De Profundis, the new album from Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, receives five stars from Audiophile Audition. It's a program "of such sheer delight and exquisite beauty that I felt emotionally ravished when it was over," raves the reviewer. "One of the best collections of its kind that I have ever heard." The album is a Pick of the Week on WNYC's Soundcheck and CD of the Week from KBAQ, which says the music creates "a deep feeling of hope."
De Profundis, the latest Nonesuch album from Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, receives a perfect five stars from Audiophile Audition. On the new album, Kremer has "put together a program of music for the Kremerata Baltica of such sheer delight and exquisite beauty," raves reviewer Steven Ritter, "that I felt emotionally ravished when it was over."
The music resonates "with a passion and magnificence that leaves one wilted at the conclusion," Ritter exclaims. From the "terrific" and "scintillatingly gorgeous" Passacaglia by Pärt to the Pelecis piece "Flowering Jasmine," which brought Ritter to tears, "all are beautiful, one of the best collections of its kind that I have ever heard."
The review concludes: "This is a fantastic album, played to the hilt by the Kremerata Baltica, and you will love it every bit as much as me."
Read the complete review at audaud.com.
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De Profundis is featured as a Pick of the Week from Soundcheck, on New York NPR member station WNYC.
"Kremer’s new album with his band is called De Profundis, and is full of works that in some way echo the cry of Psalm 130—'de profundis' or 'out of the depths' I cry to you," says Soundcheck host John Schaefer. "De Profundis is about profound emotions, writes Gidon Kremer. But the album is by no means a heavy affair." He cites as an example of this the piece "Flowering Jasmine" by Pelecis, which, Schaefer says, "has a serene, almost Zen-like atmosphere."
You can hear that piece and more of what Schaefer has to say about Pick of the Week De Profundis from yesterday's episode of Soundcheck now online at wnyc.org.
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De Profundis is also the CD of the Week at Arizona NPR member station KBAQ. "Gidon Kremer has taken me on so many wonderful adventures," says KBAQ's Sterling Beeaff. "Some of Kremer's invitations were to travel through what looked like barren deserts or dangerous jungles, but despite what the musical places may have looked like from the journey's outer edge, I always came back safely with my soul full of things I'd never seen before and my head full of musical insights I might have missed had Gidon Kremer not gone first and said: 'Look what I found."
Beeaff goes on to describe Kremer as "a champion of the sinews of music, those things that make the old new and the new familiar and surprising."
He says that, while Kremer denies making any overt political statement through his latest album, "It will be hard to separate the genesis of this creative program and its marvelous musicianship from at least ideology."
Beeaff explains: "De Profundis means 'out of the depths, I cry to you' from the 130th psalm, and it's inspired musicians and artists for hundreds of years. The music here—Sibelius, Schubert, Arvo Pärt, Shostakovich, Bach, and others—is assembled to create a deep feeling of hope from the despair of human experience."
You can hear much more, including excerpts from the album, at kbaq.org.
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Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica begin a tour of the United States at Seattle's Benaroya Hall at the end of the month. For tour information, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. To pick up a copy of De Profundis and receive the complete album as high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s at checkout, head to the Nonesuch Store.
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