De verzegelde engel - Nederlands Kamerkoor + Peter Dijkstra
The monumental choral work The sealed angel by the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin exudes Russian mysticism. The composer was inspired by the epic story about a stolen icon and an old-believing Russian community that rebelled against the repressive regime of the Tsars, as recorded by the Russian writer Ljeskow in his novel of the same name. In Shchedrin's musical version, imposing choral sounds and Russian atmospheric images are accompanied and alternated by a virtuoso and, at the same time, moving flute part.
De verzegelde engel - Nederlands Kamerkoor + Peter Dijkstra
Great Russian choral sounds
The choir works together with flute player Ana de la Vega, who stormed the classical charts in 2018 with her debut album. The Sealed Angel is the latest project in a longer series of Russian-oriented choral works with which chief conductor Peter Dijkstra and the Nederlands Kamerkoor are touring the concert halls. For example, the choir has previously performed Rachmaninoff's Vespers and Schnittke's Concerto for choir – grand choral works that, like the work of Shchedrin, evoke an unmistakable Russian atmosphere of long habits and golden incense vaults.