The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir http://solistkoret.no
was established in 1950 by the Norwegian Soloists’ Society with the aim of
becoming an elite ensemble for performing choral music to the highest possible
standard. The choir’s first conductor was Knut Nystedt, who led the ensemble
for forty years. Since 1990 the choir has sung under the leadership of the internationally
acclaimed Grete Pedersen, undertaking a great number of concerts in Scandinavia,
the USA and Asia as well as recordings.
The members of the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir are
professionally trained, hand-picked singers, all of whom are potential soloists.
The choir maintains a youthful profile, receptive to and willing to perform
newly written works, while at the same time performing core classical works
from the Nordic and international choral repertoire.
The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir have made a number of
recordings for BIS Records http://bis.se of which
their latest is entitled As Dreams
featuring works by Per Nørgård, Helmut Lachenmann, Alfred Janson, Kaija Saariaho
and Iannis Xenakis that reflect the idea of night and dreams. They are joined
on this new release by the Oslo Sinfonietta.
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| SACD BIS - 2139 |
Drømmesange (Dream
Songs) (1981) for mixed choir and percussion ad lib by the Danish composer,
Per Nørgård (b.1932) www.pernoergaard.dk has its origins in a song written for a radio play by Danish
author Finn Methling who adapted the text from a Chinese original. It described
a boy’s dream about his future self. This new work presents the same dream in
three ways.
A solo soprano sings over a beautifully blended wordless
choral layer in the evocative Utopia.
Nørgård brings some lovely touches, beautiful harmonies and attractive little
details. A drum joins to add a rhythm behind the choir, bringing a rather timeless
feel. The music picks up a greater rhythm in Ambiguous, driving forward until a drum alone continues, slowly
falling. The music picks up as the choir re-joins with changes in the rhythm as
the drum leads to Nightmare, gaining
in intensity as the choir bring some pretty earthy, rhythmic moments until
rising to a violent tam-tam stroke. The opening slow and atmospheric choral idea
returns with hushed tam-tam colouring the music. Bells sound before the choir
leads quietly and gently forward, rising through some terrific bars, with a
variety of percussion to the coda.
Helmut Lachenmann (b.1935)
www.breitkopf.com/composer/561
was born in Stuttgart and was the first private student of Luigi Nono (1924-1990).
His Consolation II (Wessobrunner Gebet)
(Wessobrunner Prayer) (1968) for 16 voices (mixed choir) is based on
fragments of language taken from the oldest existing Christian text in German.
The choir bring some unusual vocal sounds as the music
opens, chirps, hisses, screeches and shouts, yet combining to make an
atmospheric whole, rising and falling as the text is sung and declaimed through
a variety of passages. This remarkable work shows just how fine and flexible
this choir is. They travel through a very hushed section where one can just
perceive the vocal sounds bringing a rather ghostly atmosphere. Often the choir
is used orchestrally with individual singers weaving their sounds. They rise
through a section with shrill whistles and exclamations before arriving at
another hushed section with the most amazing, strange vocal utterances.
The Norwegian pianist and composer, Alfred Janson (b.1937) www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2002101118511948764476
sets a text from Friedrich Nietzsche’s (1844-1900) Also sprach Zarathustra for his Nocturne (1967) for double choir, 2 cellos, harp and 2
percussionists.
The female voices of the Norwegian Soloists' Choir slowly
and gently enter with quite lovely harmonies to which the two cellos soon add subtle
and wiry textures, combining the string textures with the choir and harp, with
percussion colouring the texture. They rise through some quite ethereal moments,
through which the text eventually runs, before building in strength, drums adding
to the drama. Very soon the music quietens. There are cymbal strokes as the
music finds a lovely ebb and flow, beautifully coloured by percussion with the
choir providing the most lovely textures and harmonies. The music builds to a
pitch with a series of vocal and percussion outbursts before the cellos and
harp appear through the vocal texture as we are taken to a hushed coda.
This is a quite wonderful work.
The Finnish composer, Kaija
Saariaho (b.1952) http://saariaho.org takes a text by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) to contrast
light and dark as a trance like interplay
between past and present in Überzeugung (Conviction) (2001) for
three female voices, crotale, violin and cello. In this brief work the violin
brings chords over a pizzicato cello before the three female voices enter
combining with the violin to produce some lovely, melancholy ideas before
gently finding the coda.
Per Nørgård’s Singe
die Gärten, mein Herz, die du nicht kennst (Sing, my heart, of the gardens you do not know) (1974) for eight
part choir and eight instruments, is an independent part of his Symphony No.3 (1972-75) and sets Sonnet 21 from the second part of Rainer Maria
Rilke’s (1875-1926) Sonnets to Orpheus.
The instruments sound out as the choir brings the text,
rising through some especially fine passages before continuing the little vocal
declamations within the expanding choral line. There are some lovely harmonic
shifts as well as so many lovely instrumental details, with this choir rising
through some terrific passages. They provide a gentle pulse as the music rises
and falls with the instrumentalists and choir finding some very fine harmonies,
achieving the most wonderfully subtle effects. Later a solo female voice rises
out of the texture before the music moves through the most lovely instrumental
textures, with the choir, to a spectacularly fine coda.
This is a strikingly beautiful setting.
Iannis Xenakis
(1922-2001) www.boosey.com/composer/Iannis+Xenakis
fled his native Greece and became a naturalised French citizen. His Nuits (Nights) (1967-68) for 12 mixed
voices or mixed choir was dedicated to political prisoners and creates a
landscape of strange sounds from lost languages such as Assyrian and Sumerian.
Female voices sound out violently, soon joined by the male
voices, alternating before they weave their sounds. The choir create a rising
and falling texture of stunning brilliance with declamatory passages. This
choir responds to this exacting music with terrific skill, soaring through some
wonderful passages. There are some exceptional vocal effects as they move through
passages of stunning vocal agility and fine textures before arriving at a
hushed coda on rich vocal textures, with a final declamation.
This is an often exacting, but spectacularly original work
sung to perfection by this outstanding choir.
Kaija Saariaho’s Nuits,
adieux (1991/96) for mixed choir and four soloists consists of two series
of passages, ‘nights’ and ‘farewells’ drawing on novels by Jacques Roubaud (b.1932)
and Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850).
The choir opens gently, soon overlaid by a female soloist.
There are vocal murmurings as the music progresses, creating a terrific
atmosphere. A solo female voice speaks the text, though verging on sprechgesang.
The voices gently weave a rising and falling choral line with detailed little
vocal sounds, almost gentle sighs in this quite wonderful evocation of night.
The music rises through a passage of greater intensity before a tenor solo
takes the text over choral background. Breathing sounds grow increasingly
intense before gasps, vocal whoops and screams bring a dramatic sequence, perhaps
the terrifying aspect of night. A bass takes the text slowly forward over a
languid choral backdrop where there are some especially fine harmonies before
finding a gentle hushed coda.
There is much beauty here, often clothed in the most
adventurous harmonies and vocal ideas. The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir under
their Music Director, Grete Pedersen achieve the most wonderful results, taking
choral singing to a new level.
They receive a tip top recording from the Ris Kirke, Norway.
There are excellent booklet notes by Erling Sandmo from which I have been grateful
to quote as well as full texts and English translations.
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