Chekalin, Mikhail

Artist: Mikhail Chekalin
P: 1993
Within the eleven tracks that make up this release, beauty, mystery, yearning and majesty converge to form a dreaming pool of apprehension and enchantment. This is space music steeped in orchestral grandeur, electronic eclecticism and vocal sensuality. Chekalin is a sonic sorcerer who summons forth the spirits of his Russian heritage and impregnates them with cosmic emotion. Classical influences of Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Rachmaninov, as well as folk melodies and eastern orthodox choral passages, give this music an appealing aura of epic drama without slipping into pretension. The interplay between electronics and percussion is filled with excitement and originality. Chekalin's voice is sometimes reminiscent of Peter Gabriel's vocal work on the "Passion" soundtrack. Listening to this is like walking a tightrope that stretches between Earth and distant Pleiades.

Artist: V/A
P: 1992
Erdenklang released a special serie of collections about the best artists from a certain country of east europe. Some musicians were already known, some were known afterwards and some are real highlights at the time the cds were made.

This collection was all about artists from Estonia and Russia!