Yggdrasil
Cantus/Tove Ramlo-Ystad
rec. 2018-2021, Lademoen Church, Trondheim, Norway
2L 2L-170-SABD Blu-ray/SACD [61]

You may not think you have heard Cantus before, but the chances are you have without realising it since they have contributed to the soundtracks of both of those uber-ubiquitous Disney Frozen movies. This is their third album for the 2L label, their two previous recordings having been nominated in the Best Immersive Audio Album category at the GRAMMY awards. I would not be at all surprised if this one doesn’t follow suit.

The booklet notes for this fine recording tell us that Yggdrasil is the world tree in Norse mythology, this project having started out as an idea to reach out to composers from near and far for pieces with the tree as a common theme, a process that has been spread out over several years and has involved close collaboration with the composers.

The pure tones of Cantus’ female voices are the perfect ‘tabula rasa’ for settings of all kinds of texts, and there are pictures in the booklet of the singers positioned in a circle for a remarkably transparent surround-sound effect if you have the equipment. My SACD player has recently thrown in the towel so I listened to this in stereo with my best headphones, and it all sounded pretty wonderful even with this conventional set-up. The CD package comes with both a SACD hybrid disc and a Blu-ray disc for enhanced listening options.

The programme is one you can enjoy greatly without feeling too much of a need to dig too deeply into each text, all of which are printed in English in the booklet, or with an explanation if not. There is a wide variety of colour and effect in the performances, but avant-garde vocal techniques when used are fairly restrained, with one or two whispers, some spoken word contrasts and passages where beauty of tone is hardened to bring across a particular expressive point. Are there highlights? That will depend onto which moments your ears latch, but as a few for-instances, you will probably enjoy the refined echoes in Tre Vers Til Mor or the slightly bluesy harmonies that pop out in Tree Song. There are more than a few places where open medieval harmonies are part of the atmosphere. Tempi are often slow, though there is animation in something like the elegantly flowing Eg Veit I Himmerik Ei Borg, which is one of a number of pieces that take Norwegian folk tunes as a starting point. The atmosphere is largely one of mild melancholy, though not of the kind that will make you too ‘down’ in mood, and there are always the percussion instruments and syncopated rhythms of the animals that inhabit Ratatoskr to wake you from your reverie.

With its theme of the tree and by association nature in general, this is a lovely recording and ultimately one with an uplifting message: “…let us honour life, by respecting plants, animals and everything on our planet. Let us sing a song of praise… The sound will soar high above us and ensure the fate of nature.”

Dominy Clements

Availability: 2L

Contents
Henning Sommerro (b. 1952)
Hirtir
Anders Edenroth(b. 1963)
Tree Song
Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen (b. 1971)
No Plantar Kvinna I Verda Eit Tre
Ellrun Ystad (b. 1965)
Tre Vers Til Mor
Christine Donkin (b. 1976)
Sirkel
Eric William Barnum (b. 1979)
Yggdrasil
Ragnar Rasmussen (b. 1966)
Eg Veit I Himmerik Ei Borg
Trygve Brøske (b. 1973)
Ratatoskr
Ko Matsushita (b. 1962)
Kamuy
Mia Makaroff (b. 1970)
Psalm 9
Eric William Barnum
Heaven Full Of Stars