While potential
purchasers of this disc should not be misled by its title into
thinking it might be a jazz album, ‘It’s all about Rhythm’ does
contain some swinging and approachable contemporary music. This
is something which I’d previously seldom have associated with
new music from Sweden.
As its title suggests,
Daniel Nelson’s four movement Miz Melody & the Resonant
Rhythm Review has plenty of popular charm. The composer
admits to ‘a great weakness for popular dance music… of the
1950s and 1980s.’ The work is attractive but not entirely superficial,
with some resonant harmonies and elegant counterpoint in the
slower Nelson’s Riddle third movement, and the concluding
movement; The Q-mix will provide new entertainment for
those who enjoy names like Steve Martland or Michael Nyman –
admittedly in a lighter or more frivolous mood, but well written
nonetheless.
Tommi Kärkkäinen’s
Paranoidia has a harder edged, more punky feel against
Nelson’s gentler dances. It’s dramatic, insistent drum led rhythms
create a driving intensity which would work well as film music,
‘The French Connection’ without Don Ellis’s spine-tingling trumpet.
As a contrast, the slow poetic opening of Reine Jönsson’s Läge
provides some relief. As the work progresses there is plenty
of inner contrast, with some rhythmic development and expressive
lines, but I found difficulty getting hold of what the whole
thing was about. The piece seems neither fish nor flesh, and
about four minutes past its sell-by timing. The composer’s note
doesn’t help much in this, as he seems to have forgotten what
it was all about in 1992 as well, other than to say that “it
was all about keeping up”, and “In my world, Läge is a milestone.”
Do you mind?
by Viva Skog brings us straight back into salsa dance land.
I do admit that the piece is great fun, but often goes so far
toward its origins that one wonders where the composer’s own
voice is – I can hear the committee saying, ‘if I want to hear
this, I go to a proper dance band …’ Circle of Red Light
by Arne Löthman is a more lyrical affair, drawing on the
nostalgic sensibilities of the romantic Swedish tradition in
chamber music – whether consciously or not. The melodic lines
do occasionally betray a little of the composer’s jazz background,
but the overall impression is of serious-minded working out
of ideas in a fairly classical fashion, the structure being
an out-and-back arch form, but containing some intriguing linear
development of the thematic material.
The marimba-tinted
opening of Peter Lyne’s Septet leads you to expect something
in the nature of a Steve Reich experience, but while there are
some ostinato figures nothing could be further from the truth.
The piece was a commission from the Nordic Ensemble, with the
deliberate intention of making new music accessible to young
people. Not quite the ‘Young Person’s Guide to …’, and certainly
not that easy for children, the piece does however have
a fairly direct appeal, and with cadenzas for marimba and piano
there is a large amount of variety and spectacle.
More pop-orientated
rhythmic fun in Ingvar Karkoff’s Reggae Beats, but not
reggae as we know it, Jim. This piece is however nicely instrumented,
and has an open clarity which is very enjoyable.
The final work,
it’s all about rhythm, was written by Örjan Högberg,
and ironically the opening movement has more of a reggae feel
about it, with its off-the-beat violin figures and syncopated
rhythms and interjections. From the cackling steam train called
Wild Turkey, the second movement, Beautiful one,
has a relaxed, lounge feel, taking a pleasant, singable theme
for a walk. The Nymanesque third movement, Newton, is
described by the composer as “somewhat in the crossover land
between jazz, rock, fleshclassical – a helluva noise, in other
words. Ends with either fainting or swooning.”
This CD has an enjoyably
rough-edged quality to it. Some of the composers are self-taught,
and as a result some of the works have a refreshingly unfinished
feel to them. The playing of the Nordic Chamber Ensemble is good,
although there is something betwixt and between in their positioning
with this kind of repertoire – lacking the best of refinement
in, say, the strings, if you view it as classical/modern, possibly
not having quite enough raw impact if you want to see some of
the work as contemporary/pop/jazz. The recording is fine, though
takes a little getting used to. To start with it sounds a little
like you’re listening to the ensemble in the orchestral pit of
a miniature opera house, but I’m sure this is just due to the
studio nature of the recording, possibly created at a mixing desk
rather than as a concert hall registration, which at least means
you do get plenty of detail. None of the works are horrendously
weak, and many of them are great fun and a shot in the arm for
those who like their contemporary music post-modern and ‘figurative’
rather than fiercely intellectual, difficult and ‘abstract’.
Dominy Clements
Nordic Chamber
Ensemble, Sundsvall 
