OLIVIER GREIF (1950-2000): Lettres de Westerbork for Woman's Voice and 2 Violins (Doris Lamprecht [mezzo], Alexis Galpérine, Eric Crambes [violins]), Chants de l'âme for Woman's Voice and Piano (Jennifer Smith [soprano], Olivier Greif [piano]).

Description: Death is a recurring motif in the cycle of settings of 'metaphysical poets', prefaced by a dramatic setting of Blake's 'Tyger'. Much of the music is obsessive, ostinato-driven, harmonically rich and chromatically ambiguous. 'Death be not proud' is a vigorous Totentanz; elsewhere the somber, expressive and mellifluous mourning of the vocal lines conjures an atmosphere of restless unease, especially in the intense, centrally-placed setting of Donne's 'Holy Sonnet'. Even in the slow laments there is no sense of repose. This is a major song-cycle by a major song composer, make no mistake. The Lettres juxtapose writings of a young Dutch Holocaust victim with passages from the Old Testament, unusually, to the acocmpaniment of two violins, which provide a sinuous and uneasy counterpoint to the declamatory vocal line. French-English texts.