Arctic Light: Finnish Orthodox Music

Fanfare Magazine Review

Arctic Light: Finnish Orthodox Music

The performances are polished and technically secure. … Recommended to anyone

“The music on this release—all of it a cappella and all polyphonic—includes what is, to these rather novice ears, some of the most adventurous music built on the Orthodox traditions. … One has only to hear the decidedly lush, late-Romantic harmonies applied by Pekka Attinen in his Kerubiveisu No. 3 to realize that the Finnish Orthodox Church is more open than some to musical innovation. Attinen’s student Peter Mirolybov (1918–2004) was inspired by his teacher’s progressive approach to liturgical music, as is evident in the crystalline clarity, born of modern harmonization, of his four works for the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God. … Ivan Moody conducted this program in 2008 with Cappella Romana, and it was that concert that led to this recording. The performances are polished and technically secure. … Recommended to anyone with an interest in rarely explored liturgical music in a relatively contemporary idiom.”

–Ronald E. Grames