Hard on the heels of Simax’s issue of his solo violin piece Yr (5/12) comes a whole disc devoted to unaccompanied vocal music by Lasse Thoresen (b1949). Two cycles are presented here, the six sacred songs Helligkvad – composed between 1988 and 1996 – for solo voice and the four motets based on Norwegian folk melodies composed for the six members of Nordic Voices in 2008-09 and which won the 2010 Nordic Council Music Prize.

Thoresen’s aim with the Vocal Sextet is to foster ‘a new culture of vocal music’, the first fruit of the Concrescence Project in which the Nordic Voices were trained in overtone and body-singing techniques in order to articulate the works precisely. First in the cycle was ‘Solbøn’ (‘Sun Prayer’, 2008), which develops a five-note lullaby into a blazing hymn to light across 10 minutes. Opposites attract in the other movements: ‘Likferdssælmin’ is a ‘Funeral Hymn’ with some decidedly comic moments, ‘Himmelske Fader’ (‘Heavenly Father’) alternates medieval- and oriental-sounding musics and ‘Tvetrall’ (‘Dual Tune’) is based on a two-part tune in two tempi with alternating time signatures.

Both cycles are beautifully rendered. Berit Opheim Versto is a hugely influential figure in Nordic vocal music and the six sacred songs of Helligkvad fit her unorthodox voice superbly. Nordic Voices have learnt their lessons well and turn in delightfully polished performances that lose none of the music’s raw power. If I have a reservation it is in not finding the interleaving of the Helligkvad songs between the second, third and fourth movements of the Sextet overly convincing. 2L’s recording is of demonstration quality. A fascinating disc containing much of real beauty.