I have always admired – even envied – the capacity of Ramon Humet to go from detail to grand structure. Or, from grand structure to detail, if you wish… in times in which rush and wholesale work are more present than ever, and with all the electronic aids and musical editing used by composers today, Humet is stopping, reflecting, thinking, meditating and, like a goldsmith, loves every detail of what he writes. This thoroughness, this purifying of material also flows into greater forms, grand structures, and it is then that the goldsmith turns into an architect. In all of his works, one can find a seriousness of purpose at the service of his musical message. The technical, methodological, demanding part does not end here. Like the greats, Humet puts all of this at the service of musicality that is exquisite, inspired, beautiful… combined by these three factors: detail, architecture and music, creating material that is totally alluring.

We may imagine that there are three ingredients that enable a grand work of art to come to life. I would add a fourth element that for me adds a touch of grace, of life and of transcendence. Ramon Humet is a composer with soul and spirit. Complete in his ideas: he does what he believes, creates what he feels, lives like he creates. Without cosmetics, without falsifications. Responding to his manner of being and doing that with a message that is sincere. The works that you will find in this recording all contain these four elements. It is in the choral music of Humet that one finds that fourth element of living spirituality. In his chamber and orchestral works, Ramon Humet shows us in an extraordinary way a full command of compositional techniques; but it is in his vocal works that he unleashes himself and the transcendental appears with force: I would go so far as to say that his immersion in vocal and choral works after writing instrumental works has given his music a turn towards mysticism. Voice – song – is taking the central role.

This magic potion, certainly unique among today’s compositions, is magnified by this exceptional interpretation by the Latvian Radio Choir under the direction of Maestro Sigvards Kļava.

Let us then be carried away by this grand perfection of a grand work of art, and we will find in it a voice that speaks to us from heart to heart.

Bernat Vivancos