PAX
Martin Ødegaard (b. 1983)
PAX (2017)
Cecilie Ore (b. 1954)
Speak LOUDER! (2019)
Eyolf Dale (1985)
A Current Peace (2021)
Stine Sørlie (b. 1978)
Pollination (2010)
Martin Ødegaard
LUX (2019)
Ensemble 96/Nina T. Karlsen
Current Saxophone Quartet
rec. 2020/21, Uranienborg Church, Oslo, Norway
2L 2L-174-SABD SACD/BDA [49]
Ensemble 96 has appeared before on the 2L label with albums such as Kind (review) and Immortal (review), notably in collaboration with other musicians and vocal groups. In this case they have worked with the Norwegian saxophone quartet Current, an ensemble that specialises in contemporary music. PAX is part of an ongoing annual concert series that Ensemble 96 have been doing since 2011 entitled “Peace”, using repertoire that approaches this theme in different ways, and with an emphasis on new works by Norwegian composers.
As is often the case with the 2L label, the recording is a remarkable immersive experience, and these pieces have been created with a large cathedral space in mind. There is a diagram which shows the microphone set-up, with the voices encircling a 6-microphone array and the four saxophones arranged spatially beyond the singers. You can hear the detail in articulation from the singers in a piece such as Cecile Ore’s Speak LOUDER!, after experiencing the fascinating acoustic layering with saxophones in the opening title track by Martin Ødegaard, whose music bookends the programme. All sung texts are included in the booklet.
Speak LOUDER! is gentler than the caps and exclamation mark in the title seem to suggest. Written for choir and vocal soloists, this is “a powerful statement on humankind’s assertiveness towards our planet.” Weighing the increase of human population against the extinction of so many animal species this is indeed a thought-provoking piece and not without its moments of dissonant stress and dramatic emphasis, but is arguably a bit too ‘nice’ for the seriousness of its message. A Current Peace by Eyolf Dale for saxophone quartet has no programme information other than that it was written for the Current Quartet during the pandemic. The music exploits these musician’s skill in notes that emerge from breath sounds, and with contrast between close harmonies and open intervals in a generally low range and a lyrical expressive centre, this forms a lovely interlude between the vocal works.
Stine Sørlie’s Pollination has “sounds heard in nature”, so expect techniques beyond conventional singing. Aside from whispers and some subtle buzzing and calls there are some wonderful textural effects that include whistling, and Sørlie’s compact text merely hints at what turns out to be a quiet gem of a piece.
Martin Ødegaard’s PAX and LUX are excellent bookends to this programme. PAX uses only two words, ‘pax’ and ‘friede’, the setting being “a musical commentary on Arnold Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden.” This opening has some of the most ‘modern’ sounds on the album but there is nothing too intimidating, the percussive reeds and trills from the saxophones creating contrast between a slowly evolving choral exploration of the text in rising climaxes, glissandi and other textures that resolve and dissolve from consonance to dissonance in a canvas that becomes increasingly vast as the music progresses. There are moments of striking luminosity in PAX that also shine though in LUX with its “Lux aeterna” text and its message “of peace, of rest, and of eternal light.” Both of these pieces have a similar slow pace, the latter with darker dissonances melting into moments of tonal radiance. There is a left/right counterpoint with the choir split into two groups which adds to the immersive experience, but for some reason there is also a certain amount of disconcerting ambiguity here. Liturgical melodic fragments float in, and moments of incredible intensity are all too soon undercut and lead into something else, with the focussed intent of the saxophones in PAX also diluted into a certain amount of quasi-improvisatory wailing towards the end. Don’t get me wrong, this is a striking and impressive piece that sustains repeated listening, but its route towards a final affirmative major chord meanders and seems a touch distracted from time to time.
With 2L’s superb sound this is another refined Norwegian production the rest of us can only admire and attempt to emulate. If you are interested in new choral music with meaningful content then get it while you can.
Dominy Clements
Availability: 2L
