Urgency of Now
Rhythm Art Duo, Vocal Art Ensemble of Sweden/Jan Yngwe
rec. March and May 2014, Örgryte Nya Kyrka, Göteborg, Sweden
Texts and English translations included
FOOTPRINT RECORDS FRCD080 [60.57]
The Vocal Art Ensemble of Sweden was previously known
as Kammarkören Pro Musica; their present name was adopted in 2013 when
the choir marked its 35th anniversary. Jan Yngwe has been
the group’s conductor since 1978 so I presume he was the founding
conductor. I think this is the first time that one of their discs has
come to us for review. They comprise 41 singers (11/11/9/10).
This is an uncommonly enterprising and wide-ranging programme, offering
music by composers from many nations and backgrounds. As we shall see,
some of the pieces unashamedly address political issues. Quite a number
of the composers may be unfamiliar to readers, as they were to me. I’ll
start with those composers whose music was either unfamiliar or unknown
to me.
The Swede, Sven-David Sandström’s setting of four lines by William
Blake is a very impressive piece. It begins and ends quietly but achieves
an imposing cenral climax. The vocal writing is very convincing. The
Taiwanese-American, Vienna Tang is one of those who addresses an issue
of our time – the potential for intrusion into our privacy by
information companies – in her song, The Hymn of Acxiom.
Heard here in an arrangement made for the choir by Henrik Dahlgren I’m
afraid neither the words nor the music did much for me despite the
artistry of Jan Yngwe and his singers.
The pieces by Yngwe himself and by his fellow Swede, Ulrika Emanuelsson,
were both written for this choir and for the two percussionists, Daniel
Berg and Fredrik Duyling, who comprise the Rhythm Art Duo. Both pieces
fall into what I might term the “political segment” of this
programme. Yngwe sets words from Martin Luther King’s inspirational
“I have a dream” speech while Emanuelsson sets some words
by the Swedish former UN Secretary-General, Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961).
Of the two pieces my personal preference is for the Emanuelsson, which
is sung in Swedish. The choral writing is more conventional than is
the case with Yngwe’s piece and the percussion is used most effectively
to augment and colour the textures. Yngwe’s offering, which is
sung in English, is more experimental in the sense that quite a wide
variety of vocal techniques are deployed; not all of them are helpful,
it seems to me, in illuminating the text. The percussion is used in
some very interesting ways and Yngwe uses a wider range of instruments
than does Emanuelsson. I found I respected Yngwe’s piece but I
can’t say I was moved by it.
César Alejandro Carillo is a Venezuelan composer. Bearing in mind his
Latin American heritage and the description of his Magnificat in the
booklet as “a musical celebration of the circle of life”
I was expecting a vibrant, extrovert piece. In fact his setting is quite
restrained and thoughtful. I liked it very much. Not the least impressive
passage occurs when a soprano soloist sings the words “Quia facet
mich magna” His fellow Latin composer, Calixto Alvarez is Cuban.
His Lacrimosa is an interesting composition in which the male
voices sing the Latin words from the end of the Dies Irae against a
keening soprano line, mainly sung by a soloist. We’re told that
the soprano part is “a moving prayer for better living conditions
in an African Yoruba dialect.” My only regret is that a translation
of the African words is not provided so that we can judge even better
the impact of what is clearly a most eloquent piece. The notes say that
in this piece “two worlds converge” and that’s right;
the composer’s skill is such that the worlds converge rather than
collide.
In De profundis by the Filipino composer, John August Pamintuan
the basses sing the two Latin words of the title over and over while
the female voices, later joined by the tenors, sing an agitated, teeming
setting of words by Lorca. This is an arresting piece and it’s
stunningly performed. Unfortunately, I can’t summon up as much
– or indeed any – enthusiasm for Hide and Seek,
a song by the British singer/songwriter, Imogen Heap. The words, I imagine,
are her own. We read in the notes that the song is about the treatment
of indigenous people. I’m glad we had that explanation for, frankly,
it’s well-nigh impossible to discern that from reading the words.
Despite the advocacy that it receives here Heap’s piece strikes
me as being pretty thin gruel.
Ravel and Barber are much better known composers. I’ve never felt
that Barber’s own choral arrangement of his celebrated Adagio
for Strings works, not least because the singers can sound strained
by Barber’s eventually very high-lying lines. However, this superb
performance by Vocal Art Ensemble is extremely persuasive of
the merits of Barber’s arrangement. I admire enormously the control
which these Swedish singers exert, both when the music is loud or soft.
The French composer Thierry Machuel has arranged Ravel’s Le
jardin féérique for voices, setting the music to words by Benoît
Richter. I’m afraid this attempt to reimagine Ravel’s magical
piece just doesn’t work at all for me and that’s no reflection
on the singers here. Right from the start I missed the gorgeous, subtle
textures of Ravel’s orchestration and all the many colours in
which Ravel paints his picture of the enchanted garden. Right after
playing this arrangement I listened to a recording of the orchestral
version to remind myself of what I’d been missing. In order to
be fair to Machuel I also listened to a recording of Ravel’s original
version for two pianos; even though there isn’t the same palette
of colours in the piano version I still prefer it to Machuel’s
effort. I felt that one problem with this vocal performance is that
Jan Yngwe takes the music too swiftly, thereby missing some of the poetry.
Interestingly, the piano version that I played, by Pascal and Denise-Françoise
Rogé, takes almost exactly as long as Yngwe’s performance but
it doesn’t feel as fast. I doubt I’ll want to hear
Machuel’s arrangement again.
The programme begins and ends with pieces by the Latvian, Ēriks
Ešenvalds. I’ve heard all three before, including as part of a
fine all-Ešenvalds disc that I reviewed
last year. I think that Ešenvalds is a most interesting composer
with a fabulous ear for imaginative textures. Jan Yngwe has chosen three
pieces that show him at his best. O salutaris hostia is an
utterly gorgeous piece. It includes testing parts for two soprano soloists.
The two soloists here, Josefin Lidén and Madelene Johansson, are superb,
their pure, clear voices a treat for the ears. The only slight caveat
I’d enter is that other performances I’ve heard –
both live and on disc – have placed the soloists at a bit more
of a distance than is the case here. It’s still a wonderful performance,
though. The other two pieces are settings in English of words by Sara
Teasdale. The choir demonstrates terrific attack at the start of The
New Moon while in the third and final stanza, where the music relaxes
as the mood of the poem becomes more reflective, the choir’s sound
is warm and sensitive. In this closing section Ešenvalds gently
enriches his textures by adding a glockenspiel and water-tuned glasses,
the latter played by members of the choir. The effect is beguiling.
He uses the glasses again in Stars. Here the glasses are used
to create a very beautiful, gentle halo of sound around the voices.
This aura of sound, coupled with exquisite vocal writing creates an
effect that is utterly magical. It’s a gently radiant piece and
the performance here is unforgettable.
I have reservations about some of the repertoire in this programme though
others may well disagree with my subjective view. What I hope there
will be no disagreement about is the quality of the performances. This
is, quite simply, 61 minutes of outstanding singing. This is an expert
choir who blend together wonderfully and who create a sound that consistently
delights the ear. Several solo parts are taken by choir members and
without exception these solos are expertly sung. All praise to them,
too, for promoting contemporary choral music in such a committed fashion.
They’ve been most sensitively recorded by Per Sjösten in what
sounds like a lovely acoustic. As I said, I think this is the first
time that a disc by this choir has been reviewed on MusicWeb International;
I hope it won’t be the last.
John
Quinn
Track listing
Ēriks EŠENVALDS (b. 1977)
The New Moon (2012) [3.53]
O salutaris hostia (2009) [3.26]
Sven-David SANDSTRÖM (b. 1942)
To See a World (2007) [3.22]
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
Le jardin féérique (arr. Thierry Machuel) [3.04]
Vienna TENG (b, 1978)
The Hymn of Acxiom [4.18]
Jan YNGWE (b. 1953)
Urgency of Now! (2013) [8.21]
Ulrika EMANUELSSON (b. 1965)
Där livet klingar ut (2013) [5.58]
César Alejandro CARILLO (b. 1957)
Magnificat [4.48]
Imogen HEAP (b. 1977) arr. Jan Yngwe
Hide and Seek (2005) [4.18]
Calixto ALVAREZ (b. 1938)
Lacrimosa [3.42]
John August PAMINTUAN (b. 1972)
De profundis (2007) [4.15]
Samuel BARBER (1910-1981)
Agnus Dei (1967) [6.31]
Ēriks EŠENVALDS
Stars (2011) [5.00]
