Here’s a fascinating and rewarding snapshot of violin-led Latvian music telescoping the then and now. Prompted by Australian-based violinist Sophia Kirsanova’s research into the musical response to the tumultuous decades that ended the 20th century – the sporadic uprisings of the ‘Singing Revolution’, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Latvia regaining its independence – works from the period and newly commissioned pieces in their first recordings offer a snapshot of a thriving tradition.

The new works are both substantial. Better known as a composer of choral works, Ēriks Ešenvalds’ title track is viscerally evocative of the tumult surrounding the Singing Revolution; a dark, peristaltic percussive pulse underneath a violin line torn between dread actuality and yearning for freer aspirations.

Linda Leimane’s animated five-part Architectonics of a Crystal Soul pits solo violin against flute, clarinet, cello and piano to conjure an imaginary city where different ages and culture meet. It’s an exercise in free sonic imagination vividly realised by Kirsanova and the Syzygy Ensemble.

Vasks is the most immediately recognisably name here and his...