Voices of Angels Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble, Andrej Power, Lawrence Power, Christianne Stotijn

• Brett Dean (b. 1961):
• 1 Voices of Angels: I. Evocation 14:34
• 2 Voices of Angels: II. Different Realms 13:22
• Sofia Gubaidulina (b. 1931):
• 3 Ein Engel 06:35
• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943): 14 Romances, Op. 34:
• 4 14 Romances, Op. 34: No. 8, Muzyka 02:27
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750):
• 5 Vor deinen Thron tret' ich, BWV 668 (Arr. for Violin, Viola, Cello & Double Bass) 03:43
• Sofia Gubaidulina:
• 6 Meditation über den Bach Choral "Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit" (After Bach's BWV 668) 12:05
• Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883): 5 Gedichte für eine Frauenstimme, WWV 91 (Wesendonck Lieder):
• 7 5 Gedichte für eine Frauenstimme, WWV 91 (Wesendonck Lieder): No. 1, Der Engel 02:32
• Sergei Rachmaninoff:
• 8 12 Romances, Op. 21: No. 7, Zdes' khorosho 01:53
• Alfred Schnittke (1934 - 1998):
• 9 Hymn II 05:45
• Total Runtime 01:02:56

Info for Voices of Angels

The Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble is – as the name implies – based in Stockholm, and consists of five of the city's leading musicians. Project-based and often inviting guest performers, the SSE is known for its imaginative programmes built around a particular event or concept and bringing together music from various genres and eras. For its first release on BIS the ensemble has taken Brett Dean’s Voices of Angels as their point of departure, a work scored for the same forces as Schubert’s ‘Trout quintet’ and inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s first two Duino Elegies: ‘Angels (it’s said) are often unable to tell whether they move amongst the living or the dead.’ Dean’s work from 1996 opens a programme which ranges from Bach to Sofia Gubaidulina, and includes various scorings for between two and six performers. The angels reappear in songs by Wagner and Gubaidulina performed by Christianne Stotijn, one of the ensemble’s guests on this disc – but it is also safe to assume that they are standing around the heavenly throne which Bach approaches in the chorale prelude ‘Vor Deinen Thron tret ich hiermit’ – here transcribed for strings. The same prelude is the subject of Gubaidulina’s Meditation, while the disc closes with a work by Gubaidulina’s friend Alfred Schnittke, namely his Hymn for cello and double bass.

Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano
Andrej Power, violin
Lawrence Power, viola
Johannes Rostamo, cello
Rick Stotijn, double bass
Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano
Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble

Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble
Some forty years later we formed the Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble, with the hope of creating programmes that would give our audiences a healthier dose of Stockholm Syndrome; once we have captured them, we aim to offer them an opportunity to hear music set in a surprising and illuminating context and hopefully to heighten their listening experience.

Whilst not bound by size, style or genre, most of our concerts include the founding group of players. Often the programmes are built around an event, idea or concept. This narrative or thread (sometimes unspoken in the form of images and sometimes spoken in film and voice) allow us to compare and contrast music across all periods and styles. As a result we have performed music from Purcell to Bob Dylan and Messiaen to Radiohead collaborating with musicians such as Mar- gareta Bengtson, Olivia Chaney, Sebastien Dubé, Katarina Henryson, Svante Henryson, Gustav Lindgren, Ale Möller, Anne Sofie von Otter, Lisa Rydberg and juggler Jay Gilligan.

The ensemble has performed at the Delft, Riihimäki, Turku and Trondheim festivals and is a resident ensemble at the Change Music Festival in Sweden. It has been the subject of a documentary for Swedish TV and has its own concert series at Konserthuset in Stockholm.

Christianne Stotijn
Dutch mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn has won numerous awards, including the ECHO Rising Stars Award, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and the Nederlands Muziekprijs. A passionate interpreter of art songs, she collaborates with the pianists Joseph Breinl and Julius Drake, appearing in leading concert venues worldwide. As a soloist Christianne Stotijn has performed with orchestras including the Concertgebouworkest and the Boston and London Symphony Orchestras, working with conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Claudio Abbado and Iván Fischer. She has performed diverse world premières, by composers including Michel van der Aa and Thomas Adès.

Andrej Power
has served as principal leader of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra since 2014, having held the same position with the Norrköping Sym- phony Orchestra. He has appeared as a soloist with most Swedish orchestras and elsewhere in Europe, including the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as in the USA and China. Andrej Power began playing the violin at the age of three, making his début with a symphony orchestra at the age of ten and going on to study at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and at the Zurich University of the Arts.

Lawrence Power
gains constant plaudits around the world for his eloquent artistry and penetrating musicianship. He is regularly in- vited to perform with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouworkest, Bergen Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras. A fervent champion of contemporary music, Power has developed a large repertoire of new works by composers including Olga Neuwirth, Esa-Pekka Salonen and James MacMillan. In recital he has performed at venues such as the Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Centre (NY) collaborating with musicians including Simon Crawford-Phillips, Maxim Vengerov and Joshua Bell.

Booklet for Voices of Angels