Gramophone Awards
2020
Finalist - Contemporary

Matthias Brandt, Topi Lehtipuu, Iris Vermillion
Antonio Pappano, Peter Eötvös

Eötvös: Halleluja - Oratorium balbulum
Eötvös: Alle vittime senza nome

Halleluja – Oratorium balbulum' is a portrait of the times in which we live, says Peter Eötvös. It is a sarcastic work with postmodern medley passages across music history. The plot takes place on several levels: among the performers as well as with the audience in the concert situation. The language is frighteningly clear, as is the rest of the situation we encounter: We experience Eötvös’s polyglot vision not so much in the language as in the music. There are numerous more or less recognizable quotations from Gregorian chant, Monteverdi and Schein; from Bach and Handel, as well as from Mussorgsky and Gospel music. Alle vittime senza nome [To the Nameless Victims], a purely instrumental work, makes no use of language and nevertheless succeeds in conveying the images and experiences of our time. In three movements, the journey of those seeking protection is illustrated by music in a free narrative style, with delicate solo passages as well as broad waves of sound in the orchestra.

"It is not difficult to appreciate the quality of the musical setting, nor the splendid live performance captured in Cologne in 2017. The performers sound at one in their presentation, whether in the hushed choral comments or the chiming percussion that dominates some sections. The whole is more than the sum of its fragments, compelling and involving." - Gramophone Magazine, February 2020.