Vladimir Godar: Mater
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Music CD Cover
Composer: Vladimir GodarPerformer: Iva Bittova
Performer: Milos Valent
Performer: Marek Stryncl
Performer: Solamente Naturali
Performer: Bratislava Conservatory Choir
Performer: Dusan Bill
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-04-10
Music Label: Ecm Records
Soundtracks:
- Maykomashmalon (2005) for female voice, viola and violoncello (sung in Yiddish)
- Magnificat (2003) for female voice, choir, string orchestra and harp (sung in Slovak)
- Luspavanky (Lullabies) (2001/03) for female voice, two violins, two violas and violoncello (sung in Slovak)
- Ecce puer (1997) for female voice, two violins, viola, double-bass, harp, chitarrone and harpsichord (text by James Joyce, sung in English)
- Stala Matka (Stabat Mater) (2001) for alto, violin and chamber orchestra (sung in Slovak)
- Regina coeli (2003) for female voice, viola, choir, and chamber orchestra (sung in Latin)
- Maykomashmalon (2005) for female voice, viola and violoncello (sung in Yiddish)
Free Music Notes for Vladimir Godar: Mater
Free Music Review: Mater
Hit: 5 Stars
If you were brought up Catholic, and you like music a little off the beaten path like Gregorian chant, you'll enjoy this album. Probably the best piece is Regina Coeli, powerfully sung by Iva Bittova in Latin. A simple melody, it repeats, yet changes it's harmony, with variations on it's musical theme. Towards the end, Iva's voice explodes in an Alleluia that will take your breath away.
Several of the other songs are in Slovak; and are more moody and sonorous. The composer, Vladimir Godar, explains his music on the CD as the "protagonist who is a Woman-Mother (the Blessed Virgin) who gives Life (Magnificat), shapes (Lullabies), buries and mourns (Stabat Mater) and praises (Regina Coeli). A good summary, I thought.
Vladimir Godar: Mater Poster
Vladimir Godar, born in Bratislava in 1956, writes beautiful music. He is best known for his film scores in his own country, but these seven pieces, collectively called Mater, scored for female voice, chorus and Baroque string orchestra, should gain him fame on the same scale as a "classical" composer. There are hints of Arvo P?rt's devotional minimalism here, with Gorecki and Monteverdi not far behind, but the decidedly Slavic tinge to the music makes it unique. Working with the archtypes of "mother" and "woman," sometimes specifically the Virgin Mary, more often not, these are reflections on life, death and resurrection, sometimes in the textual forms of the well-known "Magnificat," "Stabat Mater" and "Regina coeli," but adding to them a Yiddish song, a poem by James Joyce, and a pair of Slovak lullabies. There are repeated melodies and instrumental motifs, and the music has great character; it is immensely moving. The Czech singer Iva Bittova is neither an opera nor pop singer; her singing is "cultivated folk." Her voice has intense colors: it can be warm as well as edgy, it throbs but can be occasionally as cool and vibrato-free as a Celtic storyteller. One can report on what goes on musically here--the way the strings stab dissonantly at times, the way long melodies keep showing up, the way the chorus interjects and takes over in one selection--but the emotional impact is more important and can't be described. Suffice it to say that Godar never lapses into sentimentality or bathos, but he does touch the soul. A ravishing, important CD. --Robert LevineVladimir Godar's Mater is a moving cantata comprised of seven compositions for female voice, mixed choir and Baroque string orchestra playing on historic instruments. The work is a meditation on the circle of human life united under the archetypes of "woman" and "mother": protecting, consoling, mourning, but also as objects of praise and adoration. The texts come from Slovak lullabies, sacred Christian texts, Yiddish songs and a poem by James Joyce. The music is highly atmospheric and melodic, and fans of Arvo Part, Henryk Gorecki, John Tavener and early music will be drawn to this music.
The unifying element of Mater is one of the most remarkable figures in contemporary vocal art: Iva Bittova. Often compared to Laurie Anderson or Meredith Monk, Bittova's voice is mostly warm and tender but also displays a wide array of expressive shades. The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that Bittova "seems to operate from some musical ground zero - one that also puts you in touch with the most elemental purpose of music, and why you first came to love it."
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