Nørgård Choral Works
Still an overlooked part of his output, Per Norgard's choral music is in fact crucial to his development as a composer
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Per Nørgård
Label: Dacapo
Magazine Review Date: 3/2000
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 224115
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Singe die Gärten, mein Herz |
Per Nørgård, Composer
Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble Danish Chamber Players Per Nørgård, Composer Tamás Vetö, Conductor |
Maya danser |
Per Nørgård, Composer
Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble Per Nørgård, Composer Tamás Vetö, Conductor |
Winter Hymn |
Per Nørgård, Composer
Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble Per Nørgård, Composer Tamás Vetö, Conductor |
(3) Agnus Dei Motets |
Per Nørgård, Composer
Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble Per Nørgård, Composer Tamás Vetö, Conductor |
Drømmesange |
Per Nørgård, Composer
Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble Danish Chamber Players Per Nørgård, Composer Tamás Vetö, Conductor |
(4) Latin Motets |
Per Nørgård, Composer
Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble Per Nørgård, Composer Tamás Vetö, Conductor |
I Hear the Rain |
Per Nørgård, Composer
Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble Danish Chamber Players Per Nørgård, Composer Tamás Vetö, Conductor |
(2) Wölfli-Lieder |
Per Nørgård, Composer
Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble Danish Chamber Players Per Nørgård, Composer Tamás Vetö, Conductor |
Author: kYlzrO1BaC7A
As Jean Christensen makes clear in his chapter 'Lyricism with a Dramatic Nerve' in The Music of Per Norgard (Scolar Press: 1996), choral music covers a greater variety of means and performer abilities than any other category in the composer's output; a range made clear by the present selection.
Singe die Garten, mein Herz (1975, also the closing section of the seminal Third Symphony) explores the melodic dimension of Norgard's 'infinity series' with a quiet ecstasy, while the timeless simplicity of Winter Hymn and deceptive naivety of Maya danser are qualities found throughout his oeuvre. The impact of the Swiss schizophrenic artist Adolf Wolfli on Norgard's thinking is evident in Dream Songs (1981), where the polarity of concord and discord, in this thrice-told tale of childhood revelation, is mirrored by the drum's musical and dramatic cross-rhythm to the chorus. TheWolfli-Lieder directly contrast good and evil, although the tranquillity of 'Abendlied' is hardly unruffled, while the demonic forces of this 'Hallelujah' chorus dance merrily into silence. As in the Latin settings, Norgard moves between lightness and dark with an ease characteristic of his mature musical thinking. That he could follow the many-layered complexity of his Fifth Symphony with the intuitive freedom of I Hear the Rain (1992) is further testament to a creative mind which has 'earned the right' to stylistic freedom.
The excellent Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble has been admirably recorded in a sympathetic acoustic. A pity that the 18 seconds' discrepancy between listed and actual playing time was not used to put a greater space between works, but this is a small blemish on a disc that all enterprising choirs and listeners should investigate.'
Singe die Garten, mein Herz (1975, also the closing section of the seminal Third Symphony) explores the melodic dimension of Norgard's 'infinity series' with a quiet ecstasy, while the timeless simplicity of Winter Hymn and deceptive naivety of Maya danser are qualities found throughout his oeuvre. The impact of the Swiss schizophrenic artist Adolf Wolfli on Norgard's thinking is evident in Dream Songs (1981), where the polarity of concord and discord, in this thrice-told tale of childhood revelation, is mirrored by the drum's musical and dramatic cross-rhythm to the chorus. The
The excellent Ars Nova Vocal Ensemble has been admirably recorded in a sympathetic acoustic. A pity that the 18 seconds' discrepancy between listed and actual playing time was not used to put a greater space between works, but this is a small blemish on a disc that all enterprising choirs and listeners should investigate.'
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