and pristine, one could even say unsullied. For example, the consistent use of an unencumbered diatonic tonal structure as ornamentation but also as a kind of network (in the main layout, the rhythmic expansion and the twofold expansion all at once!) is unexpected and surprising.

The result is a vibrating diatonic cluster - a seemingly neutral but potentially very active accumulation of sound.

The diatonic is the main meloharmonic choice here. It may be coloured in an infinite variety of nuance yet not lose its link to the primordial foundation. But this is all merely material for the composer’s imagination, thoughts, feelings, attitude and world-view. In short, Plakidis was able to express himself in the genre of choral music precisely in this way, and only in this way.