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De Profundis: Sacred Music for Male Choir - Alin

De Profundis: Sacred Music for Male Choir - Alin

BIS  BIS-2053 SACD

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Vocal


Oh Kristus valgus oled sa (Gehrmans Musikförlag) - Estonian hymn, arranged for male choir and organ by Gunnar Idenstam
KREEK, Cyrillus (1889–1962): Taaveti laul nr. 137 (Psalm 137 of David) (edition49)
EESPERE, René (b. 1953): Glorificatio for soprano, male choir and organ (Eres Edition)
LEMBA, Andres (b. 1968): Gloria (Manuscript)
SÖDERMAN, August (1832–76), arr. Einar Ralf: Kyrie (Gehrmans Musikförlag); Domine (Gehrmans Musikförlag)
SANDSTRÖM, Sven-David (b. 1942): Sanctus (Gehrmans Musikförlag)
ORBÁN, György (b. 1947): Daemon irrepit callidus (Hinshaw Music Inc.)
GRIEG, Edvard (1843–1907): Ave maris stella
FOUGSTEDT, Nils-Eric (1910–61): Nattlig Madonna (Fazer Music)
BIEBL, Franz Xaver (1906–2001): Ave Maria (Angelus Domini) (Wildt’s Musikverlag)
MILHAUD, Darius (1892–1974): Psaume 121 (Universal Edition)
ROSSINI, Gioacchino (1792–1868): Preghiera (Carus Verlag)
CHILCOTT, Bob (b. 1955): Newton’s Amazing Grace (Oxford University Press)
LANGLAIS, Jean (1907–91): Praise the Lord (Psalm 150) (McLaughlin & Reilly Co.)
PÄRT, Arvo (b. 1935): De profundis (Universal Edition)

Magnus Einarsson, percussion
Elin Rombo, soprano
Olle Englund, tenor
Erik Hartman, bass
Andrew Canning, organ
Orphei Drängar (OD)
Cecilia Rydinger Alin


Estonia provides both starting point and goal for this disc of sacred music for male choir, with a traditional hymn followed by works by composers such as Kreek, Eespere and Lemba, and the closing De profundis by Arvo Pärt. But in between, Orphei Drängar and their conductor Cecilia Rydinger Alin make a grand tour of Europe, taking in music by composers from the Nordic countries, France, Italy, Central Europe and the UK.

Biblical Psalms have provided many of these with their texts, such as Milhaud (in French), Langlais (in English), Kreek (in Estonian) and Pärt (in Latin). Others – Lemba, Söderman, Sandström – have set portions of the text of the Catholic mass. Grieg and Biebl were both inspired by prayers in Latin, while Rossini chose to set one in Italian.

For Nattlig madonna ('Nocturnal Madonna') the Finnish composer Nils-Eric Fougstedt selected a poem depicting the Virgin Mary with her newborn child by his compatriot Edith Södergran, while Bob Chilcott has chosen one by the Guyanese-British poet John Aagard, whose version of John Newton's Amazing Grace gives the background to the conversion of this 18th-century slave-trader turned abolitionist.

Throughout a programme ranging from Rossini's Preghiera from c. 1860 to Sven-David Sandström's Sanctus, composed for the choir in 2010, Orphei Drängar and Rydinger Alin once again demonstrate the versatility and exalted standards that habitually causes the choir to be described as the finest male-voice choir in the world.

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Review by John Miller - January 12, 2014

It's not long ago that I was being carried away by the Orphei Drängar Male Voice Choir's survey of Veljo Tormis' music (Tormis: Curse Upon Iron - Alin). Now they are back with an eclectic collection of sacred music for male choir. Here they present fairly short pieces, mainly with texts from or based on the Bible, many in Latin. There are hymns, segments from the Mass and and settings of poetry, crossing a wide range of emotions and devotions. So, despite the title of "De profundis" (out of the depths), this superbly crafted programme runs the gamut from contemplation to joyous celebration.

Music Director Cecilia Rydinger Alin spread her net for composers across Europe, garnering them from Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain. Their music comes from the late nineteenth century right to our own time, but don't worry - it is all tonal, lyrical and very, very easy on the ears. As another example of consummate programming, timbres are not just limited to male voice choral singing. The organ makes several important appearances, there is some percussion to add new textures, but most delightfully there are several soprano solos to sing with the men, leavening their ensemble.

As a youth, I became a real fan of Male Voice Choirs in an unusual way. An uncle of mine had a hotel in Wales, and the local choir, mostly of local miners, held their weekly rehearsals in his large functions room. I was drawn to their sound like a moth to a candle when I was brought on a family visit, and after that I could only be found squeezed in a corner of the rehearsal room, soaking up the music. Orphei Drängar (OD) has almost eighty singers, formed in the University city of Uppsala in 1853. They are one of Sweden's finest choirs, touring the country under Royal patronage and also travelling internationally, gaining a fine reputation. Under Cecilia Rydinger Alin's unerring direction, they have developed an ensemble second to none, they generate marvellously rich sound (swhich echoe the timbres of Welsh choirs). Each of the choir's sections come seamlessly together with astonishing skill of dynamic control and acumen of emotional interpretation. In short, the choir makes the hairs on one's neck rise!

I could write much about each of the tracks, but Fredrik Fagerberg has provided astutely compact and informative notes in the booklet . There are eight composers new to me (but there are "comfortable" composers as well - Grieg, Milhaud, Rossini and Langlais), so this information was invaluable. The whole of this album was deeply memorable to me, but I should mention just a few items which particularly caught my ears. The opening Estonian Hymn arrangement is a highly original piece, in the garb of Russian Orthodox Church music, but with a few twists. The sepulchral, limping, deep organ pedal, accompanying breathtakingly hushed basses, initiates a gradual building up of tone and texture. The choir, which, like a very expensive car, seems to have more and more power, thrillingly expansive at the end. Note also the quirky solo of the (digital) organ in the middle of the piece, with an astonishing few lines of the Blues!

René Eespore's brilliantly joyful 'Glorificatio', where Elin Rombo's pure soprano gleams above the darker tones of the choir, is pure beauty. György Orbán's inventive setting of an old Latin text about The Devil sneaking up on Man sizzles with energy and stabbing rhythmics which gradually soften as God's support takes over. Grieg's setting of Ave maris stella is a model of tender sweetness. Bob Chilcott's mysteriously entitled 'Newton's Amazing Grace' refers to John Henry Newton, an English sailor and evangelical Anglican cleric who wrote many hymns. Chilcott sets a text by Guyanese poet John Agard, in which Newton struggles with slavery. He takes up the emancipation of the crying, shouting slaves, but falls into despair. All this is musically projected by the OD singers, including Newton's deep anger, until a whisper of a new tune begins to soak through the choir. Eventually, one recognises this as Newton's hymn, although with somewhat different harmonies, and it gains volume until its final peroration, the title of the hymn now thrillingly revealed. This piece was dedicated to Cecilia Rydinger Alin and OD.

There is little to say about the recording, made in Uppsala's Bällinke kirke. It is so convincing, especially in multichannel 5.0, that one can just listen, completely engrossed and undisturbed by having to appraise the capture. Without doubt, the virtuoso music-making which is a characteristic of Orphei Drängar has once again given me over an hour's unalloyed pleasure. Essential for lovers of vocal music, and certainly one of my favourite albums of 2013.

Copyright © 2014 John Miller and HRAudio.net

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