“I must say yet again that considering the small size of the three Baltic States they have produced a number of world-class composers whose contribution to music history is slowly being unveiled… it was fascinating to read violinist Piet Koornhof’s booklet notes which he begins by explaining why he seeks music “that is off the beaten path” giving the reason as both wanting to “share the freshness of new discovery” as well as the fact that he feels that recording yet another performance of a work from the standard repertoire would add nothing new to it. If I change the word performance to piece of writing then his motivation for seeking out works such as those on the disc are much the same as mine for choosing to review those discs I do. Piet Koornhof writes that all four composers on his disc “share a fundamental conviction that music has the power to transcend suffering and heal the human spirit”… That conviction is certainly fully in evidence in all the pieces here and is what makes them so attractive to the listener. Both Koornhof and Thomas Hecht are excellent conduits for the music of Balys Dvarionas… The second composer on their disc is Georgian Giya Kancheli whose music is finding much greater exposure than hitherto and deservedly so for it is quite unique. … His piece entitled Time…and again is a wonderful and ethereally beautiful work that expresses feelings of nostalgia and loss in the most unmistakeable way. It is an incredibly powerful work and there is a luminosity that shines within the music which I found made my hair stand on end with its hugely effective evocation of those feelings he seeks to describe. Beauty is another key feature of all the works on this disc and that is illustrated in Peteris Vasks’ fabulous piece Music for a summer evening for solo piano which evokes the quietness of the end of a summer’s day and which incorporates some echoes of folk music which further enhance the feeling of timelessness. … The duo of Koornhof and Hecht bring this music vividly to life in sympathetic performances that serve it well and anyone who, like Piet Koornhof and I, relishes new discoveries will find…all that is best in music from the Baltic and beyond.” —Steve Arloff, MusicWeb International
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