Territorial Songs, a new CD release from the Our Recordings label features 72 minutes of distinctive recorder music by Sunleif Rasmussen. A native of the remote Faroe Islands, Rasmussen is nevertheless widely known for his compositions. He received critical acclaim in 2002 when his Symphony No. 1, Oceanic Days won The Nordic Council Music Prize. A particular passion of Rasmussen over the years has been the composition of recorder music and this CD is the product of his creative attempts to bring the recorder into a contemporary context. Michala Petri, a prominent recorder player, performs on all the pieces and whose virtuosity is clearly key to this project. The eleven tracks on the CD span a wide range of musical forms – from recorder solo pieces to accompaniment by small ensembles – all the way up to a full orchestral treatment. Rasmussen has made the recorder the centerpiece for all the works on this album and he has succeeded brilliantly in bringing new relevance to this seemingly humble instrument.

Flow (2012), for recorder and string trio, is the first piece on the album and consists of three movements. Inspired by Mozart’s Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285, Flow as heard on this album is a world premiere recording. The “Allegro” opens with a nicely active rhythm in the strings while the recorder rides above the accompaniment with an agile phrasing that features an impressive flexibility. The harmonies offer a hint of tension so that the result is pleasant and unsettling at the same time. The part writing is complex, but beautifully played and the recorder darts in and out of the broken rhythms that make up the overall texture. “Tranquillo”, the second movement, begins with soft cello notes that produce an easy and relaxed feel, propelled by an ambling pizzicato line in the violin and viola. The recorder entrance features an almost clarinet-like timbre and includes a series scales and runs that contrast well with the strings. At about 4 minutes into this movement, low buzzing cello sounds build a strong foundation while at the same time introducing an element of tension as the pizzicato line becomes more frenetic. Soon, the recorder sounds fuzzy as well, and the piece slowly loses it’s opening tranquility. Towards the finish, high, thin and sustained tones in the violins add a feeling of sharpness. The Esbjerg Ensemble accompanies with skill and sophistication. The part writing is brilliant here, with each instrument making a distinctive contribution to the whole.

“Rondeau”, the third movement, features busy string phrases with the recorder melody reaching to the heights above. There is a sort of a stop-and-go feel to this; the passages are independent in the various parts and detached from the recorder line. As usual, the ensemble is tight and it seems as if there are more instruments playing than scored. The orchestration is artfully done, always leaving enough acoustic space for the clean sounds of the recorder solo. Impatient and active, the recorder is allowed cut through the texture and at times, dominate. All of this results in an appropriately upbeat ending to Flow.

The second work on the CD is Jeg (2011), and this features the bass recorder accompanied by a cappella choir, the Danish National Vocal Ensemble led by Stephen Layton. Based on Danish modernist poet Inger Christensen’s text, the piece opens with a hauntingly deep recorder solo that establishes an exotic feel. As the choir enters, several separate lines of voices are often heard as the recorder obbligatto weaves in and around the vocals. Once again the orchestration is extremely precise, allowing a complex interplay to unfold between the voices and the newly-entered soprano recorder. The vocals are faintly reminiscent of Benjamin Britten and carry the drama solidly forward, always engaging the listener. A solemn recorder solo completes this piece.

Sorrow and Joy (2017), another world premiere recording, is the third piece on this CD and is written as a fantasy for solo recorder. The opening line is clear with a simple, declarative melody inspired by Thomas Kingo’s, hymn Sorrig og Glæde (sorrow and Joy). The tone is somber and reserved but soon variations in the melody lighten the mood, as if the melancholy is lifting. In his excellent liner notes, Joshua Cheek writes of this piece: “Thomas Kingo, (1634 – 1703), was a clergyman and poet whose works are considered the high point of Danish Baroque poetry. For the musical component Rasmussen takes Kingo’s melody and subjects it to 12 figural variations, which become increasingly virtuosic, the final variation also functioning as a cadenza.” The great underlying strength of the hymn tune compliments all of these variations superbly, even as the agile recorder notes dart in and around the stolid cantus firmus. Sorrow and Joy is perfectly centered in its Baroque context, equally pleasing to the ear and brain. The performance by Michala Petri is simply sublime.

Winter Echoes (2014) follows, a work for recorder and 13 solo strings, as performed by the Lapland Chamber Orchestra directed by Clemens Schuldt. This begins in the strings with a low growl accompanied by short, insistent passages in the upper strings. Quiet recorder phrases thread carefully through the string passages which are scored to allow space for the solos. The piece progresses in three sections, creating what amounts to a convincing portrait of the wintry mix of weather common among the islands of the North Sea. The recorders employed progress from bass to sopranino and as the pitches rise, the mood progresses from dark to light. The very high recorder passages towards the finish add a compelling, icy sting. Winter Echoes is more complex than, say, Vivaldi’s “Winter” movement of The Four Seasons, but both share the same needle-sharp edges.

Territorial Songs (2009) is the final piece on the album and is a concerto for recorder and orchestra consisting of five short movements. The solo recorder is accompanied by the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. According to the liner notes: “The idea for the piece came from the singing of birds. In nature, bird song has two main functions: to defend a territory and to attract a mate. Rasmussen extended this idea of ‘territorial space’ to the orchestra as well letting some sections play independent of the conductor, marking their own territory within the orchestral landscape.”

“Leggiero”, the first movement, opens with tubular bells at the start followed by rapid orchestra phrases. The recorder line is independent of the orchestra and has a distinctly abstract quality that goes its own way. The bells add a touch of the transcendental, as if the forest is a cathedral. The interplay between the orchestra and recorder nicely captures the confident chirping of a bird in the wood. “Misterioso”, the second movement, continues with the tubular bells and repeating mystical phrases in the harp, followed by muted trumpets. The recorder enters with syncopated passages that weave in and out of the accompaniment to great effect. Pizzicato strings bubble beneath the recorder, adding to the mystery. This is extremely well orchestrated, allowing the recorder to dominate the texture without getting lost in the accompaniment. The movement is abstract and complex, yet beautifully cohesive.

The final movement, “Leggiero”, opens with insistent drum beats and powerful lower string phrasing. The other sections of the orchestra join in to create a swirling palette of sound. The recorder enters with a dizzying series of scales ending with a sly solo stretch. The orchestra and recorder take turns dominating, but never interfere. A fabulously frenetic finish completes the concerto. With Rasmussen’s brilliant writing, the recorder stands a bit taller now in the woodwind family. Territorial Songs is a masterful pairing of the full orchestra with the slender sound of the recorder such that the excellent orchestration and solo playing contribute equally to its exuberant success.

Territorial Songs is available from Amazon Music and is also distributed by Naxos.

Cold Blue Music has released a new CD by John Luther Adams titled Arctic Dreams. Scored for four vocalists and four strings, the seven movements on this album also incorporate layers of digital delay that add a richness to the texture. The result is a warm ethereal ambiance throughout the album. Adams writes in the liner notes that “The sung text is a series of ‘Arctic Litanies,’ composed of the names of Arctic places, plants, birds, weather, and seasons, in the languages of the Iñupiat and Gwich’in peoples of Alaska.” The album is dedicated to the late Barry Lopez, a long-time friend of Adams, and the music, characteristically, is heavily influenced by nature and the Arctic tundra. John Luther Adams is a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning composer whose experiences in rural Alaska have been a decisive influence on his music throughout a long and distinguished career.

The string music of Arctic Dreams reaches back to the Festival of Alaska Native Arts where it was first heard in 1993 as part of Adam’s composition Earth and the Great Weather. Choral music was added to this in 2000. Arctic Dreams represents a re-balancing of these forces so that it has become a completely new piece. The harmonies for all the works on the album are derived from the first seven odd-numbered harmonics above the low D in the double bass. The tones are played on open strings and there is extensive re-tuning of the instruments so that only the natural harmonics are heard throughout.

The first track of Arctic Dreams is The Place Where You Go to Listen, and this is also the title of a John Luther Adams sound installation located in the Museum of the North in Fairbanks, Alaska. The installation is driven by the weather, time of day, phases of the moon, earthquake activity and other geophysical data gathered in real time. This is then used to select the sound components of the installation in the moment. The portrayal of natural phenomena also seems to be the basis for this track – it as if we are watching a sunrise on the tundra. The movement begins with a deep chord in the lower strings followed by voices singing a single syllable. The sustained low chords provide a warm and welcoming feel, yet there is gravitas present also. Some dissonance in the upper voices add a sense of mystery, and the tones seem to be reaching upward with a sunny, optimistic feel. The voices are attended by high, silvery sounds that add a glittery polish, like looking into the Arctic sun on a clear morning.

John Luther Adams does not write music that simply describes nature, rather, nature inhabits his music. We hear nature speaking to us directly and the most consistently surprising thing is how accepting nature is after all we have done to harm the planet. Pointed Mountains Scattered All Around, track 2, exemplifies this with foundational bass tones combined with lighter voices to make a lovely sound, climbing higher in pitch as our gaze looks upward at the mountain peaks. The music could be angry or forbidding, but there is a hospitable feeling conveyed instead. The bass line ambles down, descending from the heights, settling with the voices as they fade at the finish.

Very different emotions are conveyed by The Circle of Suns and Moons, track 3. This is spare and mysterious music with a chilling, almost alien presence. The high strings seem to twinkle in the night as voices climb very high to create a sense of distance and remoteness. This is less organic than the other pieces, but more evocative of a cold clear night in the company of the moon and the stars. The Circle of Winds, track 4, is just that, a flurry of short stringendo strokes in the low strings and a dense rising and falling in the layered texture that is reminiscent of a whirlwind. The disconnected runs of strings form an amazing aural construct. The color lightens as warm voices creep in, sustained and ethereal – completely different from the power of the opening. The feeling is now optimistic and bright, like a blue sky after a storm. The whirlwind sounds return, then recede at the finish.

River With No Willows, track 5, features lovely harmonies in the voices and what sounds like a jangle of bells in the accompaniment that create a sense of calm and meditation. All the sounds here are delicate and beautiful. The One That Stays In Winter, track 6, is a wonderfully abstract sounding of bird calls created by the voices and strings. Flocks of different birds are heard gathering deep in the wilderness and the sounds increase – the birds clearly own this place. The final track, Where the Waves Splash, Hitting Again and Again, is the shortest piece at just under 2 minutes. This consists of a series soft vocal whispers that evoke the waves of an ocean. It is as if we are standing on the edge of a wide beach, just barely able to hear the distant surf.

The excellent voices on Arctic Dreams are supplied by Synergy Vocals from the UK, who have performed works by composers such as Steve Reich, David Lang, John Adams and Arvo Pärt, among others. The string players, similarly distinguished, are Robin Lorentz, violin, Ron Lawrence, viola, Michael Finckel, cello and Robert Black, double bass. All of the performances on this album are perfectly in touch with the spirit of the music. The processing, mixing and mastering, so integral to the realization of this album, was ably executed by Nathaniel Reichman.

All of the tracks on Arctic Dreams bring us into close association with Arctic nature. The music is always reflective and seems to be telling us that nature will eventually prevail, despite our rebellion against it. We are living in a state of grace with nature and must adapt to it rather than seek to conquer it. Arctic Dreams affirms the constancy and primacy of the environmental perspective that has always been present in the music of John Luther Adams.

Arctic Dreams is available directly from Cold Blue Music, Amazon Music and other retail outlets.