Nordic Voices is an a capella group which was founded in 1996,
specialising in contemporary music which is both of the utmost
in artistic integrity, but which also has a compelling and often
surprisingly approachable nature. They have toured all over the
world and performed to great critical acclaim, both at contemporary
music festivals where this kind of music is a staple diet, to
more off the beaten track venues, where a well-developed sense
of humour can often convert the uninitiated to the unexpected.
This SACD hybrid has
some remarkable sounds. Lasse Thoresen and Henrik Ødegaard both
use the technique of overtone singing – transforming the sound
of the voice with the shape of the mouth, not however to be confused
with the more extreme specialism of throat singing. Traditional
folk styles from Norway such as kveding also appear, as
well as microtonal scales and harmonic relationships. All of these
things might add up to some kind of aversion therapy music, but
with Nordic Voices’ sweet natural sound the technical aspects
in the music become secondary, and the overriding impression is
of strong communication and expressive shapes and sounds made
by composers who work with, rather than against the human voice.
Lasse Thoresen’s Diphonie
I has no real text, and the title Djåŋki daŋ
or ‘jonkidon’ is an example of one of the invented
combinations of sounds which the singers are instructed to use.
Both Thoresen’s and Henrik Ødegaard’s works are part of a project
which aims to bring together traditional vocal techniques with
the discoveries of the last 50 years. Diphonie I creates
a fascinating sound-world, enhancing recognisable and sometimes
quite snazzy tonalities with extended vocal sounds, the unison
colourings given by the ensemble generating effects which are
simultaneously strange and familiar. O Magnum Mysterium by
Henrik Ødegaard is based on a responsorial chant for Christmas
Day, and the beauty of this familiar line alongside the shifting
character of intimate colours and almost shouting, exuberant highs
is hard to describe in words.
Asbjørn Schaathun’s
Verklärung is based on texts by Georg Trakl, an expressionist
poet who took his own life after experiencing the traumas of World
War I. This is a more intimate piece, with slowly shifting chords
and tonal relationships both consonant and dissonant. The ethereal,
dreamlike qualities in this work contrast well with the surrounding
pieces, with the final dissolution of the choral sound into nothingness
having an unforgettable quality.
David Bratlie’s
piece derives from the Old Testament Book of Lamentations.
The work is in two sections: a darker first half expressing
hopelessness, and a brighter second section which introduces
‘a sliver of aspiration’. The music is filled with rather desperate
sounding dissonances and clusters, using some fragments of traditional
Jewish song. This resolves into a more open sounding second
section, which includes elements of Gregorian chant, but in
all its religious self-absorbedness this is one of the less
accessible works on this disc.
Cecilie Ore’s Schwirren
uses a text from a novella called Das Fliegenpapier or
‘The Flypaper’ by Robert Musil. The text for this and all of the
other pieces is included in the booklet in both the original language
and English, making for a fascinating read. The flypaper is an
analogy for human as well as actual and graphic insect death,
and is used as such by the composer: “a requiem, a slow, drawn
out moment of death.” An element of burlesque, gallows humour
does appear however; “Tragedy and comedy go hand in hand...” Echoing
consonants ‘M.M.m.m.m.m.mmmm...’ create texture, and spoken text contrasts
with sustained notes and chords. All of this is interrupted by
a number of almost painful musical outbursts. At over 20 minutes
one might suspect this to be too much of a good thing, but the
material is strong enough to sustain, chill and challenge from
beginning to end. This is a fascinatingly poetic musical response
to a remarkable text, executed by a crack team of singers.
The final work is
Plym-Plym by Kåre Kolberg, and is the only piece not written
especially for Nordic Voices. The arrangement from the original
for choir and vocal quartet was however an adaption made with
the permission of the composer. One of the popular post-war hits
of Norwegian vocal music, it is full of just about everything,
“a creative eruption moving in all directions at once, from complete
cacophony to super-commercial, anodyne pop.” As Frank Havrøy’s
vivid descriptions would lead you to expect, this is a superb
finale to a fascinating disc.
The SACD sound on
this release is incredibly spacious, the recording set in a perfectly
resonant acoustic which enhances the already marvellous Nordic
Voices into a production which should be on every contemporary
vocal-music fan’s wish list. If I can persuade just a few of you
to try this instead of yet another version of, let’s say Handel’s
Messiah, then we’ll all have evolved just a little step
further towards an enlightened connection with what some of the
best of today’s music has to offer.
Dominy Clements
Nordic Voices
[71:19] 
