Leoš Janáček (1854-1928), a Czech composer, rejected organized religion but found a profound natural spirituality in life, nature, the rhythms of the Slav peoples, and human love.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The works on this album reflect a new spiritual freedom, with composers seeking their own truths and expressing them in ways that often set them apart from their cultures.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Peter Sculthorpe (b. 1929), an Australian composer, incorporates influences from Aboriginal peoples and East Asia into his music, reflecting Australia's evolving cultural identity.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Arvo Pärt initially used Schoenbergian atonal serialism as musical 'resistance' against Soviet tyranny, but later shifted to a style of lucid simplicity inspired by Russian Orthodox Church music and medieval Catholicism.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Like Arvo Pärt, the English composer John Tavener (1944-2013) transitioned from complex modernism to a simpler style, drawing deep inspiration from the music and teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Federico Mompou (1893-1987), a Spanish or Catalan composer, focused almost entirely on piano miniatures, aiming for 'maximum expressiveness through minimum means,' influenced by Erik Satie.
Composer Biography
Arvo Pärt, born in Estonia, experienced his country annexed by Nazi Germany and then by Stalin's Soviet Union, where religion was proscribed.
