Stephen Graham

The Holst singers respond well to the alliterative tests of the Estonian texts, clearly articulating the guttural and onomatopoeic sounds (for example bz bz bz, or ek-eo-eo) with a real narrative flair, and a sumptuous tone. Their conductor likewise strikes a fine balance between free-flowing Madrigal type performance, and the more streamlined ensemble performance required in songs like 'Waking the Birds' from Livonian Heritage, with its subtle clashes of major and minor seconds and thirds over a sustained droning bassline. The performers meet the quiet challenges of Tormis' music with flexibility and aplomb.

It is to the performers' credit that they manage to persuasively inhabit the characters and persona of these folk tales and scenes without falling into facile affectation or artifice.

The unavoidably nostalgic bent of the proceedings here (special credit must be given to the solo soprano singers Nicola Wookey and Katy Cooper, both of whom manage to invoke the persona of a young Estonian child with unexpected force) are again handled with sensitivity and intelligence by conductor and ensemble, whose interpretative consistency and insight is by now firmly established. This is a fine, fine disc of somewhat neglected choral treasures.

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