The Norwegian Soloists' Choir / Oslo Sinfonietta - As Dreams (2016)

On the album cover above, you can just about make out the full quote from The Tempest that this choral collection takes its name from.  The introduction to the liner notes sets out how these seven pieces are meant to be linked: "they are permeated not only with their own era, but with times that we can imagine lie in front of us."  The five composers chosen are all known for their transformative, spellbinding sound, and make for a bewitching hour of choral music, sometimes accompanied, sometimes acapella.

The two works by Per Nørgård that make up a third of the runtime are my definite favourites here.  His Drømmesange (Dream Songs), with the choir accompanied by steady percussion, is an accessible start to the programme, with its gently lilting, folky melodies; Singe die Gärten, mein Herz is taken from his 3rd Symphony.  From there, there's a good mix of shimmering, atmospheric material (Alfred Janson's Nocturne; Kaija Saariaho's Überzeugung) and more avant-garde ventures into fractured phonemes (Helmut Lachenmann's Consolation II, Iannis Xenakis' Nuits and the closing Nuits, Adieux by Saariaho).  A highly recommended immersion in 20th-21st century choral music.

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Colin Currie plays Xenakis, Nørgård, Stockhausen and more (recorded live, Friday 17 July 2020)

Solo percussion from Scottish performer Colin Currie, previously featured on this blog in one of his earliest recordings.  This recital, performed in an empty hall in Glasgow with the stage strewn with instruments (and kitchen utensils), was broadcast live as one of Radio 3's Lunchtime Concerts, and takes in seven composers in a breathtaking hour.

There's the sonically powerful material that you might expect from a solo percussion showcase, not least in the closing Rebonds B by Iannis Xenakis and in Kevin Volans' Asanga, but also pieces of wonderful subtlety, and even elements of both in the brilliant opener I Ching: Fire Over Water by Per Nørgård.  From the mellower end of the spectrum are the Dessner, Aho and Hosokawa works for marimba, and the Stockhausen piece for vibraphone.  All of it ear-bending stuff from a master of his arsenal of instruments.

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bonus concert - Sofia Gubaidulina's Glorious Percussion

Gubaidulina's spectacular work, which includes elements of improvisation, was performed by the Colin Currie Group and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in August of last year at the Edinburgh Usher Hall.  It was paired in this concert with music from Greig's Peer Gynt, performed by the orchestra.

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Per Nørgård - Symphony No. 3 (BBC Proms 2018)

Had a great introduction to another fascinating composer over the past week whilst keeping my usual eye on the BBC Proms programme, so here's the performance in question.  The 86-year old Danish composer Per Nørgård was in the audience for this, the UK premiere a week ago of his 3rd Symphony completed in 1975.

This symphony is generally held to be the point where Nørgård fully integrated his composing style, of serial music generated by fractal-like integers in an "infinity series".  After listening to this being discussed in the radio preamble I was expecting something like Xenakis, but Nørgård isn't quite that explosive, at least not in this work.  Instead, it reminded me occasionally of Ligeti, sometimes of the French spectralists, but those were just really fleeting coincidences rather than similarities (there is definitely some microtonality in the strings though, from what I've read).

Overall, I really enjoyed listening to something unique-sounding in its construction and in the way the instrumental groups interact, and definitely want to hear more Nørgård.  The atmospheric moments of the first movement were right up my street, and the longer second movement, once it gets going, is all over the place (in the best possible way) with its epic choral stylings.  Definitely recommended.

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