Amsterdam Sinfonietta * Spiegel Im Spiegel [New CD]

On Spiegel i'm Spiegel, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, Candida Thompson, Martina Batic, Hulya Keser and Tim Posner perform a program of Baltic and English compositions, wherein space and time blur. The title of this album is from Arvo Part's meditative work of the same name, Spiegel i'm Spiegel, which is performed in two separate versions bookending the album, embracing the concept of the mirror. Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis mirrors the Renaissance in the 20th century. Works by Estonian composers Veljo Tormis and Lepo Sumera have yet another spiritual essence, as shamanistic primal cries resound in Tormis' epic choir work Curse upon Iron. Latvian composer Peteris Vasks' Plainscapes evokes the vast expanses of the Baltic plains.