Riveting Discoveries Music from Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - heard by GERALD FENECH '... as absorbing as it is enticing.'

That Northern part of Europe known as the Eastern Baltic is an area of vast diverse riches in cultural terms, incorporating as it does Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Undoubtedly all four possess their own distinct histories, cultures and languages, but they also share a great deal in common, not least in their ardently common desire to free themselves from the foreign yoke and be free nations again. Identifying common cultural themes is not a straightforward exercise, but it is easy to experience that as these countries, as part of that thirst for liberty, perhaps share a strength related to their enslaved freedom and an attendant sense of isolation, there is a yearning for the rebirth of national pride, and a refreshed relationship with nature. Indeed, all these elements are characteristic of much of the programme included on this real novelty of a recording...

FINLAND

ESTONIA

LATVIA

LITHUANIA

TANGO

JEAN SIBELIUS

ARVO PAERT

PETERIS VASKS

SCOTLAND

CHAMBER MUSIC