Track Listing

1. Maykomashmalon (2005) for female voice, viola and violoncello (sung in Yiddish)
2. Magnificat (2003) for female voice, choir, string orchestra and harp (sung in Slovak)
3. Luspavanky (Lullabies) (2001/03) for female voice, two violins, two violas and violoncello (sung in Slovak)
4. Ecce puer (1997) for female voice, two violins, viola, double-bass, harp, chitarrone and harpsichord (text by James Joyce, sung in English)
5. Stala Matka (Stabat Mater) (2001) for alto, violin and chamber orchestra (sung in Slovak)
6. Regina coeli (2003) for female voice, viola, choir, and chamber orchestra (sung in Latin)
7. Maykomashmalon (2005) for female voice, viola and violoncello (sung in Yiddish)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95824 in Music
• Released on: 2007-04-10
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Vladimir Godar's Mater is a moving cantata comprised of seven compositions for female voice, mixed choir and Baroque string orchestra playing on historic instruments. The work is a meditation on the circle of human life united under the archetypes of "woman" and "mother": protecting, consoling, mourning, but also as objects of praise and adoration. The texts come from Slovak lullabies, sacred Christian texts, Yiddish songs and a poem by James Joyce. The music is highly atmospheric and melodic, and fans of Arvo Part, Henryk Gorecki, John Tavener and early music will be drawn to this music.

The unifying element of Mater is one of the most remarkable figures in contemporary vocal art: Iva Bittova. Often compared to Laurie Anderson or Meredith Monk, Bittova's voice is mostly warm and tender but also displays a wide array of expressive shades. The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that Bittova "seems to operate from some musical ground zero - one that also puts you in touch with the most elemental purpose of music, and why you first came to love it."

Amazon.com
Vladimir Godar, born in Bratislava in 1956, writes beautiful music. He is best known for his film scores in his own country, but these seven pieces, collectively called Mater, scored for female voice, chorus and Baroque string orchestra, should gain him fame on the same scale as a "classical" composer. There are hints of Arvo Pärt's devotional minimalism here, with Gorecki and Monteverdi not far behind, but the decidedly Slavic tinge to the music makes it unique. Working with the archtypes of "mother" and "woman," sometimes specifically the Virgin Mary, more often not, these are reflections on life, death and resurrection, sometimes in the textual forms of the well-known "Magnificat," "Stabat Mater" and "Regina coeli," but adding to them a Yiddish song, a poem by James Joyce, and a pair of Slovak lullabies. There are repeated melodies and instrumental motifs, and the music has great character; it is immensely moving. The Czech singer Iva Bittova is neither an opera nor pop singer; her singing is "cultivated folk." Her voice has intense colors: it can be warm as well as edgy, it throbs but can be occasionally as cool and vibrato-free as a Celtic storyteller. One can report on what goes on musically here--the way the strings stab dissonantly at times, the way long melodies keep showing up, the way the chorus interjects and takes over in one selection--but the emotional impact is more important and can't be described. Suffice it to say that Godar never lapses into sentimentality or bathos, but he does touch the soul. A ravishing, important CD. --Robert Levine

Rob Cowan, BBC Radio 3
"It's as if Janacek, Gorecki and Monteverdi have settled on a universal language. A wonderful listen."

Customer Reviews

Pleasant musical exploration of old sources
It's refreshing to see contemporary composers return to writing music with themes and making a conscious effort to search for beauty. If 20th century-music reflected the political and cultural disintegration of European society and its surrender to nihilistic forces of fascism, Nazism and communism, then one can read this composition by a Slovakian composer as a return to serenity and cultural well-being, a positive development.
The composer speaks in the liner notes of performing musical archaeology, delving into the past to come up with new insights. For much of this CD, he succeeds. There are moments of great beauty. The first song in Yiddish I found particularly striking. Soprano Iva Bittova has a voice of rare purity.
Where I feel it still falls a little short is in a certain blandness -- a lack of bite. The Hallelujahs all sound a touch formulaic after a while, not inhabited by the same fervor and religious desperation that inspired the Baroque musicians whose work is being imitated. It's a little too sweet and occasionally borders on the edge of cute. We are tourists with Godar as our guide, visiting an ancient cathedral. He points out the various features and we wonder what it might have been like to worship there.
Still, this is very much worth listening to and I did enjoy it.

Mater
If you were brought up Catholic, and you like music a little off the beaten path like Gregorian chant, you'll enjoy this album. Probably the best piece is Regina Coeli, powerfully sung by Iva Bittova in Latin. A simple melody, it repeats, yet changes it's harmony, with variations on it's musical theme. Towards the end, Iva's voice explodes in an Alleluia that will take your breath away.

Several of the other songs are in Slovak; and are more moody and sonorous. The composer, Vladimir Godar, explains his music on the CD as the "protagonist who is a Woman-Mother (the Blessed Virgin) who gives Life (Magnificat), shapes (Lullabies), buries and mourns (Stabat Mater) and praises (Regina Coeli). A good summary, I thought.

oh my...
Beautiful. Contemplative, lovely music. Aside from the staccato violins on track 2 (Magnificat), this is a sublime, ethereal listen.