Nordic Choral Music
Youth Concert Choir of the Choral Academy Dortmund/Felix Heitmann
WDR Radio Choir/Stefan Parkman
Rec. Köln, Germany, 2011-2019
HÄNSSLER CLASSICS HC20064 [72:45]
There are two German choirs performing on this disc; the first eight tracks feature the youth choir of the choral academy at Dortmund (reckoned to be the best of its kind in Germany), while the professional West Germany Radio Choir is heard on the last six. And the two come together for Jan Sandström’s Biegga Luohte. The disc is a reminder of something that may not be known to some music-lovers, namely the glorious tradition of choral singing that exists in all the Scandinavian countries. There are fine examples here of music by composers from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, and there is a balance of sacred and secular texts. On that subject, it’s disappointing that there are no texts and translations provided in the booklet. Though some of the numbers have Latin and even English lyrics, most are Swedish or Norwegian. The booklet notes on the music are very helpful, but those texts are missed nonetheless.
The Youth Choir kicks off with Åberg’s I himmelen, i himmelen, (‘In heaven’), whose melody and words are from the ‘Svenska Psalmbok’, the Swedish hymn book of the 17th century. It begins with the melody presented by the sopranos unaccompanied, giving the opportunity to admire the perfectly blended tone of the young singers. A problem with many young (and not so young) British choirs is the intrusive vibrato that creeps in and spoils the line, and can mean that individual voices are uncomfortably discernible. No such problem here, and when the other voices join in, the balance is perfect. This is sensitive and disciplined singing, but also very beautiful.
Ola Gjeilo, the youngest composer represented here, is a Norwegian whose music has become well-known all over the world, and is popular with many choirs. Ubi caritas – ‘Where charity and love are, there God is’ – is a re-working of the ancient Gregorian chant for those words. Again, the sopranos begin alone, and the setting, which retains a modest simplicity, is rendered to perfection.
Then comes Sommarpsalm by Waldemar Åhlén, which rapidly became my favourite track on this fine disc. I don’t know how many times I’ve listened to it so far, but it doesn’t surprise me one bit to learn that, as the notes tell us, the song is ‘surely known to everyone in Sweden’. Just glorious – simple but very moving. If you don’t know it, you are missing something very special, and even if you don’t buy this disc, look for this number online and enjoy – it will enrich your life.
The remaining items by this exceptional young choir maintain the high standards they have set in these first tracks. Jansson’s Stillae’ (which I take for the Latin for ‘Drops’) was specially composed for this choir, and is a subtly shaped meditation on the tears of the Virgin Mary. Another of Jansson’s works is found on track 6, the haunting and powerful Maria IV. In between those two comes Parkman’s Till Österland, which, like Sommerpsalm, is a simple strophic song, but mournfully minor in tonality.
The somewhat sombre mood of the preceding three tracks is lightened by the quiet radiance of Jan Sandström’s Sanctus, which unfolds gently by repetitions of the opening phrase, yet manages, by means of subtle changes in the melody and texture, to create a profoundly meditative mood, recalling some of Henryk Górecki’s best choral pieces, such as Totus Tuus. The greatest technical challenges of these tracks is found in Knut Nystedt’s Immortal Bach, which takes a Bach chorale – ‘Komm, süsser Tod’ – and then ‘blurs’ its harmonies into dense tonal clusters. There is an element of improvisation required of the young singers here, and the concentration required to resolve that with a return to the original chorale harmonies is immensely demanding. Yet this is a stunning performance. The choir, under their fine director Felix Heitmann, achieve the sense of time standing still; mesmerising.
The youth choir is now joined by the adults of the WDR Radio Choir for Sandström’s Biegga Luohte (‘The Mountain Wind’). This track is an example of that strange choral song style known as the ‘Yoik’, which is associated with the Sami, an ancient tribe whose peoples stretch over parts of Scandinavia and Russia. The Yoik tradition is of immense cultural significance to them, and contains elements rarely to be found in other types of vocal folk music – shouting, stamping, whistling, laughing etc. The addition of a ceremonial Sami drum beating throughout this piece gives it, to me, something of an African feeling, emphasised by the vocalisations of the excellent baritone soloist, Richard Logiewa.
The remaining tracks,10-15, are devoted to the WDR Radio Choir, a professional choir of 40 plus singers based in Cologne. It is an internationally recognised ensemble whose quality is a testament to the strength and excellence of German music-making in the country’s regions. Like their younger colleagues, they choose to begin with something relatively simple, Per Norgård’s lively Gaudet Mater, based on an ancient traditional melody. The same composer’s Flos ut rosa floruit (‘A flower blossomed like a rose’) on track 12 is much calmer and more mystical, with a wonderful high, soaring solo soprano. In between comes Min Yndlinsdal (‘My favourite valley’) by Jørgen Jersild, full of a passionate nostalgia. These three items immediately demonstrate the flexibility of this superb choir, able to achieve both the most intimate pianissimo and a powerful yet fully controlled fortissimo at the other end of the dynamic range.
A gentle lyricism suffuses Nils Lindberg’s setting of Shakespeare’s great Sonnet 18, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s Day? (I include the question mark, missing from the booklet and case insert!). The composer shows great sensitivity to the English, and has mostly matched well the wonderful flexibility of Shakespeare’s prosody. Again, the quiet yet intense expressiveness of the singing is so lovely, and their pronunciation excellent. Would you know it was not a British choir singing? I think not (well…. ok, one or two vowel sounds, maybe!).
It is in the last two tracks, which contain the longest and most complex pieces on the disc, that one feels most strongly the absence of printed texts. The Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae is a powerful work telling the tragic tale of the sinking of the ferry ‘Estonia’, which went down in the Baltic Sea in 1994. Over eight hundred lives were lost, and it is regarded as one of the worst maritime disasters of the 20th century. The radiant soprano of Insun Min runs throughout like a bright thread, and she is joined at either end of the piece by the baritone Alexander Schmidt. There are quotations in the text from the Requiem Mass, and there is a masterstroke by Mäntyjärvi when, after the rising fragmentation of the music, suggesting the panic of the passengers, the choir suddenly comes together for a hushed ‘Amen’.
Though not long, this is such a challenging work, and the choir rises to that challenge magnificently – one can’t say ‘effortlessly’ because the sense of struggle is simply written into the music and into the vocal writing itself. But this is a moving performance of a work by a remarkable composer, one of the finest of the younger generation of choral writers today.
The Finn Einojuhani Rautavaara is best known in the UK for his large symphonic works; but this Rilke setting, Die erste Elegie (‘The First Elegy’), makes a wonderful conclusion to the disc. The poem is a searing meditation on the nature of the angel as a source of both beauty and dread. Again, this is music that is enormously demanding for the choir, both in its intensity and in the complexity of the harmonies. There are passage of ravishing sensuality for two soprano soloists, and the motet rises to a thrilling final, affirmative climax.
This CD is far from ‘easy listening’, but it is immensely rewarding. So well designed too, in its contributions by first a youth choir, then an adult professional choir, both of extremely high standard, and meeting in the middle for Sandström’s ‘yoik’ Biegga Luohte. A disc to cherish and relish for all enthusiasts of choral music; Scandinavian music too, and there’s not a note of Grieg, Sibelius or Nielsen in sight!
Gwyn Parry-Jones
Contents
Jan Håken ÅBERG (1916-2012)
I himmelen, I himmelen [3:46]
Ola GJEILO [b. 1978]
Ubi Caritas [4:02]
Waldemar ÅHLÉN (1894-1982)
Sommarpsalm [3:01]
Mårten JANSSON [b. 1965]
Stillae [6:51]
Håkan PARKMAN (1955-1988)
Till Österland [3:03]
Mårten JANSSON
Maria IV [5:14]
Jan SANDSTRÖM (b. 1954)
Sanctus [4:11]
Knut NYSTEDT (1915-2014)
Immortal Bach [5:44]
Jan SANDSTRÖM
Biegga Luohte [5:10]
Solo: Richard Logiewa (baritone)
Per NØRGÅRD (b. 1932)
Gaudet Mater [1:21]
Jørgen JERSILD (1913-2004)
Min Yndlingsdal
Per NØRGÅRD
Flos ut rosa floruit [3:13]
Nils LINDBERG (b. 1933)
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day [2:58]
Jaakko MÄNTYJÄRVI (b.1963)
Canticum Calamitatis Maritimae (Requiem zum Untergang des Estonia) [11:15]
Solos: Insun Min (soprano), Alexander Schmidt (baritone)
Einojuhani RAUTAVAARA (1928-2006)
Die erste Elegie [8:49]
