Dzintars: Songs of Amber

While I do agree that the booklet which comes with this CD could be better (a whole paragraph seems to be missing after the description is cut off mid-sentence!), the music contained within is otherworldly in its beauty. If you like your choral music very simple and pure (accompanied by either only one understated instrument, or acapella) you'd find this very enjoyable. Lovely bright-toned tracks with a few hauntingly dissonant gems by Vasks thrown in will give you goosebumps.

listening to Dzintars is an interesting and surprising experience. i'm not too versed on chorale cd's; but this is one that demands your attention. the voices are absolutely gorgeous. so beautiful at times that it seems unearthly. i first heard this group of singers on a label sampler cassette tape many years ago. i had found the tape in a used bin for one dollar and i thought it would be fun to listen to some international music in my old car. well, Dzintars was the first performer on the tape. and it was the song "Blow, Wind, Blow" (the first track on this cd). when i first heard it, i almost had to pull my car off the road. it is such a blindingly beautiful sound that it sent chills throughout my entire body. i listened to that song about 10 times in a row and i could never get enough. the next day, i bought their full length release. this cd is a mixture of the women performing traditional Latvian songs and some more modern material. i think that the folk songs have a much stronger impact than the modern songs (which seem to have alot of strange avant-garde sounding shrill dissonance at times...which can be cool). but the beauty contained in songs like "The Sun Moves Quickly", "Where have You Been, Brother?", and "Blow, Wind, Blow" are worth the price of this cd alone.

I have nothing but praise for the performance of Dzintars, a Latvian women's chorus, but I am disappointed in how badly this project has been put together. First of all, it is unclear beforehand exactly what is on this CD. I was hoping for a program of traditional folk songs from this corner of the world (which has an amazing wealth of folk music). It turns out to be a mixture of traditional and modern, which is fine - but not what I really wanted. The titles are all given in English, but the chorus sings (thankfully) in Latvian. There is an acoompanying booklet, but it has little useful information and there are no texts and translations. What were the producers thinking??? A program of sung music in a foreign language MUST have texts and translations. The music is lovely, but who knows what they are singing about? The listener has no access to anything beyond pretty sounds. The producers of this CD, Rykodisc, deserve the blame for this botched release.

I heard one of the tracks from this album on a sampler CD that I have since lost , and I was so completely enchanted I hunted down this CD. I wasn't disappointed. This is some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful choral music I have ever encountered-- and after six years it still hasn't gone stale on me. If you like choral music at all (maybe even if you don't), buy this album.

2003-03-11

I have had this album for a year now, and I am still just as amazed at it as I was when I peeled it out of its plastic wrap and set it in my cd player the first time. I can't put this music on and go wash dishes or sort laundry... I must sit and close my eyes and listen. It makes me want to go and buy a set of expensive headphones. This is a wonderful album, which I will force all of my friends to listen to, and which I strongly recommend to anyone who likes to listen to music.