Records

RAMONS UMETS | GAISMA

ONDINE 2021

RAMON HUMET (1968)
Llum | Light (2013–16) 50:26
1 Tanca els ulls | Close Your Eyes 7:04
2 Camina endins | Walk Inside 7:03
3 Baixa al cim de l’Ànima | Descent to the Summit of the Soul 6:00
4 Pedra nua | Naked Stone 3:10
5 Pau al Cor | The Peaceful Heart 10:46
6 Engrunes de Llum | Luminous Crumbs 11:28
7 Al·leluia | Alleluia 4:48
Soloists: Agnese Pauniņa, soprano (1, 5, 6);
Dace Strautmane & Santa Kokina, altos (3);
Inga Žilinska & Ilze Konovalova, altos (6);
Kārlis Rūtentāls, tenor (6); Pēteris Vaickovskis, baritone (6)
LATVIAN RADIO CHOIR
SIGVARDS KĻAVA, conductor

The architectonic goldsmith
I have always admired – even envied – the capacity of Ramon Humet to go from
detail to grand structure. Or, from grand structure to detail, if you wish… in times
in which rush and wholesale work are more present than ever, and with all the
electronic aids and musical editing used by composers today, Humet is stopping,
reflecting, thinking, meditating and, like a goldsmith, loves every detail of what he
writes. This thoroughness, this purifying of material also flows into greater forms,
grand structures, and it is then that the goldsmith turns into an architect. In all
of his works, one can find a seriousness of purpose at the service of his musical
message. The technical, methodological, demanding part does not end here. Like
the greats, Humet puts all of this at the service of musicality that is exquisite,
inspired, beautiful… combined by these three factors: detail, architecture, and
music, creating material that is totally alluring.
We may imagine that there are three ingredients that enable a grand work
of art to come to life. I would add a fourth element that for me adds a touch of
grace, of life and of transcendence. Ramon Humet is a composer with soul and
spirit. Complete in his ideas: he does what he believes, creates what he feels,
lives as he creates. Without cosmetics, without falsifications. Responding to his
manner of being and doing that with a message that is sincere. The works that
you will find in this recording all contain these four elements. It is in the choral
music of Humet that one finds that fourth element of living spirituality. In his
chamber and orchestral works, Ramon Humet shows us in an extraordinary way
a full command of compositional techniques; but it is in the vocal works that he
unleashes himself and the transcendental appears with force: I would go so far
as to say that his immersion in vocal and choral works after writing instrumental
works has given his music a turn towards mysticism. Voice – song – is taking the
central role. This magic potion, certainly unique among today’s compositions, is
magnified by this exceptional interpretation by the Latvian Radio Choir under the
direction of Maestro Sigvards Kļava.
Let us then be carried away by this grand perfection of a grand work of art,
and we will find in it a voice that speaks to us from the heart to heart.
Bernat Vivancos
Rupit, 25 March 2021

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