Godár: Mater
Published:
COMPOSERS: Godár
LABELS: ECM Records
WORKS: Mater
PERFORMER: Iva Bittová (voice), Milo? Valent, (violin, viola); Bratislav Conservatory Choir/Dusan Bill; Solamente Naturali/Marek tryncl
Godár, like Arvo Pärt, employed serial techniques until he began to
explore early music and, also like
Pärt, has evolved a sound world
which, though thoroughly pervaded
with echoes of medieval and
Renaissance music, speaks directly
to contemporary sensibilities.
This cantata, a meditation on the
archetypes of Woman and Mother,
originated as six independent pieces
composed between 1997 and 2005.
Sometimes that shows. ‘Luspavanky’
(2001-03) fits least easily: the
opening section most obviously
acknowledges a debt to Pärt’s
example when tart upper strings
cut across the stately chant, and the
final part includes turns of phrase
and harmonies that might have been
penned by Andrew Lloyd-Webber.
In the context they stick out like the
proverbial. So does the Tudor dance
music of ‘Regina Coeli’ but it’s so
charming that you don’t mind.
Mostly Mater convinces as a
coherent whole.
The atmosphere
of timeless, serenely enraptured
mysticism is maintained beautifully,
particularly in the ‘Magnificat’
(2003) with its gorgeous vocal line
over ghostly tolling and string drone.
Being on ECM, the sound is
predictably impeccable, doing full
justice to Godár’s ravishing scoring
and the superb performances: Bittova
will break your heart in the ‘Stabat
Mater’ (2001).
