Exultation of a flamboyant kind is the subject of
Laudibus in sanctis. Specially written for and dedicated to Stephen Layton, it is an example of Ugis Praulinš’s undoctrinaire approach to composition, where ‘everything is possible and nothing is absolute’, an open-hearted attitude Praulinš attributes to his background in rock music. Also from rock music, surely, comes the insistent rhythmic drive of much of the music, while the filigree ornamentation is decidedly Baroque. Baroque, too, is the cast of this extended setting of Psalm 150 as a multi-sectional cantata, as are the sustained antiphonal writing and the solo/tutti exchanges. Yet for all its eclecticism of reference the piece has a compelling unity of purpose which reflects the unceasing joyfulness of the words. The sturdy opening pages are an exhaustive and exhilarating exploration of A minor; throughout the piece the chords are frequently of massive density, yet are never opaque, and for the final exhortation (‘Let everything in the world that feeds upon the air of heaven’) the composer summons up music of dazzling brilliance and abandon.
from notes by Gabriel Jackson © 2010
