Sono Luminus

DSL-92128

The Vanishing Nordic Chorale

Musik Ekklesia

DSL-92128 Cover

Sono Luminus presents nothing less than a revelation of the Scandinavian musical soul: chorale settings by Northern Europe's greatest composers performed by some of America's finest period performers. In The Vanishing Nordic Chorale, Musik Ekklesia brilliantly refracts the nordic chorale tradition through the prism of history, yielding a kaleidoscope of nuanced color and florid display.

Four hundred years ago, individuals traveled – if they traveled at all – only by the strained effort of foot and beast, wind and sail. Communication beyond the sound of their voices required hand-writing and hand-delivering. Even so, across Northern Europe, something unlikely was occurring. The musical memory of the Nordic people was becoming embodied with an identical opus of melodies. Average people, from Trondheim to Leipzig, participated weekly in the performance of the same tunes, each sung in their own language. These were 'chorales' (or hymn tunes) which formed the basis of congregational worship in the state-run churches beginning during the Nordic Golden Age of the Reformation.

The Vanishing Nordic Chorale presents 14 of these melodies sung in Nordic languages: the lilt of Swedish, the angled turn of Norwegian, and the gentle kneeding of Danish offer listeners a music all their own. In this collection, simple eight-bar chorale tunes have not been doggedly repeated merely to span their many verses. Instead, Musik Ekklesia director Philip Spray has exploited a variety of techniques to feature these tunes in situ as it were, either by selecting whole works of composers that incorporated the tunes – as in Bach's alto aria from Cantata 137, Mendelssohn's Forlen os freden, and Nielsen's Denne er daget – or by taking one composer's work on a short chorale verse, such as Pachelbel's organ arrangement of Du er, opstandne sejerhelt, here arranged for various groups of baroque instruments, and setting it against a ritornello (i.e., Bach's orchestral prelude to Cantata 99), or du Caurroy's verses, similarly set alongside a well-known Noël by Charpentier as their ritornello. Spray has also borrowed chorale tunes from the Danish, Swedish or Norwegian Chorale Books and arranged them for voices and various consorts of instruments.

1. Bach/Pachelbel: Du er, opstandne sejershelt (Was Gott tut)
2. Cruger: Hvorledes skal jeg mode (Wie soll ich dich empfangen)
3. Praetorius: Lovsjung Krist (Psallite)
4. Bach: Lover den Herre (Lobe den Herren)
5. Trad. Norwegian, arr. Spray: Mitt hjerte alltid vanker (My Heart Always Wanders)
6. Grieg, arr. Spray: Den store hvide flok (A Great White Host)
7. Trad. Swedish, arr. Spray: Der mange skal komme (Many Shall Come)
8. Charpentier/du Caurroy: Fran Gud vill jag ej vika (Von Gott will ich nicht lassen)
9. Scheidt: Pa dig jag hoppas (In dich hab'ich gehoffet, Herr)
10. Bach: O Jesus sa sot, O Jesus sa mild (O Jesulein sub, O Jesulein mild)
11. Mendelssohn: Forlen os freden, Herre, nu (Verleih uns Frieden gnadiglich)
12. Neumark/Bach, arr. Spray: Min sjal, lat Gud i allt fa rada (Wer nur den lieben Gott)
13. Nielsen: Denne er dagen, som Herren har gjort (This is the Day the Lord Has Made)
14. Hassler: Sand, Herre, dina anglar ut (Herzlich lieb)
15. Nielsen: Prelude VI (1929) Bach: Var halsad, skona morgonstund (Wie schon leuchtet der Morgensten)
16. Nielsen: Prelude I (1930) Nielsen: Der er en Vej (There is a Way)
17. Buxtehude: Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God)
18. Nielsen: Prelude XXIII (1929) Pederson: Vor Gud han er sa fast en borg (Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott)
19. karosi: Improvisation on Prelude XXIII & Ein feste Burg
20. Buxtehude: Klag-Lied (Lament)

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