Uranienborg Vokalensemble & Elisabeth Holte - Song (2013) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen Sol-lokk
02. Geirr Tveitt Hakon Berge Ve no velkomne med ?ra
03. Hakon Berge No stig var song
04. Hakon Berge Velsignede morgen
05. Sven Erik Back Varen
06. Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen Gryande morgon
07. Alfred Janson Tre dikt av Ebba Lindqvist
08. Bo Holten Vokalise
09. Torbjorn Dyrud Snart kysser hun sin venn i rosenhagen
10. Harald Gullichsen The Lord is my light and my salvation
11. Jaakko Mantyjarvi Ave Maria d’Aosta
12. Bo Holten Alt har sin tid
13. Carl Nielsen Min Jesus, lat mitt hjarta fa
14. Norwegian folk tune En smuk Aftensang


SONG is a recording of Nordic choral music with words and music describing the shifts of the human condition and man’s relationship with nature, God and his fellow man. The compositions present nature in all its variation, sensitively evoking the different times of the day, both lyrically and musically.

The first track of the album is Sol-lokk (Sun call), written for solo soprano and five treble voices. The call is inspired by the echo in a mountain valley in Tinn in Telemark and is composed by Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen, who has sung soprano in Uranienborg Vocal Ensemble since 2009. Educated as an organist and choirmaster, Marianne has written several commissioned works for various ensembles and choirs.

Vé no velkomne med æra (Be welcome with honour) is a folk tune from western Norway arranged for a cappella choir by Håkon Berge on the basis of Geirr Tveitt’s arrangement of the same tune. Geirr Tveitt collected folk tunes extensively in Hardanger, noting down around a thousand melodies. These later provided material for his popular instrumental work “A Hundred Folk Tunes from Hardanger”, from which Vé no velkomne med æra is taken. A characteristic feature of Tveitt’s music is his extensive use of modal keys. By using open chords, fourths, fifths and relating freely to the notes between, he achieves a natural tension and easing of tension, which Berge carefully retains in his vocal arrangement. Håkon Berge is a Norwegian composer, conductor, arranger and music administrator.

He has written a number of commissioned works, among them the music for the opening of the Library of Alexandria and for the opening of the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo. No stig vår song (Our song now rises) is a relatively new hymn written by Edvard Hoem and Håkon Berge to celebrate King Harald V’s 75th birthday in 2007.

Uranienborg Vocal Ensemble contributed to the celebratory service at Holy Trinity Church in Oslo. The programme included a premiere of a magnificent arrangement of this hymn performed by a full church gallery of singers. The hymn was included in the draft version of the 2008 Norwegian Hymnbook, and will be part of the new Hymnbook in December 2013. For the premiere performance the four verses of the hymn were arranged in different movements. We have chosen to present two of these movements.

Velsignede morgen (Blessed morning), its text taken from Henrik Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt”, is presented in a beautiful melody also arranged by Håkon Berge. The text comes from the fifth and final act where Peer is on his way home after many years of exile. He is starting to realise that his life has been wasted. Finally back with Solveig, he poses the riddle: “Where was I, as myself, as the whole man, the true man? Where was I, with God’s sigil upon my brow?” Solveig answers his question thus: “In my faith, in my hope and in my love”. In Ibsen’s play, Velsignede morgen is sung by churchgoers following a path through the woods as church bells are heard in the distance.

Uranienborg Vokalensemble are renowned for their vigorous performances of music from different genres and periods. In their latest album SONG they embrace the whole spectrum, from the softly delicate to the massively unsettling. In words and music each track has a story to tell about man and his relationship with nature, his fellow man and to God. The listener is rewarded with an almost visceral experience of the unaccompanied human voice – breathing and pulsing, direct and unfiltered.

The compositions present nature in all its variation, sensitively evoking the different times of the day, both lyrically and musically: Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen, Geirr Tveitt, Håkon Berge, Sven Erik Bäck, Alfred Janson, Bo Holten, Torbjørn Dyrud, Harald Gullichsen, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi and Carl Nielsen.

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