The Swedish are a singing people and singing in choirs is regarded
as one of the most important national movements. About 600,000
people are estimated to sing regularly in one or more choirs
and considering the population is around nine million that’s
quite a high percentage. The male choir tradition derives
from the early 19th century, supposedly starting
in Uppsala in October 1808 when students gathered to sing
patriotic songs. It was in the academic world that singing
blossomed, first in Uppsala and somewhat later in Lund. The
tradition is still alive in those two cities, as it is in
Stockholm, whose Student Singers were formed in November
1905. Judging from this brand new recording they are still
in healthy voice after a full century. Their most legendary
conductor was Einar Ralf, older brother of Torsten Ralf,
who had an international career as Wagner tenor in the 1930s
and 1940s. Einar Ralf took over the leadership in 1917 and
stayed for fifty years. Several others have passed on the
tradition and the present conductor, Karin Oldgren, has held
her position since 1998. The choir today comprises around
fifty singers.
We are more used to hearing Christmas songs performed by mixed
choirs but there is a special attraction in the sound of a male
choir – even in this repertoire. I am a bit biased of course,
having been singing in choirs all my adult life and the first
fifteen years or so in a male choir. A mixed choir has no
doubt a broader palette of colours but a good male choir,
like this one, has a homogeneity of sound that can send shivers
down the spine when everything functions well. On this disc
Praetorius’s classic Es ist ein Ros entsprungen has
that tingle factor, just as Carl Nielsen’s Forunderligt
at sige, originally also for mixed choir but Robert Sund’s
arrangement fits like a glove; no wonder, he has been Principal
Conductor of Orphei Drängar, arguably the most famous male
choir in the country, for more than twenty years.
The whole programme gets a good start in an alert and springy Joy
to the World, also arranged by Robert Sund, while his
younger brother Håkan has sewn the male costume for När
juldagsmorgon glimmar, an originally German Christmas
song that many will recognize from Brahms’ Academic
Festival Overture. Former principal conductor of the
Student Singers, Göte Widlund, has also contributed several
arrangements besides Es ist ein Ros …, as has the
present conductor.
As can be seen from the heading the programme is a mixture
of songs from Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. From
Finland comes
Selim Palmgren, best known, I believe, through his piano
music in an impressionist vein, and Sibelius, whom I suppose
everybody knows. Both have set Swedish poems: Palmgren’s Hosiannah! is
to a text by the late romantic Gustaf Fröding, who has retained
his popularity through the years and attracted many composers
to set his lyrics, Stenhammar and Rangström among them. Sibelius’s Christmas
Song has become immensely popular in both Finland and
Sweden. It is one of the five songs that constitute his Opus
1, to a text by 19th century poet Topelius, who
was Finnish but wrote in Swedish. Originally a solo song
it is here performed in the composer’s own arrangement for
male choir. Norway is represented by a pretty folk melody
and Denmark by Carl Nielsen. Morten Lauridsen, despite his
Danish name, was born in Colfax, Washington, and has become
one of the most frequently performed composers of choral
music in our time, O magnum mysterium one of his greatest
successes. It is serene, meditative music, immensely beautiful,
a little Russian Orthodox in character.
Bereden väg för Herran (Make way for the
Lord) is an old Swedish hymn, here performed to a tune from
the rural tradition with the melodic line embellished in
the manner of folk fiddlers. Nu tändas tusen juleljus is
one of the most popular Swedish Christmas songs, sung without
big gestures and the soprano solo done with disarming childish
simplicity. We also get songs by early 20th century
composers Ivar Widéen and Gustaf Nordqvist.
The Anglo-Saxon tradition is also well taken care of and personally
I have a special fondness for Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing
Day with its intricate rhythms, well executed here and
with a bouncy organ accompaniment. From Germanic standard
fare Johan Pejler’s arrangement of Silent Night has
a certain likeness to Jan Sandström’s evocative treatment
of Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (not on this disc) with
the melody only gradually emerging out of a slightly dissonant
static body of sounds and at a very slow tempo. Halfway through
the piece, after some Christmas bells, it finally finds the
speed we are used to. It is an intriguing composition and
a thrilling alternative to more straightforward settings.
Both Ave Maria and Reger’s Marias Wiegenlied are
performed as solo songs but with choir added and Folke Bohlin’s Look!
Shepherds of Bethlehem is a solo with organ. Bohlin was
leader of Lund’s Student Singers for many years. The soprano
soloist, Gunilla Backman, is best known as a musical artist,
singing several major roles in London’s West End, among them
Ellen in Miss Saigon. She has a light lyrical voice
with an easy top and she sings straightforwardly with warmth
and affection – which means in this case that the listener
shouldn’t be aware of the calculated “reading” behind the
seemingly artless. Johan Lindström participates in some of
the numbers with impassioned and acute organ accompaniments.
The recording, as always with this company, is perfectly
balanced in an agreeable acoustic, the surround sound giving
extra fullness. The sung texts – and with translations, since
there must be a large quantity of these songs that are unknown
to international listeners – are unfortunately missing from
the booklet, which however has notes on the music and profiles
on the choir, conductor, soloist and organist.
I suspect that many listeners will make attractive ‘finds’ among
these 24 songs and the execution of them leaves little extra
to
be desired.
Göran Forsling
Stockholms
Studentsångare/Karin Oldgren 
[64:46] 
