The Passion of Christ, so masterfully expressed in Liszt’s Via Crucis, ends in Gubaidulina’s white world of snow and cold. Where do we end up, in heaven or hell?

Liszt’s later works have fascinated the conductor and pianist Reinbert de Leeuw (1938) for decades, especially Via Crucis. In 1986 he recorded the work with the Netherlands Chamber Choir, a recording that was crowned with an Edison. His 2013 recording for violin and piano likewise won an Edison. Sofia Gubaidulina wrote Now Always Snow for the former Schönberg Ensemble and the Netherlands Chamber Choir, a cantata that depicts a Russian winter soundscape with measured timbres. Sparkling wind motifs and neurotically droning strings evoke slicing wind gusts and a snowstorm.

Artists

FRANZ LISZT
Via Crucis
SOFIA GOEBAIDOELINA
Now always snow 

NEDERLANDS KAMERKOOR
ASKO|SCHÖNBERG
conducor, pianist Reinbert de Leeuw