Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, composers like Valentin Silvestrov have been free to reap the fruits of artistic freedom in a way that once must have seemed unimaginable. ‘Soviet realism’ has given way to a search for beauty and the reacceptance of Orthodox Christianity has also allowed composers to create sacred music.

This sense of freedom pervades this collection of Silvestrov’s choral pieces, written between 1995 and 2006. Dubbing his style as “metaphorical music” or metamusic for short, the composer feels free to assimilate a wide variety of influences from Romantic and post-Romantic Western music, with the aim of creating a personal, other-worldly effect. Debussy, Wagner, Rachmaninov, Poulenc, Stravinsky are just some of the names that come to mind when listening to his extraordinarily luscious harmonies.

Silvestrov could not have better advocates than the Latvian Radio Choir who sing with empathy and impeccable intonation (absolutely essential in this highly chromatic music), all given an acoustic halo by the cavernous reverberation of St. John’s Church, Riga. It may be tempting to think that all this artistic liberty is just a gateway to escapism, but that is far from the case. Silvestrov actively celebrates his Ukrainian identity, setting a poem by...