Urverk

Ågren, Sofia; Eriksson, Jesper; Uppsala Vokalensemble

One of Sweden’s finest mixed choirs presents an album of brand new choral works that challenge with our perceptions of ‘experimental’ music. Three of today’s brightest Swedish composers feature on the album from Uppsala Vocal Ensemble under its galvanizing conductor since 2011, Sofia Ågren. All three new works on UrVerk are the fruits of a new kind of experimentation. In creating his 2013 piece for choir and saxophone Ungefär fyra improvisationer, composer Emil Råberg participated in extensive workshops with the Uppsala Vocal Ensemble in order to tease-out a viable expression and equilibrium between the instrument and the singers. The result is a fascinating and febrile mix of written and improvised music in four movements. In creating her new work Andas den ut ur mitt bröst, composer Maria Lithell Flyg explored the idea of singing as physical release from the bodily and emotional inhibitions of everyday life. The resulting music breaks and ‘breathes out’ from its opening rumblings with distinctively human joy. Martin Q Larsson’s Hundra tusen miljarder uses Raymond Queneau’s ‘interactive poetry’ of the same title to create a vocal collage of music and thought – poetry and conversation – that can never be the same twice. This fascinating and highly involving piece underlines the communicative and technical abilities of the Uppsala Vocal Ensemble and crowns an album that show the group’s heart as much as its versatility.

Price: $25.98

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